Forget the geniality of Barcelona and Sydney ... Beijing won't be party central

Hotels are empty as stricter visa rules keep visitors away. Police in bulletproof vests and with bomb-sniffing dogs prowl roadways.

Peddlers have been told to clear off the streets, and unsightly restaurants have been closed. New postal rules prohibit the mailing not only of explosives, but any pastes, electronics and 'unidentifiable metal objects'.

Alongside stunning sports venues, new subway lines and floral displays, Beijing is rolling out restrictive measures dampening any festive feeling ahead of the games.

Chinese paramilitary police outside the National Stadium - also known as the Bird's Nest - in Beijing

'It's like they're getting ready to throw a great party and then trying to restrain the partygoers,' said Bob Dietz of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, who couldn't get a visa despite 20 years of travel to China. 'They're not ready to welcome the world.'

Chinese officials have defended the moves as necessary to prevent terrorism and keep out what a Foreign Ministry consular affairs official called 'hostile forces'. The list of disaffected groups is long, from unemployed workers to foreign activists critical of China's policies on human rights.

But the mood contrasts with the lavish, meticulous preparations for an Olympics long billed as the celebration of an open, modern China.

With the games drawing near, the communist leadership called in senior government and provincial officials last month to put them on notice that there should be no security glitches.

More than 440,000 people have been mobilized for security for the games, from crack commando squads to neighborhood watch patrols, and leaders are trying to temper public expectations for a superb games.

Some of the 100,000 paramilitary policemen, commandos and members of the military that will be on standby up to and during the Beijing Olympics to handle potential terrorist attacks.

Beijing's games still could please. The city's $40 billion makeover has transformed the ancient, often dull low-rise capital into a metropolis of 24-hour bustle. Traditional culture puts a premium on being a good host. Normally unruly Beijingers have been told how to cheer for foreign teams and to line up for buses instead of pushing aboard.

All the security efforts are drawing attention to something Chinese leaders have hoped to play down - that China is still a police state, if a chaotic one. They are also raising questions about whether a festive Olympics is possible.

Nightspots near the Worker's Stadium and Worker's Gymnasium, where boxing and other events will be held, have been ordered shut for the games, as a security precaution. Elsewhere, bars and restaurants which often stay open until the last patron leaves, have been told 2 a.m. is the limit.

Rural Chinese who flock to the capital to seek redress for grievances that local officials ignore already have been sent home, while known dissidents have been jailed, put under watch or told to leave.

How it used to be: Punters flock freely during Sydney's Olympic games in 2000

Arbitrary enforcement of rules, long a staple of life in China, is falling hard on ordinary Chinese. As construction sites are shut down in July to try clear the city's notorious smog, and small restaurants closed for being dirty or other unspecified reasons, many of the city's migrant workers - who make up more than a fifth of Beijing's 18 million people - will be left without pay. Many are leaving.

The tighter visa requirements keeping foreigners out have been accompanied by recurring police checks on places where foreigners live and orders for those properly papered to register at local police stations.

The sweeping controls have reinforced perceptions that the government wants to head off even legitimate protests.

With the city feeling emptier and less lively, those left feel part of an elaborately staged event meant to show a perfect but unreal Beijing to the half-million athletes, journalists, dignitaries and tourists expected to come to the games.