China's sporting machine geared up in 2005 for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, with an ambitious target to do even better than last year's Athens Olympics, where they finished second on the medal standings with 32 gold medals, only three behind the United States.
As a matter of fact, they don't need a miracle to replace the Americans as the biggest gold winners. Even Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), believes it's a realistic aim and the Chinese can make it.
"I would not be surprised if China leads the medals count in 2008 Olympics in Beijing," Rogge said when attending the opening ceremony of the 10th Chinese National Games in Nanjing, east China, last October.
The confidence is right there. In 2005, China has consolidated its ruling in all its traditionally dominant events in the world championships, including table tennis, badminton, diving, shooting, gymnastics, judo and weightlifting -- the last two reserved only for their women. They also gained grounds in taekwondo, tennis, boxing and even mordern pentathlon.
Zou Shiming rewrote the history by claiming China's first-ever boxing world title in the light-fly category in the 13th world championships held in Mianyang, southwest China. Little-known Qian Zhenhua left all his compatriots dumfounded after winning the modern pentathlon title at the world championships, which is the first for Asian people in history.
The world's most populous country has also groomed an enormous group of young talents for the 2008 Games, and some have shown they are ready to raise the torch passed on by the veterans. They are still far from becoming household names but their potential has delighted the Chinese officials.
In a word, it seems that the gold medals will be just a number in three years. More specifically, it's something between 30 and 40. It's no longer a question.
Then what's the question?
The prospect of China's sports is by no means as rosy as the preparation for the 2008 Olympics has showed to the world during the past year. On the contrary, its image has been badly tarnished by doping, corruption and other scandals.
The 10th National Games, the biggest-ever with nearly 10,000 athletes participating, was marred by too many controversies, which have raised pointed questions about sportsmanship and athletic priorities.
From doping to thrown matches to biased judging, the domestic "mini-Olympics" was riddled with embarrassments blamed by some on a government-sponsored athletic culture that stresses greater glory over love of sport.
Sun Yingjie, bronze medal winner in the women's 10,000m at the Paris world championships in 2003, tested positive for a banned steroid during the Games and is facing a two-year suspension. Olympic gold medalist Xing Huina was denied her gold in the 1,500m for elbowing an opponent.
The women's 78kg judo final had to be replayed after 1996 Olympic champion Sun Fuming threw the match in less than 30 seconds, while a cycling bronze medalist accused the top two finishers with deliberately blocking her and refused to accept her prize.
Protests have also been lodged over tennis, badminton, weightlifting and gymnastics events and in taekwondo, 26 out of 111 matches in both the men's and women's events were forfeited following a walk-out by athletes and coaches complaining of corrupt officiating and bribery.
The controversies left audiences jaded and wondering whether the National Games, which cost the Jiangsu Province at least 5.5 billion yuan (US$680) to build venues, should continue.
China's football, which has been long plagued with match fixing and gambling accusations, had to swallow their own bitter pills this season. Their top-flight Super League managed to finish their second season without a title sponsor. The worst thing is that its fans have walked away on the world's most beautiful game played on their home soil.
The season's biggest scandal erupted only weeks into the new season when Chi Shangbin, head coach of last year's champion Shenzhen, was sacked for accusing the club of succumbing to "ruffian" players, led by China captain Li Weifeng.
AFC general secretary Peter Velappan warned China the Super League had to get clean or risk collapse. "The government must investigate the allegations of corruption and eliminate the scourge in Chinese soccer," Velappan said . "If they don't then it will kill football in China and all the efforts we are making ... will go to naught."
Maybe it's not only about football, but also about the whole sports industry of China.
There are enough reasons for them to look far ahead beyond the gold medals and the Beijing Olympics in 2008.