BEIJING - July 28th, BBC
China has admitted it could introduce further emergency measures to cut air pollution during the Olympic Games. One expert said that could mean taking 90% of Beijing's private cars off the streets at particularly bad times.
Figures show pollution levels have been relatively high over recent days - on some days thick smog is severely reducing visibility. The BBC found one pollutant at the Olympic Village was three times higher than the recommended level on Monday. China has already introduced a series of measures to curb air pollution, including taking half the city's cars off the roads.
Polluting factories surrounding Beijing have also been told to close.
But an article in the state-run China Daily gave details of the further, stricter measures that could be introduced.
"More vehicles could go off the roads, and all construction sites and some more factories in Beijing and its neighbouring areas could be closed temporarily," a front-page article said. This was confirmed by Professor Zhu Tong, of Peking University, who advises the Beijing government about air pollution. He confirmed that 90% of the city's private cars could be taken off the roads under these stricter controls.
Any emergency measures would be introduced 48 hours in advance of very bad pollution, he said. "There is a chance... that we cannot meet the air quality standards so stricter measures are needed," said Prof Zhu. He maintained that the current measures had reduced pollution, but not by enough to guarantee good air quality every day.
China promised to clean up its air pollution for this summer's games, but figures show it still does not meet the toughest World Health Organization standards.
Small particles in the air - PM10 - are a particular worry. WHO guidelines say 50 micrograms per cubic metre is the standard to aim for, but Beijing rarely hits that target. At the Olympic Village on Monday, the BBC found the PM10 level was at least 145, while at the BBC office it was 134.
Separately on Monday, Greenpeace published its assessment of China's efforts to clean up Beijing for the Olympic Games. It says, that overall the attempt to get rid of pollution has created a "positive legacy" for the city and should be commended.
"Greenpeace found that Beijing achieved, and in some cases surpassed, original environmental goals," the report says. But it said in other areas, including air quality, Beijing had not met targets, and has had to bring in short-term measures. "Beijing could have adopted clean production measures more widely across the municipality to speed up the improvement of air quality," the report says.
Monday, 28 July 2008
GB Olympic Medal Contenders: Ones to Watch
LONDON - July 28th, The Guardian
Gold
Phillips Idowu (Triple jump)
Top of the world rankings, he was already the big favourite before Sweden's Christian Olsson, the defending champion, withdrew because of injury.
Kelly Sotherton (Heptathlon)
The decision of Sweden's Carolina Kluft not to compete in the event she is unbeaten in for six years, in favour of the long jump and triple jump, has thrown the competition wide open. Sotherton, though, needs to have a good javelin to come out on top.
Silver
Christine Ohuruogu (400m)
She was crowned the world champion last year in the absence of the unbeaten Sanya Richards, but with the American in the field in Beijing things will be much tougher this time.
Bronze
Nicola Sanders (400m)
The runner-up to Ohuruogu last year, her build-up has been interrupted by a series of injuries, so she may not be able to repeat her 2007 form.
Jo Pavey (10,000m)
After coming fourth in the world championships last year, Pavey has enjoyed a good build-up so will be looking to make the step up.
Paula Radcliffe (marathon)
A fully-fit Radcliffe is nearly three minutes quicker than any of her rivals, but a stress fracture of the femur has disrupted preparations badly and it will be a miracle if she wins any medal as she has not raced for nine months.
Andy Baddeley (1500m)
The most likely of Britain's long-shots to come through, if everything goes right for him.
4x100m (men)
They are defending champions after their shock victory in Athens, but it is hard to imagine how they can finish ahead of Jamaica and the United States if that pair both get the baton round.
4x400m (women)
With Ohuruogu and Sanders they are strong contenders for a medal, but much will depend on how the others, who may include Sotherton, run.
Gold
Phillips Idowu (Triple jump)
Top of the world rankings, he was already the big favourite before Sweden's Christian Olsson, the defending champion, withdrew because of injury.
Kelly Sotherton (Heptathlon)
The decision of Sweden's Carolina Kluft not to compete in the event she is unbeaten in for six years, in favour of the long jump and triple jump, has thrown the competition wide open. Sotherton, though, needs to have a good javelin to come out on top.
Silver
Christine Ohuruogu (400m)
She was crowned the world champion last year in the absence of the unbeaten Sanya Richards, but with the American in the field in Beijing things will be much tougher this time.
Bronze
Nicola Sanders (400m)
The runner-up to Ohuruogu last year, her build-up has been interrupted by a series of injuries, so she may not be able to repeat her 2007 form.
Jo Pavey (10,000m)
After coming fourth in the world championships last year, Pavey has enjoyed a good build-up so will be looking to make the step up.
Paula Radcliffe (marathon)
A fully-fit Radcliffe is nearly three minutes quicker than any of her rivals, but a stress fracture of the femur has disrupted preparations badly and it will be a miracle if she wins any medal as she has not raced for nine months.
Andy Baddeley (1500m)
The most likely of Britain's long-shots to come through, if everything goes right for him.
4x100m (men)
They are defending champions after their shock victory in Athens, but it is hard to imagine how they can finish ahead of Jamaica and the United States if that pair both get the baton round.
4x400m (women)
With Ohuruogu and Sanders they are strong contenders for a medal, but much will depend on how the others, who may include Sotherton, run.
Iraq banned from Olympics
BAGHDAD, July 24 (Xinhua) -- The International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed Thursday its suspension on Iraq National Olympic Committee (NOC) that would deprive Iraqi athletes from participating in the Beijing Olympic Games.
In a letter addressed to the Iraqi Minister of Youth and Sports Jassim Mohammad Jaafar, the IOC confirmed the ban imposed on Iraqi athletes last month. "We regretfully inform you that the IOC executive board's decision, dated June 4, 2008 ordering the suspension of the Iraqi NOC has been formally approved," the letter obtained by Xinhua said. "This means that Iraq will not take part in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and Iraqi athletes will not take part in the competitions," it said. "As a result, the invitations issued by the trilateral committee to Iraqi sportsmen during qualifiers have been withdrawn and given to other national Olympic committees," the letter added.
The International Olympic Committee's executive board took the action because the Iraqi government's recently dissolved the national Olympic body and appointed an interim group presided over by the Minister of Youth and Sports. Late in May, the Iraqi government ordered the dissolution of the national body. It said that the committee was illegitimate because it could not reach a quorum as four of its 11 members including chairman Ahmed al-Hijiya have been kidnapped in Baghdad since 2006.
The government also has accused its Olympic committee of corruption. The Iraqi government formed an interim committee headed by the Minister of Youth and Sports with all the needed powers for three months to hold elections and to enact a new law for the new national Olympic committee.
In a letter addressed to the Iraqi Minister of Youth and Sports Jassim Mohammad Jaafar, the IOC confirmed the ban imposed on Iraqi athletes last month. "We regretfully inform you that the IOC executive board's decision, dated June 4, 2008 ordering the suspension of the Iraqi NOC has been formally approved," the letter obtained by Xinhua said. "This means that Iraq will not take part in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and Iraqi athletes will not take part in the competitions," it said. "As a result, the invitations issued by the trilateral committee to Iraqi sportsmen during qualifiers have been withdrawn and given to other national Olympic committees," the letter added.
The International Olympic Committee's executive board took the action because the Iraqi government's recently dissolved the national Olympic body and appointed an interim group presided over by the Minister of Youth and Sports. Late in May, the Iraqi government ordered the dissolution of the national body. It said that the committee was illegitimate because it could not reach a quorum as four of its 11 members including chairman Ahmed al-Hijiya have been kidnapped in Baghdad since 2006.
The government also has accused its Olympic committee of corruption. The Iraqi government formed an interim committee headed by the Minister of Youth and Sports with all the needed powers for three months to hold elections and to enact a new law for the new national Olympic committee.
26 innovations secure 'Green Olympics' achievement
BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Beijing has applied a wide range ofgreen technologies and clean energy in building venues and facilities for the upcoming Olympic Games, according to a press briefing here on Sunday.
These advanced technologies, including water recycling, rainwater utilization, solar photovoltaic power generation, and reclaimed water source heat pumps, could help environmental protection while encouraging technology innovation, said Tan Xuxiang, deputy director of Beijing Municipal Planning Commission. Altogether 26 innovations were achieved during the Olympic preparation period, he added. To fulfill the bidding pledge of "Green Olympics," the Games' organizers used environment-friendly materials in building key venues such as the Olympic Green, the Olympic Village and the Olympic Forest Park, Tan said. A total of 31 competition venues and 45 training venues have been built for the impending Games. They are mainly located in five areas, namely the Olympic Green, the west community, the northern scenic spot area, the university area, and the east community.
Special attention was paid to the protection of cultural relics throughout the construction of all Olympic projects, Tan said, citing the protection and repair of ancient architecture in the Olympic Green zone, such as the Goddess Temple and the Dragon King Temple. Both the location of Olympic stadiums and the selection of competition routes have avoided important water resource conservation areas and natural reserves, he said. The official said that the concept of "Green Olympics" mainly has three implications -- a green environment, "green stadiums" with energy saving features, and the "green consciousness" for the public that endorses environmental protection and a healthy lifestyle. All efforts relating to the promotion of "Green Olympics" will leave a precious heritage for Beijing when the Games are over, he added.
These advanced technologies, including water recycling, rainwater utilization, solar photovoltaic power generation, and reclaimed water source heat pumps, could help environmental protection while encouraging technology innovation, said Tan Xuxiang, deputy director of Beijing Municipal Planning Commission. Altogether 26 innovations were achieved during the Olympic preparation period, he added. To fulfill the bidding pledge of "Green Olympics," the Games' organizers used environment-friendly materials in building key venues such as the Olympic Green, the Olympic Village and the Olympic Forest Park, Tan said. A total of 31 competition venues and 45 training venues have been built for the impending Games. They are mainly located in five areas, namely the Olympic Green, the west community, the northern scenic spot area, the university area, and the east community.
Special attention was paid to the protection of cultural relics throughout the construction of all Olympic projects, Tan said, citing the protection and repair of ancient architecture in the Olympic Green zone, such as the Goddess Temple and the Dragon King Temple. Both the location of Olympic stadiums and the selection of competition routes have avoided important water resource conservation areas and natural reserves, he said. The official said that the concept of "Green Olympics" mainly has three implications -- a green environment, "green stadiums" with energy saving features, and the "green consciousness" for the public that endorses environmental protection and a healthy lifestyle. All efforts relating to the promotion of "Green Olympics" will leave a precious heritage for Beijing when the Games are over, he added.
