The newest attraction in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, overlooking the gates to the Forbidden City, stands a giant electronic clock, guarded by two PLA soldiers on the stately but barricaded stone stairs of the National Museum.

Every few minutes, as many Chinese people — men, women, teenagers, and veterans — as tourists stop by to take a picture of the clock with their digital or mobile phone cameras while some prefer to pose with it in the background.

The clock is counting down for the August 8 opening of the Olympic Games in the Chinese capital and it is arguably one of the most eagerly anticipated events in recent times for the world’s most populous country.

But the mood seems to be turning sour in the run-up to what has been billed as China’s coming-out party, with anger replacing excitement as the relay of the Olympic torch around the world is repeatedly disrupted and calls for a boycott of the games are no longer just whispers.

“The world can get to know China and Chinese people through the Olympic Games,” says Zhang Chen Bin, a 27-year-old mobile phone company executive who came to Tiananmen Square to photograph the clock. “Some years ago, the world thought the Chinese people were very poor, the Chinese economy was very bad. But not anymore.”

Ask him about the talk of a boycott and the young man suddenly turns agitated.

“No, no, no, it is not good, I don’t think so, I don’t think so,” is all he can say before ending the conversation. It’s a thought apparently few Chinese can bear.

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