At the center of it all is this dazzling stadium, which is said to embody everything from China's muscle-flexing nationalism to a newfound cultural sophistication.

But now these must contend with China's huge and increasingly muscle-flexing Banks as well as Western ones with deep roots in the region, such as HSBC and Standard Chartered.

The mysteries surrounding China's silence are reminiscent of the cold war, when every case of muscle-flexing by competing powers was examined for evidence of a deeper agenda.