Marc Lim takes in the scene ahead of the Opening Ceremony.

In Beijing

WHAT does it take to prepare for the world's biggest party?

Well, if it's one with close to 100,000 guests, over 80 of them world leaders, a few thousand of the world's top athletes, then it's probably done with a lot of care.

A hostess adjusts Olympic rings in her
colleague's hair during a welcome ceremony
at the Athlete's Olympic Village. Source: AFP

It's little wonder that as Beijingers already begin to gather outside the Bird Nest National Stadium in anticipation of tonight's Beijing Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, policemen with sniffer dogs and metal detectors are combing the stadium grounds.

It's little wonder that access to roads next to the stadium has been closed for weeks and petrol stations near the Olympic Park have also ceased operations, just in case they become targets for any attacks.

It's also little wonder that helicopters patrol the skies ever so frequently, looking for anything remotely suspicious.

There is a rumour going on in the Media Village that the subways are the ones supposedly put on the high-alert list. But with 900 contingency plans supposedly in place should an emergency arise, one can assume that the Chinese have thought of everything.

The Olympic Park will be Fort Knox, not just tonight, tomorrow, but everyday until the day the last athletes leave Beijing after the August 24th Closing Ceremony.

As my colleague Rohit Brijnath so poetically put it, Beijing is a city at attention - right from the army guards, the policemen, to the even the 70,000-odd volunteers, who are alert and prompt to respond to needs of athletes, fans and journalists.

So if you can ignore the whirring of the helicopters, put up with the endless security checks, tonight and the next 16 days are going to be a joy.

How can it not be when everyday, a world champion will be crowned; when everyday, dozens of extraordinary stories of triumph or defeat are waiting to be told.

But even before the Games proper start tomorrow, tonight's Opening Ceremony promises to be nothing short of spectacular. Can anyone expect anything less when acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou is behind the anticipated 3 1/2 hour extravaganza?

In the last week alone, there have been two major rehearsals. This is China's coming out party. This is China's way of welcoming the world, to show its new, open and friendly face.

Yet, the Chinese will be the Chinese. Face-saving is still a core Chinese practice and one can almost bet that everything has been done to ensure a perfect ceremony.

Even the heavens have cooperated. Initial forecasts had predicted showers tonight. As of 2pm, the Beijing skies, while still smoggy, look like they will hold up.

China's 1.3 billion population has waited seven years for today. Others have waited a lifetime, never imagining that day in 2001, when Beijing won the rights for the Games, was possible.

It happens in a few hours - with the world as China's audience.