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Not to belittle the enormous insight of Napoleon, the man who Beethoven described as "a vulgar man who reduced himself to the level of an ordinary king", it should be noted here that between the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe, all things Asian, and especially Chinese, were fashionable among its intellectuals. The images of the Chinese Empire brought back by the Jesuits fascinated the learned men of Europe out of the realisation that in a very distant place a very advanced civilisation had existed for so long.

Such fascination was echoed by Goethe (1827), who marvelled at the way the Chinese had embraced, not defied nor challenged, the serenity and harmony of nature, and hence became one with it. "By means of such strict restraint in everything, the Chinese Empire had the great force to maintain its existence since thousands of years, and in this way will continue to exist also in the future," said the German writer who was once described by a British novelist as "the last true polymath to walk on earth".

Goethe might turn in his grave if he saw the 21st-century China that proudly presents her renewed self to the world as the host of the Olympics. No more a sleeping giant, China's development is defying not only nature, but challenging all the senses of the last century. A new era has dawned for one of the world's oldest civilisations.

Most Western media have tried their best to pick on China during the Olympics, as the event provides unusually ample access into this otherwise centrally and carefully controlled milieu. Depictions range from human rights violations against Tibetans to rampant copyright infringements, to the suppression of press freedom, to vanity and misguided self-pride that led to lip-synching and computer-generated fireworks [at the Olympics' opening ceremony] and to the government-issued list of "suggestions" for proper etiquette by its citizens. During the Games "one shall not venture out of the house in pyjamas or attire which has more than three colours".

There is a saying that America grew by the follies of old Europe. Here we have another repeat of history, replacing America with China and old Europe with the West.

There is no denying that China has become an economic force to reckon with, having grown sixfold during the last 30 years. But before the Beijing Games the world had not seen the magnitude of China's wealth, accompanied by an astonishingly clear vision, confidence and spirit of adventure.

In all, China, by commissioning the best architects - all from the West - spent US$40 billion to create an avant-garde landscape in Beijing in preparation for the Olympics. No other city has physically transformed itself in recent years like Beijing has. The last two metropolises that underwent such a dramatic architectural change on a similar scale were New York City 100 years ago and London 200 years ago.

The $3.8-billion Terminal 3 of Beijing Airport - twice the size of the Pentagon and the world's largest building - can handle 50 million passengers a year. It was designed by British architect Norman Foster. Passengers who have passed through it describe the terminal as a "portal to another world". Terminal 3 is not just a soulless mammoth structure, it embodies an intense struggle over the meaning of public space in the new China and the definitive expression of China's embrace of the Western modernist creed that "has left Western nations in the dust". It was completed in less than four years.

Beijing's National Stadium, or the "Bird's Nest" - the centrepiece of the Olympics - was designed by Herzog and de Meuron, Swiss architects. This is a colossal structure that suggests the strain of trying to contain the activities inside and the trembling anticipation of a mass event.

The most talked-about architectural wonder is the new headquarters of China Central Television (CCTV). It is the product of 63-year-old Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. When finished next year, the $700-million bridge-like "floating arch", whose slanting, interconnected forms are among the most imaginative architectural creation in recent memory, will become the world's largest and most expensive media centre. Technically, the building would not have been possible were it not for today's enormous computing power.

The $400-million, egg-shaped National Centre for the Performing Arts, by French architect Paul Andreu, is the world's largest. It is an ovoid of reflective glass set in an artificial lake and designed to look as if it were floating on water. It has no doors to disturb the purity of its shape. The roof is the entrance.

The "Linked Hybrid" by American architect and virtuoso engineer Steven Holl is another ingenious piece of architecture. As a city within the city, and contrary to the crowded streets of Beijing, the mixed-use, eight-separate-structure Hybrid does not have any "streets".

To put things in perspective, the American Renaissance, or the Gilded Age (circa 1876-1914), during the Post Civil War and reconstruction period, was characterised by a renewal of self-confidence, national identity and nationalism. Such sentiment expressed itself in the country's modernism and advancement in technologies. It brought about the reform movement in North American architecture and urban planning called "City Beautiful". The movement was aimed at using beautification and grandeur in cities, not for its own sake, but rather as a social element for creating moral and civic consciousness among the urban population. It was the period that signified the coming of age of the US politically and economically. It was also followed by the high-minded American interference in the internal affairs of other countries.

For China, the second half of 2001 was a historical turning point. China was admitted to the World Trade Organisation and beat Toronto and Paris to host the Olympics.

As architects for centuries have inspired to enlighten or transform civilisations, as these Western architects have with China, it would be at best naïve to believe that all of the new modernist architecture is a panacea for China's many challenges, including its own identity.

But the 2008 Olympics has shown us a rising world power with its extraordinary confidence and audacious ambition - a China that has finally come into its own.