(photo courtesy of the Globe and Mail)

China’s successful bid for the 2008 Olympic games was trumpeted as a milestone along the nation’s road to superpower status. The Olympics were supposed to be a turning point, a coming out party for a better, more advanced and more enlightened China; one that respected human rights and freedoms like a western democratic nation instead of the dissent-stifling communist dictatorship it used to be.

That’s what we were told, anyhow.

The reality is that, despite all of the promises and empty gestures, the new China is just like the old China. Don’t let all of those fancy, futuristic athletic venues fool you; it is still a nation that holds total control over its more than 1-billion people. It is still a nation ruled by propaganda that preaches silent acceptance over curious inquisition. It’s still the same old China.

In fact, the Beijing Olympics showed the world the only real difference between today’s China and the China of the 20th century: this China is powerful, powerful enough to stare down the "old money" of the international community – the G8 – and silence even their most legitimate criticism of China.

Criticism on issues like pollution. During the Olympics, Chinese authorities ordered half of Beijing’s cars off the road, something a democratic nation with a free press would never dream of demanding from their citizens. Even with those drastic measures in place for months in advance of the opening ceremonies, Beijing’s air quality was still well below the standards of the World Health Organization by the time the Olympics started.

And that’s just hot air compared to China’s other shortcomings during the Olympics.

As part of their Olympic bid, the Chinese government promised to allow protesters in designated protest zones during the games. Granted, the zones were set well away from all Olympic venues (or any areas of interest in Beijing, for that matter), and protesters were required to acquire official protest permits before any demonstrating could begin, but at least it’s a step in the right direction, right?

Well, it would have been, if any of the 77 protest applications were ever approved. Instead, most of the applications were simply ignored, while a few were rejected and a couple of applications filed by Chinese citizens led to arrests. Even a Chinese police officer has to see the irony in arresting someone for submitting an application to protest legally.

During the games, not much attention was paid to China’s working poor. That’s because they were hidden behind a giant wall built to keep the international media’s eyes looking elsewhere. I suppose that was the solution Chinese officials reached when they realized they couldn’t actually sweep those slums under a rug.

The wall is a perfect example of the lengths the People’s Republic will go to in order to maintain control of their image and their power. What they have displayed in the past few months, rather than the image of a new and reformed China, is a willingness to ignore and cover up any problem, no matter how easily it could be solved. They would rather strive for the appearance of perfection than actually work towards achieving anything positive.

With August and the Olympics now a distant memory in the face of a potentially catastrophic financial crisis in America – the nation formerly known as the world’s only superpower – it might be wise to take another look at China. A close look. In a few years, this might just be the nation that is leading the world, so perhaps we should start holding it accountable for its actions before we lose our ability to voice a dissenting opinion.

What we need to do is stand up and tell China we see through their facade. We need to say that, no matter how polished, a turd is still a turd.