BEIJING: The huge mechanical creature rears up, its eyes glowing red, smoke billowing from its dragon’s snout and its primeval howl echoing in the Beijing night as it approaches its arachnid adversary.

The robot horse-dragon, or “Long Ma,” is 12 meters high and weighs 45 tons — as much as eight adult African elephants. For its part, the yellow spider — dubbed “The Princess” — has a 20-meter leg-span and can froth at the mouth.

The two robots are controlled by teams of operators perched on board and running alongside, but even so their movements are fluid, almost natural, and the Long Ma can also express himself facially, fluttering his eyelashes among other gestures.

“It’s puppetry on a grand scale,” smiled Isa, one of the crew members.

The Long Ma “can stand on his hind legs, his tail moves, he can gallop, and of course fire comes from his mouth: it’s a real dragon,” said Francois Delaroziere, artistic director of the French firm that developed the tribute to Chinese culture.

The event, mounted outside the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing that hosted the 2008 Olympics, is part of the commemorations of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Paris and the People’s Republic.

“Relations between our two countries are largely based on a very ancient cultural affinity, a mutual attraction,” said France’s new ambassador to Beijing, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, adding the show embodies “the spirit of China itself.”

The show started on Friday and will run until Sunday, when visiting French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius will attend along with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. But Beijing’s notorious pollution could yet spoil the weekend’s displays, and Delaroziere appealed to the star performer’s spirit to intervene.