New book on China & the OG:
Beijing's Games: What the Olympics Mean to China
Susan Brownell
Rowman & Littlefield 2008
She is also the author of
Training the Body for China: Sports in the Moral Order of the People's Republic
University of Chicago Press 1995
I haven't read the new book (just came out in February), but did read the previous one, which was definitely worth it, if you're interesting in China's sports culture. I would guess that the new book is good, too.
Here's a link to Brownell's web page:
http://www.umsl.edu/divisions/artscienc ... wnell.html
I realize that some of you may know her from her T&F career. She made TFN's US rankings in the heptathlon three times: 1980 (8th); 1982 (6th); 1985(9th).