3-month Cultural Extravaganza for Beijing
BEIJING, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) will provide a variety of unique cultural activities during the coming sports gala in August, said a senior BOCOG official here on Monday.
The Ministry of Culture, Beijing municipal government and the BOCOG have jointly developed the 2008 cultural program and mapped out the Olympic Cultural Festival from June 23 to Sept. 17, said Zhao Dongming, director of BOCOG Culture and Ceremonies Department.
"The cultural festival will last nearly three months throughout the Olympics and Paralympics. It will be a marvelous Olympic cultural event with the longest time, the most abundant contents, the largest number of performance teams and the most complete artistic variety," Zhao said at a press conference at the Main Press Center. The festival will host significant cultural activities with "Meet in Beijing 2008" as the theme, including Asia Night, Africa Night, Latin America Night, Arab Night, SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Night and other song and dance shows. Nearly 20,000 artists from more than 80 countries and regions will feature in 600-plus performances, including those from Hong Kong, Macao and Chinese Taipei. On Aug. 8 when the Olympics officially opens, the Olympic Expo will also be launched in a grand way at the Beijing Exhibition Center.
"During the Olympic Games, we will strive to make opportunities for ordinary citizens to share the joyful atmosphere. All the Olympic cultural squares, as well as most exhibitions, will be opento the public free of charge," Zhao promised.
According to the official, more than 20 Olympic cultural squares will be set up in Beijing and other co-hosting cities will also stage square cultural activities. During the Olympic period, there will be nearly 40 international and over 150 domestic exhibitions for arts, artifacts, painting, photography, sculpture, murals and non-material heritage. While most state-level museums will be open for free during the Olympics, some historical heritage sites, such as the Forbidden City and the Gongwang Mansion, will keep requiring admission fee from visitors in order to better protect the heritages, Zhao explained. As theatre performances will be aimed for public welfare during the Olympic Games, the government has started to provide subsidies for domestic art troupes, together with low-price tickets.
During the cultural activities, "we definitely put security as our priority to ensure a worry-free Olympic Games. We will intensify our efforts to help the public understand the importance of security check," Zhao said.
In the Olympic Center Area and Olympic Village, people can also enjoy Lucky Clouds Theatre, China Story exhibition, Fuwa Mobile Show, Flag-raising Square performance, folk custom shows and Chinese learning areas. Ding Baizhi, deputy director of BOCOG Culture and Ceremonies Department, said "cultural activities in the Olympic Village have three features of evening square performances, exhibitions and experience activities to combine eastern and western culture and help foreign athletes taste Chinese culture themselves." At the flag-raising square in the Olympic Village, art troupes perform every night for 90 minutes, bilingual hostess may invite spectators to the evening performance of traditional Chinese dances and acrobatics as well as foreign songs, and 25 Chinese folk artists made group debut at the commercial street in the village to showcase handcraft art treasures, such as shadow play, clay sculpture with colorful painting.
As long as foreign athletes are willing, they can join to learn at the spot, Ding said. Chinese language learning seems to be the most popular program in the Olympic Village. There is a special venue, always full of people, in the village to teach foreign athletes, coaches and officials how to read and writer Chinese. "The arrangement of language learning had not been seen in previous Olympic Games, a difference of the Beijing Olympic Games," Ding said.
The Ministry of Culture, Beijing municipal government and the BOCOG have jointly developed the 2008 cultural program and mapped out the Olympic Cultural Festival from June 23 to Sept. 17, said Zhao Dongming, director of BOCOG Culture and Ceremonies Department.
"The cultural festival will last nearly three months throughout the Olympics and Paralympics. It will be a marvelous Olympic cultural event with the longest time, the most abundant contents, the largest number of performance teams and the most complete artistic variety," Zhao said at a press conference at the Main Press Center. The festival will host significant cultural activities with "Meet in Beijing 2008" as the theme, including Asia Night, Africa Night, Latin America Night, Arab Night, SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Night and other song and dance shows. Nearly 20,000 artists from more than 80 countries and regions will feature in 600-plus performances, including those from Hong Kong, Macao and Chinese Taipei. On Aug. 8 when the Olympics officially opens, the Olympic Expo will also be launched in a grand way at the Beijing Exhibition Center.
"During the Olympic Games, we will strive to make opportunities for ordinary citizens to share the joyful atmosphere. All the Olympic cultural squares, as well as most exhibitions, will be opento the public free of charge," Zhao promised.
According to the official, more than 20 Olympic cultural squares will be set up in Beijing and other co-hosting cities will also stage square cultural activities. During the Olympic period, there will be nearly 40 international and over 150 domestic exhibitions for arts, artifacts, painting, photography, sculpture, murals and non-material heritage. While most state-level museums will be open for free during the Olympics, some historical heritage sites, such as the Forbidden City and the Gongwang Mansion, will keep requiring admission fee from visitors in order to better protect the heritages, Zhao explained. As theatre performances will be aimed for public welfare during the Olympic Games, the government has started to provide subsidies for domestic art troupes, together with low-price tickets.
During the cultural activities, "we definitely put security as our priority to ensure a worry-free Olympic Games. We will intensify our efforts to help the public understand the importance of security check," Zhao said.
In the Olympic Center Area and Olympic Village, people can also enjoy Lucky Clouds Theatre, China Story exhibition, Fuwa Mobile Show, Flag-raising Square performance, folk custom shows and Chinese learning areas. Ding Baizhi, deputy director of BOCOG Culture and Ceremonies Department, said "cultural activities in the Olympic Village have three features of evening square performances, exhibitions and experience activities to combine eastern and western culture and help foreign athletes taste Chinese culture themselves." At the flag-raising square in the Olympic Village, art troupes perform every night for 90 minutes, bilingual hostess may invite spectators to the evening performance of traditional Chinese dances and acrobatics as well as foreign songs, and 25 Chinese folk artists made group debut at the commercial street in the village to showcase handcraft art treasures, such as shadow play, clay sculpture with colorful painting.
As long as foreign athletes are willing, they can join to learn at the spot, Ding said. Chinese language learning seems to be the most popular program in the Olympic Village. There is a special venue, always full of people, in the village to teach foreign athletes, coaches and officials how to read and writer Chinese. "The arrangement of language learning had not been seen in previous Olympic Games, a difference of the Beijing Olympic Games," Ding said.
Sunday, 27 July 2008
Olympics tickets "Almost sold out"
BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Athletes for the Beijing Olympic Games are likely to play to packed houses, as enthusiastic fans snapped up Olympic tickets in the final round of sale.
By Saturday evening, 16 of the 19 ticket booths, which started the fourth, or the final, phase of Olympic ticket sale to individuals on Friday, hung out signs "sold out".
Tickets for "hot sports" like tennis and archery were sold out within hours on Friday, said Wu Xiaonan, an official with a ticket booth near the Beijing Olympic Green Hockey Stadium. But, tickets for hockey, boxing and handball are still available, Wu said, adding most tickets for hockey are probably sold out by late Sunday. A female official surnamed Yu at a booth of the Olympic Sports Center said tickets for the handball match are expected to be sold out by Monday.
A total of 820,000 tickets, covering 28 sports events, were put on sale on Friday at 19 ticket booths around the city. By Friday noon, tickets for gymnastics, diving and football were sold out. The sales created long queues in the city. More than 30,000 people lined up overnight at a ticket booth near the Bird's Nest on Friday, forcing local police to take temporary measures to prevent chaos. All the Olympic tickets at the booth were sold out at 3 a.m. on Saturday. In all, 6.8 million Olympic tickets were available for domestic and foreign sales.
By Saturday evening, 16 of the 19 ticket booths, which started the fourth, or the final, phase of Olympic ticket sale to individuals on Friday, hung out signs "sold out".
Tickets for "hot sports" like tennis and archery were sold out within hours on Friday, said Wu Xiaonan, an official with a ticket booth near the Beijing Olympic Green Hockey Stadium. But, tickets for hockey, boxing and handball are still available, Wu said, adding most tickets for hockey are probably sold out by late Sunday. A female official surnamed Yu at a booth of the Olympic Sports Center said tickets for the handball match are expected to be sold out by Monday.
A total of 820,000 tickets, covering 28 sports events, were put on sale on Friday at 19 ticket booths around the city. By Friday noon, tickets for gymnastics, diving and football were sold out. The sales created long queues in the city. More than 30,000 people lined up overnight at a ticket booth near the Bird's Nest on Friday, forcing local police to take temporary measures to prevent chaos. All the Olympic tickets at the booth were sold out at 3 a.m. on Saturday. In all, 6.8 million Olympic tickets were available for domestic and foreign sales.
Olympic Village opens to athletes
BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- The Olympic Village for the Beijing Games sprung to life Sunday with a grand opening ceremony to welcome its first delegation of Chinese athletes.
The village was opened by its mayor Chen Zhili, also vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for 29th Olympic Games (BOCOG). Designed to accommodate 16,000 athletes, coaches and their entourage, the sprawling compound is about 20 minutes' walk northwest of the Games' two centerpiece venues - the Bird's Nest stadium and aquatic venue Water Cube. "We now welcome athletes from around the world to come to the Games," said Chen. "We will try to satisfy the needs of people from different cultural and religious backgrounds. We hope you will like the facilities and services, and achieve desirable results at the Games," she said.
Chen received a symbolic gold key to the village from the BOCOG president Liu Qi, also the Party chief of Beijing. The Chinese delegation was the first to check in by raising its national flag in the village. Athens Olympics 110 meters hurdles champion Liu Xiang and NBA star Yao Ming were among about a hundred athletes who were present at the ceremony. At least two other delegations, Cuba and Poland, are scheduled to arrive at the village on Sunday.
"Welcome home," Chen told the Chinese delegation, "as athletes from the host country, I hope you will present the peaceful and open stance of China." She also had talks to the athletes and wished them good luck. The village, which sits in the northern part of Beijing, is divided into three sections of the international area, residential area and operations area. It contains a main restaurant that can feed 5,000 people, its own fire station, tea, coffee shops, a barber shop, post office, library, shops and a clinic.
"The village is modern and nicely fitted," said Glenda Korporaal, a senior writer from The Australian newspaper who comes to cover the Games. Chen Wenbin, the head coach of Chinese men's weightlifting squad, said, "Coming into the village made me really feel the pulse of the Games and it will add impetus to our athletes." Chen said the Chinese weightlifters will check in at the village around Aug. 5 and stay until their events end around Aug. 18.
