"I am overwhelmed by China's two decades of achievements, which were inconceivable back then," he says.

"The Olympic Games represent many human ideals, some of which China has achieved and some of which are unfulfilled, but the way in which China has embraced the Olympics is unparalleled.

Matilda, the giant kangaroo featured in the opening ceremony during the Commonwealth Games held in Brisbane, Australia, in 1982.

"There are Western countries that do not achieve or maintain these same Olympic ideals, so in itself this is not the measure of the success of the Beijing Olympics."

Birch says the speed of China's social progress compared to any other country is the true measure of success and many Beijing Games protesters do not understand the full story.

"Protesters seem to expect China to behave like a sophisticated, media savvy nation, equivalent on every level to Western, participatory democracies because it has made such giant strides, so quickly," he says.

"But no nation in the history of the world has changed its social system so fast or successfully. Think of Russia in 1917, the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1989, the American Civil War or even China's own history between 1920 and 1948."

Birch has worked with every nationality and describes Chinese production crews very similar in talent and temperament, compared with other international teams.

"Except they are far more polite to me," he jokes.

"There is a clearly defined creative hierarchy, without the freewheeling opinions, questions and suggestions in Australia or US, but this is a reflection of the broader Chinese culture."

Several of his team members have studied and lived in Australia and understand their Asia-Pacific neighbor, he says, but he believes most Chinese are not concerned about the rest of the world, "except as spectators to Chinese achievements".

"There is an enormous pride and even amazement at the economic changes in their lives and right now I get the feeling that no Chinese person wants to be anywhere else other than China," he says.

Despite the large contingent of foreigners helping with the Games, Birch has witnessed a commitment among Olympic workers he has never seen before.

"I realized that several members of the creative unit were living on the premises," he says.

"Two of them had moved from New York to Beijing to be part of the Olympics and were working without pay. All they wanted was to contribute their skills to the ceremonies, so they lived in the office building.

"This level of dedication is hard to compete with."

(China Daily May 29, 2008)