Seven summers ago, China enjoyed a long celebration.

The nation had been granted the 2008 Summer Olympics, and fireworks filled the nights.

The goal was simple. China wanted to use the world stage supplied by the Olympics “to commemorate dramatic economic, social and cultural achievements over the past 30 years,”

according to David Shambaugh, director of the China Policy Program at George Washington University.

Yet the reality has been more complicated. As the Games approach, China endures unwanted scrutiny and protests from across the world.

The Chinese government has been criticized for:A) Suppressing the separatist movement in Tibet.B) Supplying arms to the repressive regime in Sudan. These Chinese arms, critics contend, are being used to kill non-Arabs in the Darfur region.C) Attempting to ship arms to Zimbabwe, ruled by dictator Robert Mugabe. Dockworkers in South Africa, convinced the arms would be used against Zimbabwe dissidents, refused to unload the arms, which were eventually sent back to China.D) Forced repatriation of refugees from North Korea.E) “Indifference to the God-given rights of its own citizens,” in the words of Wall Street Journal writer William McGurn.

Yanling Zhang, who escaped China last year, recently told the Miami Herald she was committed to a “brainwashing center” because of her spiritual beliefs. “They want to kill people spiritually,” she said.

Actress and activist Mia Farrow serves on the board of Dream for Darfur, a group dedicated to stopping genocide in Sudan.

“How can Beijing host the Olympics while underwriting genocide in Sudan?” Farrow asked in an interview in Chicago. “What is everyone going to do about it? And that means the athletes, the hosts, the sponsors and all responsible world leaders.”

Even though Farrow accuses China of “atrocities of the worst kind,” she’s not seeking a boycott. Instead, she demands world leaders, including George W. Bush, boycott the Opening Ceremony.

“It’s the right thing to do,” she said. “It makes a statement that’s sadly needed. Otherwise, we forge ahead with a repeat of the 1936 Nazi Olympics. There are many parallels.”

Farrow employs harsh words.In 1936, German dictator Adolf Hitler presided over the Games in a majestic stadium on the edge of Berlin. An evil man was served as the world’s host.

Shambaugh considers Farrow’s comparison unfair. In an e-mail message, he called Farrow’s words “much overstated.””I don’t see what the parallels are,” Shambaugh wrote. “China is not committing genocide as the Nazis did after 1936.”

Yet there are voices, including Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter, who believe the threat of an Opening Ceremony boycott provides an ideal negotiating chip.

“The West,” Alter writes, “has a chance to bring China further into the community of responsible nations.”But Hongying Wang, an associate professor at Syracuse University, warns that Western critics should be careful. China, she said, has an “almost religious” regard for national sovereignty.

The quest to change China could backfire, she said. She believes “the vast majority” of Chinese have benefited from the nation’s progress over the past three decades, a “tremendous source of pride for everybody.”

Criticism from the West, Wang said, has “provoked so many ordinary Chinese into a frenzy of defending China.”Wang has a point. When the Olympic torch came to Paris, it inspired spirited demonstrations. Several protestors tried to grab the torch from a Chinese athlete in a wheelchair.In response, a boycott was organized in China against French retail giant Carrefour.

Many Chinese, contends Kishore Mahbubani, question the motivation of West protests.

“The Chinese are so angry because virtually all of them believe that the Western protests have little to do with human rights,” writes Mahbubani, author of “The New Asian Hemisphere.”

“The Chinese think the West’s real motivation is to deny China the triumph it deserves for its enormous successes.”

Mahbubani hopes Bush, and others, attend the ceremony and talk with Chinese leaders about Tibet, Sudan, arms shipments, refugees and human rights.That, she writes, would display “political courage.”

U.S. men’s 1,500-meter runner Lopez Lomong gestures as he speak at an interview at a hotel in Dalian, Liaoning province, China, during training for the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games Sunday, Aug. 3, 2008. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) Photo by The Associated Press

ANDY WONG