"We will arrange training programs for the weightlifters after they move in, but before that, we need to send staff here to see to accommodation and dining and make sure everything is OK," he said. Village spokesperson Deng Yaping said on Friday that 46 countries and regions have had some representation in the village since its preliminary opening on July 20. It is not yet heavily populated, but is expected to be fully lodged. On Sunday morning, the first foreign delegation of 42 athletes from Poland arrived in Beijing. They were the first batch of Poland's 400-plus Beijing Olympic contingent including 268 athletes.
Most of the athletes coming for the Games will stay in the village. A few contingents have booked rated hotels. Diversified meals, along with customized beds, space for religious masses and entertainment facilities, are part of the efforts to provide comfortable stay for the athletes. Other services like chances of learning the Chinese language and watching Chinese cultural performances are expected to add colors to their Olympic experience.
In line with IOC (International Olympic Committee) regulations, a religious center has been set up in the village. Worship rooms are arranged for major religions -- Christianity, Buddhism, Islamism, and Hinduism and Judaism. The total of 42 apartment buildings in the village was powered by solar energy. Water recycling system and environmentally friendly construction materials were used in the village. Some of the apartments have been sold out as upscale residences.
Mark Bos, a village protocol volunteer who has worked for three Games, advised the athletes to go outside the village to see the city and the people when they have chances. "I spent four hours hiking on the Great Wall two months ago and the experience was the best in my life," he said. "I have made a lot of friends since I volunteered at the Atlanta Games. The Games are not only about sport. It is about experiencing different cultures and meeting interesting people," he said.
The Olympic Village will close on Aug. 27 and reopen as the Paralympic Village on Aug. 30 until Sept. 20.
The village was opened by its mayor Chen Zhili, also vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for 29th Olympic Games (BOCOG). Designed to accommodate 16,000 athletes, coaches and their entourage, the sprawling compound is about 20 minutes' walk northwest of the Games' two centerpiece venues - the Bird's Nest stadium and aquatic venue Water Cube. "We now welcome athletes from around the world to come to the Games," said Chen. "We will try to satisfy the needs of people from different cultural and religious backgrounds. We hope you will like the facilities and services, and achieve desirable results at the Games," she said.
Chen received a symbolic gold key to the village from the BOCOG president Liu Qi, also the Party chief of Beijing. The Chinese delegation was the first to check in by raising its national flag in the village. Athens Olympics 110 meters hurdles champion Liu Xiang and NBA star Yao Ming were among about a hundred athletes who were present at the ceremony. At least two other delegations, Cuba and Poland, are scheduled to arrive at the village on Sunday.
"Welcome home," Chen told the Chinese delegation, "as athletes from the host country, I hope you will present the peaceful and open stance of China." She also had talks to the athletes and wished them good luck. The village, which sits in the northern part of Beijing, is divided into three sections of the international area, residential area and operations area. It contains a main restaurant that can feed 5,000 people, its own fire station, tea, coffee shops, a barber shop, post office, library, shops and a clinic.
"The village is modern and nicely fitted," said Glenda Korporaal, a senior writer from The Australian newspaper who comes to cover the Games. Chen Wenbin, the head coach of Chinese men's weightlifting squad, said, "Coming into the village made me really feel the pulse of the Games and it will add impetus to our athletes." Chen said the Chinese weightlifters will check in at the village around Aug. 5 and stay until their events end around Aug. 18.
"We will arrange training programs for the weightlifters after they move in, but before that, we need to send staff here to see to accommodation and dining and make sure everything is OK," he said. Village spokesperson Deng Yaping said on Friday that 46 countries and regions have had some representation in the village since its preliminary opening on July 20. It is not yet heavily populated, but is expected to be fully lodged. On Sunday morning, the first foreign delegation of 42 athletes from Poland arrived in Beijing. They were the first batch of Poland's 400-plus Beijing Olympic contingent including 268 athletes.
Most of the athletes coming for the Games will stay in the village. A few contingents have booked rated hotels. Diversified meals, along with customized beds, space for religious masses and entertainment facilities, are part of the efforts to provide comfortable stay for the athletes. Other services like chances of learning the Chinese language and watching Chinese cultural performances are expected to add colors to their Olympic experience.
In line with IOC (International Olympic Committee) regulations, a religious center has been set up in the village. Worship rooms are arranged for major religions -- Christianity, Buddhism, Islamism, and Hinduism and Judaism. The total of 42 apartment buildings in the village was powered by solar energy. Water recycling system and environmentally friendly construction materials were used in the village. Some of the apartments have been sold out as upscale residences.
Mark Bos, a village protocol volunteer who has worked for three Games, advised the athletes to go outside the village to see the city and the people when they have chances. "I spent four hours hiking on the Great Wall two months ago and the experience was the best in my life," he said. "I have made a lot of friends since I volunteered at the Atlanta Games. The Games are not only about sport. It is about experiencing different cultures and meeting interesting people," he said.
The Olympic Village will close on Aug. 27 and reopen as the Paralympic Village on Aug. 30 until Sept. 20.
Cheap Olympics tickets for China students
BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- "Only 15 days left!" Ma Xiaogang, a middle-school student in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, yelled as he counted down the days to the Beijing Olympic Games.
Several months ago, the teenager assumed he would just watch the long-dreamed Games on television at his home, a small village in the arid region. "Thanks to an education program, I got three tickets for volleyball, baseball and athletics," said the excited 16-year-old.
Following the practice of previous Olympics, China has set aside about 1 million Olympic tickets, priced at 5 yuan (73 U.S. cents) and 10 yuan, for primary and secondary school students nationwide. The tickets are stamped "Olympic education program tickets."
"Tickets will be distributed to students through provincial education departments to ensure students from all over China will have the opportunity to join the Beijing Games," said Gao Hong, vice director with the Basic Education Department of the Education Ministry
The tickets will be given out mainly in 556 schools nationwide, he said. Because of the high ticket price, many people, especially students, couldn't watch the Games live. "It's already difficult for my parents to support my studies. How dare I expect to watch the Olympic Games in Beijing," Ma said. When hearing the news his school would choose five students to see the Games live in the capital, Ma applied and won.
"I will cherish the experience and share it with my classmates after I go back," said Ma, who was busy learning more about the Olympic Games. According to the schedule, Ma will leave for Beijing with another 189 students from around the region on Aug. 11. Many of the students are Muslims. "These students were chosen according to their performance of study and sports activities," said Shi Liwen, an official with the Education Department of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. She added the results were publicized in schools and were under supervision.
According to the Olympic education program tickets project, students from Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Liaoning and Hebei will watch Games in their home cities, and students from the other 27 provinces and regions will be organized to come to Beijing. To ensure sound accommodation and transport for the students, 10 high schools in Beijing with excellent facilities have been designated as hosts to receive them. Beijing Hui School will serve the Ningxia students. "We have prepared well and are ready to serve them," said Cao Xiaodong, the school deputy head.
The school has vacated dormitories, bought new sheets and quilts and electric anti-mosquito gadgets for the Ningxia students. It also installed digital cable TV in every dormitory. Similar to their Ningxia peers, the Beijing Hui School students didn't need to wait hours to buy a ticket.
"Our school is one of the 556 model schools for the Beijing 2008 Olympic education program. We have more than 900 tickets," Cao said. "All our students, if they want, are able to watch the Olympic Games." University students in the Olympic host and co-host cities will also get some cheap tickets. Students from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and the earthquake-hit Sichuan Province will be invited to attend the Games.
"Low-price tickets embody the true meaning of mass sports, and everybody has the chance to participate," said David Tool, a U.S. teacher with the Beijing International Studies University.
"The low price ticket project is an important part of the 2008 Beijing Education Program," said Education Ministry official Gao. In fact, it is also a measure to fulfill the commitment in the host city's contract, which requires China to promote education of Olympic knowledge among 400 million youth nationwide, he added.
Several months ago, the teenager assumed he would just watch the long-dreamed Games on television at his home, a small village in the arid region. "Thanks to an education program, I got three tickets for volleyball, baseball and athletics," said the excited 16-year-old.
Following the practice of previous Olympics, China has set aside about 1 million Olympic tickets, priced at 5 yuan (73 U.S. cents) and 10 yuan, for primary and secondary school students nationwide. The tickets are stamped "Olympic education program tickets."
"Tickets will be distributed to students through provincial education departments to ensure students from all over China will have the opportunity to join the Beijing Games," said Gao Hong, vice director with the Basic Education Department of the Education Ministry
The tickets will be given out mainly in 556 schools nationwide, he said. Because of the high ticket price, many people, especially students, couldn't watch the Games live. "It's already difficult for my parents to support my studies. How dare I expect to watch the Olympic Games in Beijing," Ma said. When hearing the news his school would choose five students to see the Games live in the capital, Ma applied and won.
"I will cherish the experience and share it with my classmates after I go back," said Ma, who was busy learning more about the Olympic Games. According to the schedule, Ma will leave for Beijing with another 189 students from around the region on Aug. 11. Many of the students are Muslims. "These students were chosen according to their performance of study and sports activities," said Shi Liwen, an official with the Education Department of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. She added the results were publicized in schools and were under supervision.
According to the Olympic education program tickets project, students from Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Liaoning and Hebei will watch Games in their home cities, and students from the other 27 provinces and regions will be organized to come to Beijing. To ensure sound accommodation and transport for the students, 10 high schools in Beijing with excellent facilities have been designated as hosts to receive them. Beijing Hui School will serve the Ningxia students. "We have prepared well and are ready to serve them," said Cao Xiaodong, the school deputy head.
The school has vacated dormitories, bought new sheets and quilts and electric anti-mosquito gadgets for the Ningxia students. It also installed digital cable TV in every dormitory. Similar to their Ningxia peers, the Beijing Hui School students didn't need to wait hours to buy a ticket.
"Our school is one of the 556 model schools for the Beijing 2008 Olympic education program. We have more than 900 tickets," Cao said. "All our students, if they want, are able to watch the Olympic Games." University students in the Olympic host and co-host cities will also get some cheap tickets. Students from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and the earthquake-hit Sichuan Province will be invited to attend the Games.
"Low-price tickets embody the true meaning of mass sports, and everybody has the chance to participate," said David Tool, a U.S. teacher with the Beijing International Studies University.
"The low price ticket project is an important part of the 2008 Beijing Education Program," said Education Ministry official Gao. In fact, it is also a measure to fulfill the commitment in the host city's contract, which requires China to promote education of Olympic knowledge among 400 million youth nationwide, he added.
