Hosting the Olympic Games is seen by China and most Asian nations as a means for national restoration, the construction of national identity, economic prosperity and international recognition. In this sense the Olympic Games have significant symbolic power. China ended its isolation in 1978, re-joined the International Olympic Committee in 1979; In 1984, they took part in the Summer Olympic Games for the first tim e since the early fifties; and in 1985 established their "Olympic Strategy". Hosting the Olympic Games was an im portant part o f the strategy to make China a sporting superpower, as well as a political and economic power, that could compete on equal terms w ith the US in the West and Japan and South Korea in the East; Thus Beijing was a candidate city for the Games in 2000 and 2008. This paper will examine the reasons for China's tw o bids; the factors which resulted in the failure o f the first bid and the success o f the second; and the impact of the bids on the developm ent o f Chinese society and of international politics.