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BEIJING LETTER:LIP-SYNCHING singers, fake fireworks and unsmiling cops - all too often the Olympics are all about appearances. Every Olympics incorporates elements of the Potemkin village, with the host cities erecting beautiful fronts to showcase progress and hide the fact that sometimes there isn't all that much to report going on behind the sporting facade, writes Clifford Coonan.

Beijing is different, in so many ways. The Olympic Games have changed the character of the Chinese capital and reflected, and at times driven, a broader change in society. There is real progress and genuine development. But as virtual technology gains in sophistication at an incredible rate, it's been difficult for even the Beijing organisers to resist a bit of virtual sleight-of-hand.