Size matters in sport, apparently, and the internal competition is intense.
China's sports system is divided into the 'small-balls management', which looks after table tennis and badminton, and the 'big-balls management', which runs the football, basketball and volleyball teams.
While the small-balls teams frequently wins glory for the motherland, the so-called big-balls teams tend to be something of a let-down.
But the football folk, for one, say that's all about to change, and a long-term Olympic war strategy has been drawn up in a bid to match the prowess of their small-ball cousins.
While the Beijing games will officially lift off on the auspicious date of 8-8-08, the football action will actually start two days before that as the round-robin tournament needs longer than the Olympic's 16 days to be played off, with matches going on in Shanghai, Shenyang, Qinhuangdao and Tianjin, as well as in the capital.
Professionals are allowed in the men's tournament, but since Atlanta in 1996 rules restrict teams to players under 23 years old with the exception of three overage players.