Friday, 25 July 2008
Stampede for Olympics tickets
BBC News, Beijing
Thousands of people have descended on ticket booths across the Chinese capital, Beijing, to get their hands on the last batch of Olympic tickets.
Police had to call in reinforcements at one sales centre near the main Olympic venues to hold back surging crowds. Tickets for high-profile events were snapped up in a matter of hours.
A total of 820,000 tickets went on sale from 0900 local time, but some people had been queuing for days. Buyers have been restricted to two tickets each. The biggest scrum appeared to take place at the booth near the main Olympic venues, where crowds had to be held back by police. Many waiting were drenched in sweat by the time they finally made it to the front of the queue. One man said he had managed to jump the queue at a particularly chaotic moment.
This sales centre was selling tickets for a number of high-profile events, including the much-sought-after 110m hurdles final. Chinese athlete Liu Xiang is the reigning Olympic champion in this event and tickets sold out in just half an hour. Tickets for diving events, another sport in which China excels, were gone in just a few hours. There were more orderly line-ups at other Olympic venues.
At the Workers' Stadium, where tickets for Olympic football matches were on sale, people had been queuing since Thursday. Many had brought stools to sit on, and something to eat and drink, as they waited in a queue that was several hundred metres long. Others shared cigarettes or stood in line fanning themselves as the morning temperature began to rise.
"We've been here all night. It wasn't too bad," said Song Lihua, as she stood holding an umbrella to shade herself from a sun that was struggling to break through the morning smog. Ms Song was near the front of the queue, but still expected she would have to wait another four or five hours. "They are too slow," she shouted, a call repeated by others. "There are only three tickets windows open." Others who had just arrived were amazed - and slightly depressed - to find so many people already waiting.
"The queue's too scary," said student Xie Gu, who had come up to Beijing from southern Zhejiang Province to get an Olympic ticket. The 20-year-old said he was going to walk to the end of the queue to see how long it was before deciding whether or not to stay.
Thousands of people have descended on ticket booths across the Chinese capital, Beijing, to get their hands on the last batch of Olympic tickets.
Police had to call in reinforcements at one sales centre near the main Olympic venues to hold back surging crowds. Tickets for high-profile events were snapped up in a matter of hours.
A total of 820,000 tickets went on sale from 0900 local time, but some people had been queuing for days. Buyers have been restricted to two tickets each. The biggest scrum appeared to take place at the booth near the main Olympic venues, where crowds had to be held back by police. Many waiting were drenched in sweat by the time they finally made it to the front of the queue. One man said he had managed to jump the queue at a particularly chaotic moment.
This sales centre was selling tickets for a number of high-profile events, including the much-sought-after 110m hurdles final. Chinese athlete Liu Xiang is the reigning Olympic champion in this event and tickets sold out in just half an hour. Tickets for diving events, another sport in which China excels, were gone in just a few hours. There were more orderly line-ups at other Olympic venues.
At the Workers' Stadium, where tickets for Olympic football matches were on sale, people had been queuing since Thursday. Many had brought stools to sit on, and something to eat and drink, as they waited in a queue that was several hundred metres long. Others shared cigarettes or stood in line fanning themselves as the morning temperature began to rise.
"We've been here all night. It wasn't too bad," said Song Lihua, as she stood holding an umbrella to shade herself from a sun that was struggling to break through the morning smog. Ms Song was near the front of the queue, but still expected she would have to wait another four or five hours. "They are too slow," she shouted, a call repeated by others. "There are only three tickets windows open." Others who had just arrived were amazed - and slightly depressed - to find so many people already waiting.
"The queue's too scary," said student Xie Gu, who had come up to Beijing from southern Zhejiang Province to get an Olympic ticket. The 20-year-old said he was going to walk to the end of the queue to see how long it was before deciding whether or not to stay.
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Olympics hostesses complete training
BEIJING, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Training of the 337 would-be hostesses for the Olympic victory ceremonies will end on Saturday, when the Chinese college beauties graduate from boot camp.
"I've always dreamed of being a guide hostess for the table tennis athletes at the Olympic venue," said Yang Xu, 19, one of the 300-odd young women selected from more than 5,000 candidates in Beijing and Shanghai colleges as part of the Olympic volunteers. Just like others, the slim, 170 cm tall Yang has been trained for three short terms with five kinds of courses, including body-shaping exercises, dancing, manners, ceremony processes and basic Olympic-related knowledge.
"It has been a tough job. We are often asked to keep a good-looking standing gesture on the standardized 5-centimeter-high heels for more than one hour, so that my T-shirt has been drenched with sweat even in the air-conditioned room," yang said. "Our teacher sometimes was seen taking a pack of broken heels for repair, a measure of our suffering," the young woman said with a bitter smile. The beauties had fought off furious competition to secure their chance to "enjoy the beautiful suffering" in the temporary "charm school", a vocational school in Beijing's northern Changping District.
The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the 29th Olympiad (BOCOG) selected 297 beauties from a dozen Beijing colleges such as the Communication University of China, the University of International Relations, and Beijing Technology and Business University, said Wang Ning, deputy division chief of the Sport Representation and Victory Ceremony Division of the Culture and Ceremonies Department, BOCOG. The other 40 were selected from more than 1,700 candidates from Shanghai top-level universities, Wang added. All the girls were picked by experts from various professions, including models, body-shaping teachers, journalists, singers, dancers and athletes, based on specific standards of their body shapes and facial features, Wang said. A hostess needs to be a college student with good education background. She needs to be between 168 to 175 cm and good looking, which was specified in statistics of the sizes of bust, waist, hip and even mouth, nose, and eye, Wang said, but she refused to reveal the numbers.
"It was only a reference for the experts and some girls failing to accord with the size were also selected because of their beauty and passion," Wang said. Yang Xu said she had been in a selection process since last May. The previous rounds were done in her college, Beijing Yixian Professional Education Institute. "It is a chance, a god-given chance, to be more accurate, as China has been longing to host the Olympics for 100 years. I simply want to be part of it for the experience and to improve myself," Yang Xu said. Her feeling was exactly shared by many other women, including apair of 19-year-old twins named Li Ziye and Li Xiaoye.
The twins had always been eye-catching among the hundreds of beauties. They said they will probably be the hostesses for the first gold medal of the Games as athlete guides at a shooting venue. They had undergone a strict timetable from 6:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., regulating their life from getting up in the morning to falling asleep at night. They are scheduled to run in the morning and have classes all day until 8:30 p.m.. The training was hard work but there were lighter moments, said the elder sister Li Ziye. She said they were trained to smile with eight teeth exposed and look at the camera flashes without blinking. "We should not blink even if tears come out," Li Ziye said, with eyes opened wide.
"People always confused by us. I was always blamed by the teacher when my sister did something wrong. Some even thought there was a mirror when we were sitting face to face," the younger one Li Xiaoye said, chuckling. Many girls have made good friends during these days because of the shared experiences. "I've made many new friends here. They helped me a lot, which touched me sometimes deeply," Yang Xu said. "The victory ceremony will be the faces of China's Olympics as a necessary part of the Games," said Cai Fuchao, vice mayor of Beijing, at a start-up ceremony for volunteers on Sunday. The ceremonies had been designed with many traditional Chinese elements, the deputy division chief Wang Ning said.
The hostesses had been trained to be beauties both inside and outside, Wang said. The young women, with a classical Chinese temperament, would send messages of Chinese implicit beauty in each simple move as taught in the classes, she said. Their silk costumes were also designed with traditional Chinese cultural images such as blue-and-white porcelain, embroidery and jade. The ladies were not only beauties, but well-educated beauties, said Wang who had added classes like security, making-up skills and handling the media.
"All of them can communicate in English without any problem, and some even can speak other foreign languages such as Spanish," Wang said. They had all been arranged to each single post in every venue and each of them know her duties well. "We have labored so much, simply to give for a few minutes a good impression at the Olympic victory ceremony as we want to show the most beautiful aspect of oriental ladies across the world," said the twin sister Li Ziye, with a gentle smile.
"I've always dreamed of being a guide hostess for the table tennis athletes at the Olympic venue," said Yang Xu, 19, one of the 300-odd young women selected from more than 5,000 candidates in Beijing and Shanghai colleges as part of the Olympic volunteers. Just like others, the slim, 170 cm tall Yang has been trained for three short terms with five kinds of courses, including body-shaping exercises, dancing, manners, ceremony processes and basic Olympic-related knowledge.
"It has been a tough job. We are often asked to keep a good-looking standing gesture on the standardized 5-centimeter-high heels for more than one hour, so that my T-shirt has been drenched with sweat even in the air-conditioned room," yang said. "Our teacher sometimes was seen taking a pack of broken heels for repair, a measure of our suffering," the young woman said with a bitter smile. The beauties had fought off furious competition to secure their chance to "enjoy the beautiful suffering" in the temporary "charm school", a vocational school in Beijing's northern Changping District.
The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the 29th Olympiad (BOCOG) selected 297 beauties from a dozen Beijing colleges such as the Communication University of China, the University of International Relations, and Beijing Technology and Business University, said Wang Ning, deputy division chief of the Sport Representation and Victory Ceremony Division of the Culture and Ceremonies Department, BOCOG. The other 40 were selected from more than 1,700 candidates from Shanghai top-level universities, Wang added. All the girls were picked by experts from various professions, including models, body-shaping teachers, journalists, singers, dancers and athletes, based on specific standards of their body shapes and facial features, Wang said. A hostess needs to be a college student with good education background. She needs to be between 168 to 175 cm and good looking, which was specified in statistics of the sizes of bust, waist, hip and even mouth, nose, and eye, Wang said, but she refused to reveal the numbers.
"It was only a reference for the experts and some girls failing to accord with the size were also selected because of their beauty and passion," Wang said. Yang Xu said she had been in a selection process since last May. The previous rounds were done in her college, Beijing Yixian Professional Education Institute. "It is a chance, a god-given chance, to be more accurate, as China has been longing to host the Olympics for 100 years. I simply want to be part of it for the experience and to improve myself," Yang Xu said. Her feeling was exactly shared by many other women, including apair of 19-year-old twins named Li Ziye and Li Xiaoye.
The twins had always been eye-catching among the hundreds of beauties. They said they will probably be the hostesses for the first gold medal of the Games as athlete guides at a shooting venue. They had undergone a strict timetable from 6:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., regulating their life from getting up in the morning to falling asleep at night. They are scheduled to run in the morning and have classes all day until 8:30 p.m.. The training was hard work but there were lighter moments, said the elder sister Li Ziye. She said they were trained to smile with eight teeth exposed and look at the camera flashes without blinking. "We should not blink even if tears come out," Li Ziye said, with eyes opened wide.
