CHINA'S open-door policy will extend to its roads later this year when many of the world's leading rally drivers and their navigators chart a course from Hong Kong through the country's vast interior to the very shadow of the Great Wall.
The 3,800-kilometre odyssey will leave competitors with little opportunity to see China's stunning interior or mingle with the people, as they dash out of Hong Kong on October 23 and six days later roll up to the doors of the Forbidden City in Beijing.
It's undoubtedly a metaphor for the collision between the old and the new, the modern and the antiquated, which is certain to fray the peaceful fabric of rural China.
But rather than spurn the ear-splitting mechanised column of 50-plus rally cars, plus a gaggle of support vehicles, China's country folk and officialdom in the five provinces through which the event will pass, have clamoured to be part of it.
But it is not the first time China has been linked with an international car rally. In fact the first was more than 80 years ago when a dedicated band of be-goggled enthusiasts did the impossible - drove from Beijing to Paris - a feat that took more thantwo months and was somewhat euphemistically described in the press of the day as an ''epic adventure'' - a caravan of discovery, more like it.
That gung-ho spirit was rekindled in 1985 when the first 555 Hong Kong-Beijing Rally was staged after close links were forged between the Hong Kong Automobile Association (HKAA) and the China Motor Sports Association (CMSA).
It was an epic undertaking that was spawned from the vision and enthusiasm of two men; the HKAA's chief executive Phil Taylor and CMSA vice president, Qi Jincheng.