This has certainly been a trying year for China - snowstorms brought much of the country to a halt at the end of January, the May12 earthquake in Sichuan took more than 70,000 lives and reconstruction in the province will take years, unrest in Tibet and Xinjiang have left the nation's western regions politically unsettled, inflation and food prices have risen steadily, stock markets slid far enough to wipe out much of the gains made in the past eight years, and food safety crises such as the recent melamine-tainted milk scandal have further shaken confidence in 'Made in China' brands.
The central government, though, must be breathing a sigh of relief that the Olympics came and went with no major catastrophes.
Many would say the Games were a resounding success. After shelling out an unprecedented official figure of US$43 billion for the Olympics - which does not account for the costs of shutting down industry in Beijing and surrounding provinces for almost two months to clear the smog from the air - anything less than perfect would have been a disaster.
While the doom-and-gloom prognostications about China 'cracking' following the Olympics may be an exaggeration, the country does have major issues to tackle in coming years.
The balancing act to address environmental problems, further political reform, unforeseen natural disasters, social unrest and economic progress along with managing international and regional relations will be a difficult task.
As long as the economy remains strong, balancing all these issues will not be too strenuous. Even though the stock market has contracted in the mainland for the past year, other macroeconomic indicators are stable.