"People always confused by us. I was always blamed by the teacher when my sister did something wrong. Some even thought there was a mirror when we were sitting face to face," the younger one Li Xiaoye said, chuckling. Many girls have made good friends during these days because of the shared experiences. "I've made many new friends here. They helped me a lot, which touched me sometimes deeply," Yang Xu said. "The victory ceremony will be the faces of China's Olympics as a necessary part of the Games," said Cai Fuchao, vice mayor of Beijing, at a start-up ceremony for volunteers on Sunday. The ceremonies had been designed with many traditional Chinese elements, the deputy division chief Wang Ning said.
The hostesses had been trained to be beauties both inside and outside, Wang said. The young women, with a classical Chinese temperament, would send messages of Chinese implicit beauty in each simple move as taught in the classes, she said. Their silk costumes were also designed with traditional Chinese cultural images such as blue-and-white porcelain, embroidery and jade. The ladies were not only beauties, but well-educated beauties, said Wang who had added classes like security, making-up skills and handling the media.
"All of them can communicate in English without any problem, and some even can speak other foreign languages such as Spanish," Wang said. They had all been arranged to each single post in every venue and each of them know her duties well. "We have labored so much, simply to give for a few minutes a good impression at the Olympic victory ceremony as we want to show the most beautiful aspect of oriental ladies across the world," said the twin sister Li Ziye, with a gentle smile.
Chinese armed forces ready for Olympics
BEIJING, July 23 (Xinhua) -- After five years' training, China's armed police are in place and ready for the Olympic security tasks, according to the consensus from nationwide meetings on Wednesday. Chinese armed forces held the meetings to pledge their efforts for the success of the Olympic security tasks. About 49,000 armed police attended the meetings at 873 places around the country, including the major one in Beijing.
During the Games, armed police will undertake 12 security tasks. These include guarding Olympic venues, guaranteeing VIP safety, handling emergencies and fighting terrorists, among others. Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu attended the meeting in Beijing and urged the armed police to faithfully fulfill their tasks and leave no loopholes.
Li Jinai, head of the General Political Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, required all armed police to fully understand the importance of the security tasks for the Games and spare no effort to attain the goal of safe Olympics. Beijing has deployed nearly 110,000 personnel, including police, army troops and volunteers to ensure the security of the Olympiad, while mobilizing the whole society, according to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games.
During the Games, armed police will undertake 12 security tasks. These include guarding Olympic venues, guaranteeing VIP safety, handling emergencies and fighting terrorists, among others. Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu attended the meeting in Beijing and urged the armed police to faithfully fulfill their tasks and leave no loopholes.
Li Jinai, head of the General Political Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, required all armed police to fully understand the importance of the security tasks for the Games and spare no effort to attain the goal of safe Olympics. Beijing has deployed nearly 110,000 personnel, including police, army troops and volunteers to ensure the security of the Olympiad, while mobilizing the whole society, according to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games.
Sunday, 20 July 2008
Beijing launches anti-pollution traffic control measures
BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Sunday saw the start of two months of vehicle control in Beijing to ease traffic pressure and improve air quality for the Olympic Games. Beijing's drivers found much fewer vehicles on the road and a much smoother drive in the morning, partly because it was on the weekend but largely because of the vehicle restrictions. According to a short-term traffic rule effective from July 20 through Sept. 20, vehicles with even and odd plates run on alternate days in the metropolis, which boasts 3.29 million vehicles.
Traffic was smooth during the morning peak hour. From the Liuliqiao Bridge on the southwest third ring road to Beitucheng on the northeast of the north third ring road, a normally one-hour-plus drive took only half an hour in the morning. Lin Fengjiang, who has an odd-number car plate, said he opted for the bus because of the restrictions. "It's ok with me. The bus runs very fast today. It's even more time-efficient than driving a car," said the office worker.
Yao Zhenping, assistant to the general manager of the Beijing Public Transport Holdings Group, said monitoring showed that more than 95 percent of the buses reached the stops according to the timetable, something that was impossible on congested roads. The city authorities said the restriction, along with an earlier ban on the use of vehicles which failed to meet emission standards, would drive 2 million cars off the roads to ease traffic and improve air quality for the Games. With the restriction rule, an additional 4 million people were expected to resort to the public transport system due to the vehicle use control, according to the city government.
The restriction rule was applied to both vehicles which registered in Beijing and non-Beijing vehicles which drove on Beijing's streets during July 20-Sept. 20 period. But those vehicles which were used to transport fresh vegetable into Beijing were free of the rule, said the city government. Car emissions have been considered as one of the major sources of air pollution in Beijing. The atmospheric pollution in Beijing is caused by a combination of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and particulate matter, which largely came from exhaust emissions, environmentalists said.
He Kebin, a professor at the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering of Tsinghua University, said almost all major indicators of Beijing's air quality had met the requirements of the Olympic Games except for the indicator of the inhalable particulate matter. "Vehicles contribute more than 50 percent of the pollution caused by the inhalable particulate matter, so the restriction of vehicle use is the most effective way to solve the problem," said He. Environmental experts estimated that the vehicle-use restriction and the ban on the use of vehicles which failed to meet emission standards will cut car emission by 63 percent, or about 118,000 tonnes of pollutants, for Beijing in the next two months.
The vehicle-use restriction won applause from Beijing residents. According to a survey conducted by the Beijing Social Facts & Public Opinion Survey Center, 94.8 percent of the respondents supported the rule, which was 5.9 percentage points higher than last year's approval rate. During Aug. 17 to 20 of 2007, Beijing had carried out a four-day test run of even-odd traffic control to clear the city's air. Also on Sunday, Beijing started implementing another two-month-long measure to ease traffic pressures and reduce air pollution -- the change working hours.
The city government said it encourages people to work flexible hours or work at home if possible. Working hours for companies will be set from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Public institutions will begin work at 9:30 a.m., one hour later than normal. Shopping malls will open no earlier than 10 a.m. and stay open longer, until 10 p.m. or even later. Over the past years, Beijing has been working aggressively in a bid to improve its oft-criticized air quality. Beijing municipal government said it had poured more than 140 billion yuan (20.5 billion U.S. dollars) since 1998 into more than200 projects dedicated to improving the city's air quality.
Such efforts have paid off. The Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau said the city's air quality had been continuously improving since 1998. The "blue sky" days, or days with fairly good air quality, for the entire year of 2007 had jumped to 246 from 100 recorded in 1998, said the bureau. In 2007, the densities of sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter in Beijing's air were 60.8percent, 39.4 percent, 10.8 percent and 17.8 percent lower than in1998, according to the bureau.
Traffic was smooth during the morning peak hour. From the Liuliqiao Bridge on the southwest third ring road to Beitucheng on the northeast of the north third ring road, a normally one-hour-plus drive took only half an hour in the morning. Lin Fengjiang, who has an odd-number car plate, said he opted for the bus because of the restrictions. "It's ok with me. The bus runs very fast today. It's even more time-efficient than driving a car," said the office worker.
Yao Zhenping, assistant to the general manager of the Beijing Public Transport Holdings Group, said monitoring showed that more than 95 percent of the buses reached the stops according to the timetable, something that was impossible on congested roads. The city authorities said the restriction, along with an earlier ban on the use of vehicles which failed to meet emission standards, would drive 2 million cars off the roads to ease traffic and improve air quality for the Games. With the restriction rule, an additional 4 million people were expected to resort to the public transport system due to the vehicle use control, according to the city government.
The restriction rule was applied to both vehicles which registered in Beijing and non-Beijing vehicles which drove on Beijing's streets during July 20-Sept. 20 period. But those vehicles which were used to transport fresh vegetable into Beijing were free of the rule, said the city government. Car emissions have been considered as one of the major sources of air pollution in Beijing. The atmospheric pollution in Beijing is caused by a combination of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and particulate matter, which largely came from exhaust emissions, environmentalists said.
He Kebin, a professor at the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering of Tsinghua University, said almost all major indicators of Beijing's air quality had met the requirements of the Olympic Games except for the indicator of the inhalable particulate matter. "Vehicles contribute more than 50 percent of the pollution caused by the inhalable particulate matter, so the restriction of vehicle use is the most effective way to solve the problem," said He. Environmental experts estimated that the vehicle-use restriction and the ban on the use of vehicles which failed to meet emission standards will cut car emission by 63 percent, or about 118,000 tonnes of pollutants, for Beijing in the next two months.
The vehicle-use restriction won applause from Beijing residents. According to a survey conducted by the Beijing Social Facts & Public Opinion Survey Center, 94.8 percent of the respondents supported the rule, which was 5.9 percentage points higher than last year's approval rate. During Aug. 17 to 20 of 2007, Beijing had carried out a four-day test run of even-odd traffic control to clear the city's air. Also on Sunday, Beijing started implementing another two-month-long measure to ease traffic pressures and reduce air pollution -- the change working hours.
The city government said it encourages people to work flexible hours or work at home if possible. Working hours for companies will be set from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Public institutions will begin work at 9:30 a.m., one hour later than normal. Shopping malls will open no earlier than 10 a.m. and stay open longer, until 10 p.m. or even later. Over the past years, Beijing has been working aggressively in a bid to improve its oft-criticized air quality. Beijing municipal government said it had poured more than 140 billion yuan (20.5 billion U.S. dollars) since 1998 into more than200 projects dedicated to improving the city's air quality.
Such efforts have paid off. The Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau said the city's air quality had been continuously improving since 1998. The "blue sky" days, or days with fairly good air quality, for the entire year of 2007 had jumped to 246 from 100 recorded in 1998, said the bureau. In 2007, the densities of sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter in Beijing's air were 60.8percent, 39.4 percent, 10.8 percent and 17.8 percent lower than in1998, according to the bureau.
Windpower to provide a fifth of Olympics power supply
BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) -- A wind power plant has become operational in suburban Beijing, considered a major step towards making 20 percent of the power supply to the city's Olympic venues during the games wind-generated.
The Guanting Wind Power Plant, beginning operation on Saturday, would not only help fulfil Beijing's promise of a "green Olympics", but symbolize the first-ever large-scale employment of wind power generation project in the Chinese capital, said a spokesman for the project. With an installed capacity of 64,500 kilowatts, the plant has 43 domestically developed wind power units at work.
