The sport's dominant country boasts the top seeds in all three Doubles events, as well as the second seeds in the women's and the mixed event.
Men's top duo Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng face Australian outsiders Ross Smith and Glenn Warfe on the opening day of action.
Women's top seeds Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang face Alex Bruce and Michele Li of Canada.
In the mixed Doubles, Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei play Michael Fuchs and Birgit Michels of Germany.
Zhao plays again in the women's Doubles with Tian Qing, the second seeds taking on Poon Lok Yan and Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong.
Another interesting men's Doubles match pits South Korea's second seeds Chung Jae-sung and Lee Yong-dae against former world champions Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan of the USA.
The eagerly-anticipated first outings of the top seeds in the Singles competitions do not come around until Monday.
In a quirk of the round-robin stage, each of them are only in groups of two and therefore effectively playing a straight knockout competition.
Top men's seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, who plans to retire after the Games, has been troubled by an ankle injury in recent weeks but expects to be fit to face Finland's Ville Lang.
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