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Part of the elaborate Olympics fireworks show broadcast to the world in the opening ceremony was altered, done digitally in 3-D computer graphics, according to several news reports.

In Beijing, the authorities have worked hard to prevent Olympic crowds from being too one-sided in their support for the home team. Volunteer spectators have even been drafted in at some half-full Olympic venues to cheer for both sides.

For visitors, coming to an Olympic city where so many aspects of life — clothing, conversation, food, everything — are staged is only going to cause more confusion about China when the returning waiguoren tell their stories about Beijing. Expats burn when travel writers and foreign journalists make simplistic generalization, but, with half the Beijing story hidden, I’m sure we’ll see a lot more of it. And this will only reinforce the commonly-held belief that Westerners just can’t understand China. (Or the commonly-held belief that China’s all ancient temples and KFCs. Either or!)

The flame came through Delhi airport, where it was received by Suresh Kalmadi, the chief of the Indian Olympic Association. The torch was then driven along a route into the city lined with hundreds of police.