Since its first unit went into operation on Jan. 20, the plant has supplied 35 million kWh of "green power" to Beijing. It is expected to supply 100 million-kWh electricity per year, enough to meet the daily demand of 100,000 households. The power plant could help cut yearly emission of carbon dioxide by 100,000 tonnes and save 50,000 tonnes of coal each year. The Beijing Olympics opens on Aug. 8.
The Guanting Wind Power Plant, beginning operation on Saturday, would not only help fulfil Beijing's promise of a "green Olympics", but symbolize the first-ever large-scale employment of wind power generation project in the Chinese capital, said a spokesman for the project. With an installed capacity of 64,500 kilowatts, the plant has 43 domestically developed wind power units at work.
Since its first unit went into operation on Jan. 20, the plant has supplied 35 million kWh of "green power" to Beijing. It is expected to supply 100 million-kWh electricity per year, enough to meet the daily demand of 100,000 households. The power plant could help cut yearly emission of carbon dioxide by 100,000 tonnes and save 50,000 tonnes of coal each year. The Beijing Olympics opens on Aug. 8.
Olympic Village opens unofficially
BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) -- The Beijing Olympics athletes' village "softly" opened here on Sunday as the advance contingents of 12 national Olympic committees were expected to check in.
"The advance men from 12 national Olympic committees are scheduled to check in at the village today," Yin Lei, an organizing committee staff at the village's arrival and departure center, told Xinhua. "We call it a soft opening," he said.
During the Aug. 8-24 Games, the village will be home to about 16, 000 athletes and officials. The 42-building complex in the north of the capital city also includes a hospital, a bank, shops, places of worship, restaurants, a swimming pool, and gyms.
Officially it will open to delegations on July 27, two weeks before the start of the Olympics. After the Paralympics in September, the village will be housing for the public.
"The advance men from 12 national Olympic committees are scheduled to check in at the village today," Yin Lei, an organizing committee staff at the village's arrival and departure center, told Xinhua. "We call it a soft opening," he said.
During the Aug. 8-24 Games, the village will be home to about 16, 000 athletes and officials. The 42-building complex in the north of the capital city also includes a hospital, a bank, shops, places of worship, restaurants, a swimming pool, and gyms.
Officially it will open to delegations on July 27, two weeks before the start of the Olympics. After the Paralympics in September, the village will be housing for the public.
Taiwan, Tibet leaders not on Beijing's Olympics guest list
REUTERS - July 20th
The Dalai Lama may be the guest of honour of US President George W Bush, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders, but you won't find Tibet's exiled spiritual leader on the Beijing Olympics guest list. Also missing from the list is Ma Ying-jeou, the Harvard-educated, democratically elected president of self-ruled Taiwan which Beijing has claimed as its own since their split in 1949 amid civil war, despite a recent thaw in relations.The Dalai Lama's appearance could have helped repair China's international image, which was dented by a government crackdown following rioting among Tibetans in March -- the worst in the Himalayan region since 1989. But China fears he would steal Chinese President Hu Jintao's thunder.
"It's supposed to be Hu Jintao's Olympics, but it'll become the Dalai Lama's Olympics if he attends," a source familiar with government policy said requesting anonymity. The Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule, had said during a visit to London in May that he hoped to attend the August 8-24 Games if talks between his envoys and China produced results. China has not rejected the Dalai Lama's overtures outright, but hopes were dampened when the closed-door talks ended with the government-in-exile accusing China of lacking sincerity. The Chinese government has blamed the Dalai Lama and his followers for instigating the March unrest and attempting to sabotage the Olympics, charges he has repeatedly denied.
For China, the Games are supposed to showcase the prosperity and modernisation of what is now the world's fourth-biggest economy after three decades of economic reforms and rapid growth. Ma is a different story. China has mixed feelings for the Taiwan president, who is opposed to Taiwan formally declaring independence, a stance Beijing welcomes. But Ma has repeatedly urged China to politically reassess the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests -- anathema to the country's leaders. Beijing has sought to push Taiwan into diplomatic isolation and considers the island a province that must eventually return to the fold, by force if necessary.
"[Dignitaries] attending the Olympic opening are all heads of state, but China does not recognise Taiwan as a state," Taiwan political analyst Andrew Yang said by telephone. "How will [Hu Jintao] address Ma Ying-jeou? 'Taiwanese leader' won't be acceptable to the Taiwan people or Ma." Hawks in the Chinese government are opposed to the Dalai Lama's visit, worried that thousands of Tibetans would flock to Beijing by plane, train, bus or horseback to catch a glimpse of their revered god-king, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
There are more than 10 ministerial-level government and Communist Party bodies with a stake in blocking the Dalai Lama's return, including the local governments of Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, the Ministry of State Security, the Ministry of Public Security, the People's Liberation Army and the paramilitary People's Armed Police.
For China, domestic stability during the Olympics is far more important than international applause. "Even if there are people who want to change things, they would have all sorts of worries," Wang Lixiong, a Chinese author and expert on Tibet, said in an interview. "In China, government officials do not hope for achievements but they hope to avoid committing mistakes," Wang said, referring to political risks for the leadership.
The Dalai Lama may be the guest of honour of US President George W Bush, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders, but you won't find Tibet's exiled spiritual leader on the Beijing Olympics guest list. Also missing from the list is Ma Ying-jeou, the Harvard-educated, democratically elected president of self-ruled Taiwan which Beijing has claimed as its own since their split in 1949 amid civil war, despite a recent thaw in relations.The Dalai Lama's appearance could have helped repair China's international image, which was dented by a government crackdown following rioting among Tibetans in March -- the worst in the Himalayan region since 1989. But China fears he would steal Chinese President Hu Jintao's thunder.
"It's supposed to be Hu Jintao's Olympics, but it'll become the Dalai Lama's Olympics if he attends," a source familiar with government policy said requesting anonymity. The Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule, had said during a visit to London in May that he hoped to attend the August 8-24 Games if talks between his envoys and China produced results. China has not rejected the Dalai Lama's overtures outright, but hopes were dampened when the closed-door talks ended with the government-in-exile accusing China of lacking sincerity. The Chinese government has blamed the Dalai Lama and his followers for instigating the March unrest and attempting to sabotage the Olympics, charges he has repeatedly denied.
For China, the Games are supposed to showcase the prosperity and modernisation of what is now the world's fourth-biggest economy after three decades of economic reforms and rapid growth. Ma is a different story. China has mixed feelings for the Taiwan president, who is opposed to Taiwan formally declaring independence, a stance Beijing welcomes. But Ma has repeatedly urged China to politically reassess the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests -- anathema to the country's leaders. Beijing has sought to push Taiwan into diplomatic isolation and considers the island a province that must eventually return to the fold, by force if necessary.
"[Dignitaries] attending the Olympic opening are all heads of state, but China does not recognise Taiwan as a state," Taiwan political analyst Andrew Yang said by telephone. "How will [Hu Jintao] address Ma Ying-jeou? 'Taiwanese leader' won't be acceptable to the Taiwan people or Ma." Hawks in the Chinese government are opposed to the Dalai Lama's visit, worried that thousands of Tibetans would flock to Beijing by plane, train, bus or horseback to catch a glimpse of their revered god-king, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
There are more than 10 ministerial-level government and Communist Party bodies with a stake in blocking the Dalai Lama's return, including the local governments of Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, the Ministry of State Security, the Ministry of Public Security, the People's Liberation Army and the paramilitary People's Armed Police.
For China, domestic stability during the Olympics is far more important than international applause. "Even if there are people who want to change things, they would have all sorts of worries," Wang Lixiong, a Chinese author and expert on Tibet, said in an interview. "In China, government officials do not hope for achievements but they hope to avoid committing mistakes," Wang said, referring to political risks for the leadership.
National pride sweeps China ahead of Olympic Games
LONDON - The Guardian
A wave of nationalist fervour is sweeping across China as it prepares for the Olympic Games. In Yan'an, the once-poor city that was the cradle of Mao's revolution, growing economic and social divisions are being submerged by a heady mix of sporting passion and political pride.
Behind the hills and the skyscrapers the sun is going down on another working day, but Ren Zhirong cannot stop to talk. The carpet still has to be laid on the university's volleyball courts, the spotlights connected, the music chosen. Only then can scores of his finest pupils show Yan'an, a small town in central China, 'what ballroom dancing is all about'.
'This is the moment I have been working towards all my life,' said Ren, 48, as he watched 100 contestants, all from Yan'an University, putting the finishing touches to their make-up and costumes. 'This is my dream.'
The couples adjusting pink nylon gowns and sequinned electric blue trousers do not know it but they - and Ren - are the face of modern China. Far from Beijing, from Shanghai or from the bustling economic powerhouse of Guangdong province, they have grown up in a poor, rural, northern-central province and are often the first in the family to receive more than a rudimentary education - and in some cases the first not to worry about basics like food and a roof.
Shi Tao Jao, in a yellow dress, hopes for a career in 'international tourist management'. Dancing allows her 'to meet boys'. These young people have watched their country evolving at an astonishing pace. In the last competition, Shi came second. Now she wants to be first.
Ren himself knows about change. He set up the club, from which he now earns a good living, with the 60,000 yuan (£4,400) redundancy payment he received when the state-owned factory where he had worked for 26 years shut 18 months ago - bankrupted by the government's free market reforms. 'Once it was just two of us. Now we have 400 dancers,' Ren, a former truck driver, said. And with three weeks to go until the Olympics, Ren's ambitions of teaching all Yan'an the cha-cha-cha have met with official approval.
The Communist party of China is nothing if not flexible. What some might once have considered a bourgeois Western import has been cleverly co-opted. 'We are using ballroom dancing to mobilise young people for the Olympics,' says Shen Chang Liang, in Yan'an's public sports office. As elsewhere in China, local authorities are planning a series of sporting competitions, parades and open days to crank up the popular fervour for the Olympics.
Sports authorities may insist that the games themselves are non-political, but few in China are blind to their internal significance. Bringing the Olympics to the country is widely seen as a vindication of the government's diplomatic skill - and therefore that of the party - as well as its economic competence. It is also seen as a key assertion of a new national identity and confidence.
'Sport is a key part of the project of the party for the nation,' said Liu Haijun, director of the Yan'an Sports Institute.
So Yan'an, population 340,000, now has a new 20,000-seat sports stadium, one of hundreds of such projects across the country. Every afternoon, after lessons in the morning, scores of teenage students train on the stadium's Astroturf. Mainly from poor rural families, they are all students of Yan'an's subsidised Sports Institute. This, they hope, is their way out of poverty.
