Beijing Olympics - Most artistic ever?

  Is it just me or has this Olympics brought out the artistic and creative soul of culture more than any other Olympics? I have really enjoyed NBC's spotlight pieces on Chinese artists and the culture in China as it has influenced the games. I look forward to those pieces sometimes more than the games themselves (except when Phelps is in the pool). The hardships of this culture have strengthened and purified their art in ways we cannot understand in a free society. Some of their artists who have played key roles in the artistic design of the Olympics have at one time been imprisoned by their own country for their art.  What does art do that makes regimes fear it? Tell me what you think.