Is this the way to build a wall?

The Olympic stadium currently undergoing construction in Beijing is comprised of a series of gigantic steel snakes, and there's no way of knowing where head or tail are.

A group of Israelis stood opposite the impressive structure Tuesday and they were primarily occupied with one thought: Here's the iron they stole from us. Here are the railway tracks that disappeared, the traffic lights that were removed, the cables that were pulled out and Yigal Tumarkin's statues that went the way of the world.

Who would have believed that Israel's primary contribution to the Chinese pioneering spirit would be scrap iron?

The iron is not only being used for construction of the Olympic facilities. The whole of Beijing is currently a construction site that sprouted suddenly in every which direction: Underground, on ground level and towards the skies. Entire neighborhoods from the 50s and 60s were erased and high rises are being constructed in their stead.

Beijing is reminiscent of an adolescent: Its body seems to be sprouting in one burst, ungracefully, without order, without correlation between the various limbs and with a lot of acne.

A city bursting with ambition

However, this ugliness also contains a lot of power and energy. Seventeen million is the official figure of Beijing's population. In reality, when all the unlisted workers from the rural areas are added to this figure, it reaches 21 million.

Twenty one million – and each seeks to develop and grow, to become wealthy and compensate themselves and their families for the generations of suffering and hunger they were forced to endure. The city is bursting with ambition.

When I visited Beijing 15 years ago, as one of the reporters accompanying then Foreign Minister David Levy on a virgin visit by an Israeli minister on Chinese territory, bicycles were the main form of transport and Mao's grey uniforms were de rigueur.

The city at the time was just a large village with the grey fortresses of the communist regime at its center, and next to it, in the Forbidden City, were the remnants of an empire.

Now the hotels and the global corporation offices tower high above the symbols of the regime. Giant neon lights and video screens dart across the buildings with numerous advertising slogans written in English – if they are not aimed at tourists then they aim to create a foreign ambience.

The people on the streets wear what people wear all over the world during winter: Whatever's available, as long as it keeps them warm. Bicycles have been replaced with Japanese and American cars made in China. There is not a single brand that is not manufactured in China and sold there; if it's not the original brand then it’s the imitation.

Olmert visit

Israel's prime minister is currently roaming this raging river. His internal problems don't particularly concern the Chinese: Not the problems with Iran or the problems with Hamas and certainly not the internal disputes such as those emanating from the interrogation chambers.

On Tuesday Olmert visited the large dairy farm Israel constructed adjacent to Beijing. He indulged in the milk of cows treated by Israeli know-how. Next he visited the Olympic facilities and was fittingly impressed by the construction and their design.

Wednesday morning he is due to be photographed on the Chinese Wall just like every foreign leader. Fifteen years ago radio presenter Arieh Golan asked David Levy a question derived from sports announcer Yoram Arbel's famous saying: "Mr Levy, when you were young you were a construction worker. Tell me, is this the way to build a wall?"

Levy was so excited by the fact that he and not anyone else was climbing the historic Chinese Wall that he didn't know what to say in response. Now, it's Olmert's turn.