But equality, sporting or otherwise, is relative. The director's large, new black car is parked outside the students' squalid, rudimentary accommodation and the windows to his air-conditioned office keep the stench from the student's communal latrines at bay.
For the government, sport not only projects national pride and prowess, but is a way of cushioning the pain of immense social and economic changes.
The parents of Lu Fan, 17, an aspiring young sprinter at the academy, live 30 miles north of Yan'an in a flat provided by the factory where they have worked for 20 years. If the state-owned enterprise closes they will lose income, healthcare and their home. Then the £400-a-year fees for the sports institute would be very difficult to find. 'I am always anxious,' said Lu's mother, Li Chunmei. 'But my son has talent, so I am hopeful too.'
Lu says he is 'realistic'. 'I don't dream of the Olympics. But maybe I'll make it on the national stage one day. And I'll make a good living too,' he says.
But sport will only go so far in uniting the nation behind a repressive one-party state ... and the government has other cards to play.
Yan'an is the city where Mao Zedong ended the Long March and built up his forces before finally launching the campaign that brought him and the resurgent Communist party of China to power in 1949. Scattered among the towering new apartment blocks are the simple - but perfectly maintained - huts and halls used by Mao and his comrades more than 60 years ago.
Since 2005, the government has poured huge resources into 'red tourism' here. A vast station is under construction in Yan'an to welcome special trains ferrying visitors from the sprawling coastal cities. The prettiest and brightest local girls are recruited to guide half a million visitors each year. 'The important thing is to transfer the spirit, diligence and patriotism of the old generation,' says Yuan Xin, 23, a guide and local student.
The visitors are mainly on coach trips from factories and schools but increasingly there are individual visitors, too. In the courtyard of Chairman Mao's former home, one woman said she had brought her nine-year-old daughter to learn of 'the sacrifices made by our leaders'. In another, two young boys dressed up as 1930s soldiers and took pictures of each other. 'The hardship the old leaders suffered is really impressive,' one said.
For their guide, there was no doubt. 'The Communist party and the Chinese nation are inseparable. Without the Communist party, there is no new China,' she said.
The success of 'red tourism' reveals one reason for the party's continued hold on China: the legitimacy the party has as a liberator of the country from invaders, colonial proxies and powers in the mid-20th century.
Equally important is a reputation for efficient management, which explains in part why such extraordinary precautions are being taken to ensure a trouble-free Olympics - despite the bad press they provoke overseas. For months, visas have been restricted, dissidents harassed, activists gagged, normally tolerated critics warned to stay silent and even the most innocent tourists vetted.
'If imposing the control of the party on the games means less visitors, so be it,' said one Western diplomat. 'As long as the games are without incident, anything is acceptable.'
Few in Yan'an, or elsewhere in China, mention democracy or human rights. Some are too frightened. For others, perhaps conditioned by 60 years of tightly controlled media, such ideas seem alien. 'China? Democratic? What a funny idea!' one Yan'an housewife exclaimed. Others repeat the government's argument that China is too big and unstable for Western-style democracy to work.
Among the scores of people interviewed by The Observer in Yan'an only one, a Christian woman student from the Mongolian minority, expressed a desire for greater democracy because 'people would then be more free to practise their religion'. She was quick to add that President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao were the best leaders for 40 years.
The party is far from a tiny elite, as some commentators claim. Its official membership is 73 million and growing. Its members range from the powerful technocrats in the upper reaches of government to village chairmen. They include committed socialists, bureaucrats of every variety, quality, honesty and competence and, increasingly, ambitious young networkers.
Yet 'socialism' appears as something of a relic in the new China and 'communism' an inherited but empty title. Few states have embraced neo-liberal capitalism so quickly, so enthusiastically and so thoroughly. Decades of economic growth appear to vindicate the choices made by party leaders in the early 1980s and during a second wave of economic restructuring a decade later.
Alongside the legitimacy conferred by their forebears (the famines and brutality of the Mao era are carefully obscured) and the loyalty resulting from decades of social engineering, is the party's trump card: economic development. And in Yan'an, though perhaps less spectacularly than in Shanghai, the new wealth is very evident.
Outside a small rustic restaurant a new Jaguar belonging to businessman Wang Cheng, 45, is parked. 'It cost me 1.5m yuan (£120,000),' he said, tucking into a meal of pork intestines and chilli. 'I have one philosophy in life: a man's worth is his wealth, his value is his riches.' Wang, a property developer, hotelier and son of a government clerk and a farmer, is not a party member. 'That does not mean I am not a patriot,' he insists.
At the university, staff are proud that the car park is full. 'Now we have more than 80 cars for 270 staff. Ten years ago there were none,' said one lecturer. Even menial labourers living 18 to a filthy 'cave' house on the slopes around Yan'an insisted that life was 'much better' - though they complained about rising prices, the cost of healthcare and school fees. And a 61-year-old woman who earns £1 each evening from collecting plastic bottles for recycling said that life was easier, at least compared to the grim days of famine and political brutality of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976.
Drive off the new motorway running down the fertile valley and on to the rutted road that leads east from Yan'an into the hills and, for 120 miles, the landscape does not vary: wooded hills fissured by erosion; small ponds staked with fish nets; terraced fields sparsely planted with wheat; and villages, a hundred identical dusty clusters of brick, concrete, peeling paint, fading slogans and chickens. On the final ridge before the Yellow river gorge, Wang Zhi Hong, 44, is tending his apple trees.
Wang's village, Zaho, is a long way from the sparkling image of the new China that the government hopes to showcase during the Olympics. Wang admits that, like most of his neighbours, he eats meat only about a dozen times a year. Jars beside his earth-and-brick house collect rain from the roof for drinking and washing. Though some villages have mains water, Zaho's 280 inhabitants cannot find the 300 yuan (£24) for each connection. Most young people have gone to work in the cities.
The daughters of Wang Cui, 51, are in Beijing. 'What do you expect?' she asks. 'This place has not changed for 30 years.' Even the new house she has built with cash sent by her children brings worries. 'Now all our poor relatives want to borrow money,' she says.
But however much Zaho's villagers complain - about poor healthcare, the distant school, corruption and partisan local officials - they remain loyal 'to the great project of building a new China', as described in the slogans painted on their walls a year or so ago. They are grateful for recent tax cuts for farmers and proud that their country is hosting the Olympics. There is only a trace of nostalgia. 'In the old days, 30 years ago,' says Wang. 'Everyone was poor and life was tough ... but at least we were all equal.'
Down in the gorge that funnels the Yellow river through the mountains on its way to the plains and the sea, a crowd of tourists - all Chinese - take photographs. The games, the Chinese authoritarian model, the Western statements on Tibet, their country's economic success, all combine in an outpouring of identity and emotion, of pride in their nation, 'their' Olympics and their government.
There are, of course, threats to the party's dominant position that could become serious in the decades to come: the global economic factors and local environmental problems could derail the economic growth that so many believe will bring them or their children wealth. It is clear that the 'rush for growth' is leading to such profound inequality that stability could be threatened. In one shop in Yan'an, where five pairs of Italian-made shoes, each costing what the staff earn in a month, are sold each day, there were rumblings of discontent. 'It does make me angry,' whispered one shop assistant. 'The gap between the rich and the poor is getting too big.'
The real trouble for the ruling party may come not from this generation but the one that follows. But that is some time away yet. For now, in Yan'an and the rest of China, the dance into a capitalist future goes on and the Communist party continues to call the tune.
Cradle of revolution
· Population of Yan'a n: 340, 000.
· Size: 3,541 sq km.
· Formerly known as Yanzhou, city records go back 1,400 years.
· The town was used as a military headquarters during the Sino-Japanese war (1937-1945) and China's civil war (1945-1949) between the communists and the Nationalists (KMT) led by Chiang Kai-shek.
· When the town was razed by Japanese bombing during the the Second World War, Yan'an's inhabitants took to living in yaodongs, artificial caves carved into the surrounding hillsides.
· Yan'an was the end point of the Long March trek of the Red Army to escape attacks from Chiang's Nationalist armies. It began in October 1934.
· It is the location of the general offices of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist party.
· The town was the venue for meetings and interviews between the communist leader, Mao Zedong, and the American journalist and author Edgar Snow, as well as his fellow American journalist, Anna Louise Strong, who was a communist supporter.
· The town contains 140 sites that are regarded as significant in revolutionary history, such as the Wangjiaping site, Yangjialing site, the Date garden and Pagoda Hill.
· The Hukou waterfall nearby is the only Yellow river waterfall and the second biggest waterfall in all of China.
A wave of nationalist fervour is sweeping across China as it prepares for the Olympic Games. In Yan'an, the once-poor city that was the cradle of Mao's revolution, growing economic and social divisions are being submerged by a heady mix of sporting passion and political pride.
Behind the hills and the skyscrapers the sun is going down on another working day, but Ren Zhirong cannot stop to talk. The carpet still has to be laid on the university's volleyball courts, the spotlights connected, the music chosen. Only then can scores of his finest pupils show Yan'an, a small town in central China, 'what ballroom dancing is all about'.
'This is the moment I have been working towards all my life,' said Ren, 48, as he watched 100 contestants, all from Yan'an University, putting the finishing touches to their make-up and costumes. 'This is my dream.'
The couples adjusting pink nylon gowns and sequinned electric blue trousers do not know it but they - and Ren - are the face of modern China. Far from Beijing, from Shanghai or from the bustling economic powerhouse of Guangdong province, they have grown up in a poor, rural, northern-central province and are often the first in the family to receive more than a rudimentary education - and in some cases the first not to worry about basics like food and a roof.
Shi Tao Jao, in a yellow dress, hopes for a career in 'international tourist management'. Dancing allows her 'to meet boys'. These young people have watched their country evolving at an astonishing pace. In the last competition, Shi came second. Now she wants to be first.
Ren himself knows about change. He set up the club, from which he now earns a good living, with the 60,000 yuan (£4,400) redundancy payment he received when the state-owned factory where he had worked for 26 years shut 18 months ago - bankrupted by the government's free market reforms. 'Once it was just two of us. Now we have 400 dancers,' Ren, a former truck driver, said. And with three weeks to go until the Olympics, Ren's ambitions of teaching all Yan'an the cha-cha-cha have met with official approval.
The Communist party of China is nothing if not flexible. What some might once have considered a bourgeois Western import has been cleverly co-opted. 'We are using ballroom dancing to mobilise young people for the Olympics,' says Shen Chang Liang, in Yan'an's public sports office. As elsewhere in China, local authorities are planning a series of sporting competitions, parades and open days to crank up the popular fervour for the Olympics.
