BEIJING -- Men stripped off their shirts and danced deliriously on cars mobbed by flag-waving crowds. Fireworks exploded above leaping lion dancers.

Millions of people partied in Beijing's streets Friday night, celebrating the city's winning bid for the 2008 Olympics, seen by many as a milestone in China's emergence as a leading nation.

Fireworks boomed in the sky and showered down fluttering flakes of paper and ash that covered the masses -- possibly the largest spontaneous gathering in the Chinese capital since pro-democracy protests 12 years ago that ended in a bloody crackdown.

By midnight, crowds had shut down the city's center, and partiers -- many waving red Chinese flags -- jammed Tiananmen Square, the nation's most famous gathering place. Outside the square, men did victory dances on the roofs of vehicles, while passengers hung out of car windows high-fiving passersby. One woman wet the crowd with a water gun.

Hundreds of police descended on Tiananmen about 2 a.m. Saturday and began hurrying people out of the square.

"This will be the best Olympics because the Chinese love sports more than anyone else in the world," said Lu Kexin, a 19-year-old waiter who ran out of his restaurant to join the celebration after the International Olympic Committee announced its decision in Moscow.

Liu Ying, a shopkeeper in his 40s, marveled at the crowds. "I've never ever seen anything like this in Beijing," he said.

Winning the Olympic bid marked a great comeback for Beijing, which lost the competition for the 2000 Olympics to Sydney by two votes. Concerns about human rights hurt China's bid then and the issue continued to haunt Beijing's intense lobbying this year.

But the IOC members agreed with the many Chinese who were celebrating: It was time for the most populous nation on Earth to have the Olympics.

Taiwan's government quickly congratulated China and urged Chinese leaders to uphold the Olympic spirit of pursuing world peace and "renounce the use of force in the Taiwan Strait." The two sides split amid civil war in 1949 and relations are still tense.

About an hour before the IOC voted, a hand-picked crowd of thousands gathered at an official outdoor ceremony in western Beijing. Crooning celebrities warmed up the audience watching the selection process on giant television screens near a huge altar bathed in laser lights.

The crowd erupted in cheers and chants of "Beijing, Beijing!" when IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch declared the city won. Many began singing the Chinese national anthem as fireworks exploded and traditional lion dancers and ballerinas began performing.

President Jiang Zemin and other members of the cabinet and Communist Party politburo appeared briefly on stage as thousands of uninvited residents began flooding into the venue.

"Comrades!" Jiang shouted to the crowd. "We express our deep thanks to all our friends around the world and to the IOC for helping to make Beijing successful in its Olympic bid."

At McDonald's restaurants across Beijing, free hamburgers were given out to customers from 10 p.m. to 2:08 a.m.

In an eastern Beijing neighborhood, government clerk Liu Jiguan, 45, joined his neighbors in his apartment's courtyard, where they feasted on shish kebab and snap peas while watching the Olympic vote on a battered television perched on a box. A little girl wrapped herself in the red Chinese flag as she sat on her mother's lap and waited for the news.

When the final vote was announced, the party let out a whoop, clapped their hands and began toasting each other with warm beer served in chipped white ceramic rice bowls.

"By getting the Olympics, the status of the Chinese people in the world will be raised," Liu said.

His neighbor, Xu Jianji, a 52-year-old clerk, said, "We have one-fifth the world's population. We're a powerful country now. We should have the Olympics."

Newspapers distributed late editions announcing the victory with banner headlines in red, a color reserved for the most important news.

"Beijing Finally Succeeds," declared the People's Daily, the main Communist Party newspaper.

The New York-based Human Rights in China group urged Beijing not to resort to brutal tactics used in the past to clean up the city before international events.

"Past practice has included large-scale roundups of street children, unemployed migrants, beggars and the mentally ill, who are then subjected to abusive conditions," the group said.