By Nick Mulvenney
BEIJING (Reuters) - China invited the world to the 2008 Beijing Olympics with a dazzling song-and-dance and fireworks display on Wednesday, but the cheers and shouts of 10,000 beaming citizens could not mask concerns about pollution.
The crowds gathered as a haze settled above vast Tiananmen Square, overlooked by a giant portrait of Communist China's founder Mao Zedong, in front of a brightly lit Gate of Heavenly Peace.
The most intensely scrutinised preparations for any Games in Olympic history has brought forth a barrage of criticism against China this week on issues such as human rights, press freedom, food safety and Tibet -- and not least, pollution.
International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge himself said earlier that some competitions might have to be moved if efforts to clean up Beijing's notoriously smoggy air were unsuccessful.
Rogge was on hand with Chinese political leaders to watch a countdown clock run down to exactly 366 days to go until the Games start -- 2008 is a leap year -- at 8:08 pm (1208 GMT) on the eighth day of the eighth month, an auspicious date and time.
Rights groups have accused China of failing to live up to promises of press freedom when they were awarded the Games in 2001. Six Westerners were still being detained a day after unfurling a banner reading "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet" at the Great Wall, the Free Tibet Campaign said in a statement.
China is often criticised for its harsh rule of the Himalayan region it occupied in 1950.
Rogge said events might have to be rescheduled if air quality is not up to scratch.
"This is an option," Rogge told CNN. "It would not be necessary for all sports ... but definitely the endurance sports like the cycling race where you have to compete for six hours, these are examples of competitions that might be postponed or delayed to another day."
Starting with a mass display of early morning exercises, the Chinese people finally got their chance to express pride in the most important sporting and cultural event ever held in the country.
More than a million Beijingers made their way to the city's parks as sunshine broke through the smog for the first time this week. Security was tight around Tiananmen Square, where troops crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989 with huge loss of life, as crowds gathered for the celebrations.
"We're very excited, very happy to have the Olympic Games in China," said one women pensioner, wiping make-up from her face after taking part in a display of traditional folk dancing in a Beijing park.
"Thirty years ago, we would never have thought that we could host such an event. China was not strong enough to host the Olympics, but now we are."
Another women, catching her breath after a display of aerobics, said: "This is a dream that has lasted for a century.
"We want foreigners to discover Chinese culture and to know that China is a strong country now."
Questions about pollution were answered with a shrug and the assurance that "it's much better than it used to be".
Censorship has ensured that most people are unaware of critical human rights reports, many of which say China has failed to live up to its promises on press freedom.
The chance of protests meant security was tight at the main event of the day, a gala celebration in front of 10,000 people on Tiananmen Square.
Not everybody in the city was wrapped up in the one-year countdown, however. Wang Jingjing,8, and newly arrived in the capital from a rural part of neighbouring Hebei, said she had never heard of the Olympics.