Sports authorities may insist that the games themselves are non-political, but few in China are blind to their internal significance. Bringing the Olympics to the country is widely seen as a vindication of the government's diplomatic skill - and therefore that of the party - as well as its economic competence. It is also seen as a key assertion of a new national identity and confidence.
'Sport is a key part of the project of the party for the nation,' said Liu Haijun, director of the Yan'an Sports Institute.
So Yan'an, population 340,000, now has a new 20,000-seat sports stadium, one of hundreds of such projects across the country. Every afternoon, after lessons in the morning, scores of teenage students train on the stadium's Astroturf. Mainly from poor rural families, they are all students of Yan'an's subsidised Sports Institute. This, they hope, is their way out of poverty.
But equality, sporting or otherwise, is relative. The director's large, new black car is parked outside the students' squalid, rudimentary accommodation and the windows to his air-conditioned office keep the stench from the student's communal latrines at bay.
For the government, sport not only projects national pride and prowess, but is a way of cushioning the pain of immense social and economic changes.
The parents of Lu Fan, 17, an aspiring young sprinter at the academy, live 30 miles north of Yan'an in a flat provided by the factory where they have worked for 20 years. If the state-owned enterprise closes they will lose income, healthcare and their home. Then the £400-a-year fees for the sports institute would be very difficult to find. 'I am always anxious,' said Lu's mother, Li Chunmei. 'But my son has talent, so I am hopeful too.'
Lu says he is 'realistic'. 'I don't dream of the Olympics. But maybe I'll make it on the national stage one day. And I'll make a good living too,' he says.
But sport will only go so far in uniting the nation behind a repressive one-party state ... and the government has other cards to play.
Yan'an is the city where Mao Zedong ended the Long March and built up his forces before finally launching the campaign that brought him and the resurgent Communist party of China to power in 1949. Scattered among the towering new apartment blocks are the simple - but perfectly maintained - huts and halls used by Mao and his comrades more than 60 years ago.
Since 2005, the government has poured huge resources into 'red tourism' here. A vast station is under construction in Yan'an to welcome special trains ferrying visitors from the sprawling coastal cities. The prettiest and brightest local girls are recruited to guide half a million visitors each year. 'The important thing is to transfer the spirit, diligence and patriotism of the old generation,' says Yuan Xin, 23, a guide and local student.
The visitors are mainly on coach trips from factories and schools but increasingly there are individual visitors, too. In the courtyard of Chairman Mao's former home, one woman said she had brought her nine-year-old daughter to learn of 'the sacrifices made by our leaders'. In another, two young boys dressed up as 1930s soldiers and took pictures of each other. 'The hardship the old leaders suffered is really impressive,' one said.
For their guide, there was no doubt. 'The Communist party and the Chinese nation are inseparable. Without the Communist party, there is no new China,' she said.
The success of 'red tourism' reveals one reason for the party's continued hold on China: the legitimacy the party has as a liberator of the country from invaders, colonial proxies and powers in the mid-20th century.
Equally important is a reputation for efficient management, which explains in part why such extraordinary precautions are being taken to ensure a trouble-free Olympics - despite the bad press they provoke overseas. For months, visas have been restricted, dissidents harassed, activists gagged, normally tolerated critics warned to stay silent and even the most innocent tourists vetted.
'If imposing the control of the party on the games means less visitors, so be it,' said one Western diplomat. 'As long as the games are without incident, anything is acceptable.'
Few in Yan'an, or elsewhere in China, mention democracy or human rights. Some are too frightened. For others, perhaps conditioned by 60 years of tightly controlled media, such ideas seem alien. 'China? Democratic? What a funny idea!' one Yan'an housewife exclaimed. Others repeat the government's argument that China is too big and unstable for Western-style democracy to work.
Among the scores of people interviewed by The Observer in Yan'an only one, a Christian woman student from the Mongolian minority, expressed a desire for greater democracy because 'people would then be more free to practise their religion'. She was quick to add that President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao were the best leaders for 40 years.
The party is far from a tiny elite, as some commentators claim. Its official membership is 73 million and growing. Its members range from the powerful technocrats in the upper reaches of government to village chairmen. They include committed socialists, bureaucrats of every variety, quality, honesty and competence and, increasingly, ambitious young networkers.
Yet 'socialism' appears as something of a relic in the new China and 'communism' an inherited but empty title. Few states have embraced neo-liberal capitalism so quickly, so enthusiastically and so thoroughly. Decades of economic growth appear to vindicate the choices made by party leaders in the early 1980s and during a second wave of economic restructuring a decade later.
Alongside the legitimacy conferred by their forebears (the famines and brutality of the Mao era are carefully obscured) and the loyalty resulting from decades of social engineering, is the party's trump card: economic development. And in Yan'an, though perhaps less spectacularly than in Shanghai, the new wealth is very evident.
Outside a small rustic restaurant a new Jaguar belonging to businessman Wang Cheng, 45, is parked. 'It cost me 1.5m yuan (£120,000),' he said, tucking into a meal of pork intestines and chilli. 'I have one philosophy in life: a man's worth is his wealth, his value is his riches.' Wang, a property developer, hotelier and son of a government clerk and a farmer, is not a party member. 'That does not mean I am not a patriot,' he insists.
At the university, staff are proud that the car park is full. 'Now we have more than 80 cars for 270 staff. Ten years ago there were none,' said one lecturer. Even menial labourers living 18 to a filthy 'cave' house on the slopes around Yan'an insisted that life was 'much better' - though they complained about rising prices, the cost of healthcare and school fees. And a 61-year-old woman who earns £1 each evening from collecting plastic bottles for recycling said that life was easier, at least compared to the grim days of famine and political brutality of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976.
Drive off the new motorway running down the fertile valley and on to the rutted road that leads east from Yan'an into the hills and, for 120 miles, the landscape does not vary: wooded hills fissured by erosion; small ponds staked with fish nets; terraced fields sparsely planted with wheat; and villages, a hundred identical dusty clusters of brick, concrete, peeling paint, fading slogans and chickens. On the final ridge before the Yellow river gorge, Wang Zhi Hong, 44, is tending his apple trees.
Wang's village, Zaho, is a long way from the sparkling image of the new China that the government hopes to showcase during the Olympics. Wang admits that, like most of his neighbours, he eats meat only about a dozen times a year. Jars beside his earth-and-brick house collect rain from the roof for drinking and washing. Though some villages have mains water, Zaho's 280 inhabitants cannot find the 300 yuan (£24) for each connection. Most young people have gone to work in the cities.
The daughters of Wang Cui, 51, are in Beijing. 'What do you expect?' she asks. 'This place has not changed for 30 years.' Even the new house she has built with cash sent by her children brings worries. 'Now all our poor relatives want to borrow money,' she says.
But however much Zaho's villagers complain - about poor healthcare, the distant school, corruption and partisan local officials - they remain loyal 'to the great project of building a new China', as described in the slogans painted on their walls a year or so ago. They are grateful for recent tax cuts for farmers and proud that their country is hosting the Olympics. There is only a trace of nostalgia. 'In the old days, 30 years ago,' says Wang. 'Everyone was poor and life was tough ... but at least we were all equal.'
Down in the gorge that funnels the Yellow river through the mountains on its way to the plains and the sea, a crowd of tourists - all Chinese - take photographs. The games, the Chinese authoritarian model, the Western statements on Tibet, their country's economic success, all combine in an outpouring of identity and emotion, of pride in their nation, 'their' Olympics and their government.
There are, of course, threats to the party's dominant position that could become serious in the decades to come: the global economic factors and local environmental problems could derail the economic growth that so many believe will bring them or their children wealth. It is clear that the 'rush for growth' is leading to such profound inequality that stability could be threatened. In one shop in Yan'an, where five pairs of Italian-made shoes, each costing what the staff earn in a month, are sold each day, there were rumblings of discontent. 'It does make me angry,' whispered one shop assistant. 'The gap between the rich and the poor is getting too big.'
The real trouble for the ruling party may come not from this generation but the one that follows. But that is some time away yet. For now, in Yan'an and the rest of China, the dance into a capitalist future goes on and the Communist party continues to call the tune.
Cradle of revolution
· Population of Yan'a n: 340, 000.
· Size: 3,541 sq km.
· Formerly known as Yanzhou, city records go back 1,400 years.
· The town was used as a military headquarters during the Sino-Japanese war (1937-1945) and China's civil war (1945-1949) between the communists and the Nationalists (KMT) led by Chiang Kai-shek.
· When the town was razed by Japanese bombing during the the Second World War, Yan'an's inhabitants took to living in yaodongs, artificial caves carved into the surrounding hillsides.
· Yan'an was the end point of the Long March trek of the Red Army to escape attacks from Chiang's Nationalist armies. It began in October 1934.
· It is the location of the general offices of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist party.
· The town was the venue for meetings and interviews between the communist leader, Mao Zedong, and the American journalist and author Edgar Snow, as well as his fellow American journalist, Anna Louise Strong, who was a communist supporter.
· The town contains 140 sites that are regarded as significant in revolutionary history, such as the Wangjiaping site, Yangjialing site, the Date garden and Pagoda Hill.
· The Hukou waterfall nearby is the only Yellow river waterfall and the second biggest waterfall in all of China.
Beijng's beautifiers complete work on city transformation
LONDON - The Guardian
On the other side of the world from Birmingham - where Britain's athletes are striving to book their places for the Olympics - Liu Xiaohua is making her own last-minute preparations for the showpiece event. Exactly four weeks before the first full day of competiton, the migrant worker from Henan province is sweeping a newly built underpass outside the Bird's Nest Olympic stadium free of construction-site grit, rubbish and the sand that blows in from the Gobi desert.
It may be one of the least glamorous and lowest paid roles in the Olympics (Liu's monthly salary is just over £100) but she is on the front-line of a massive beautification campaign, which will complete a seven-year facelift of the Chinese capital.
As sportsmen and women around the world make their final preparations, Beijing is in the throes of a final clean-up not just of streets and buildings, but "undesirable" social elements and potential troublemakers.
Liu is part of arguably the greatest transformation of a host city in the history of the Olympics. In the past five years, a construction boom has flattened swathes of the old city and surrounding countryside, replacing alleyways and farmland with the world's biggest airport terminal, a subway line, a light railway, hundreds of miles of roads as well as the spectacular stadium, gymnasium and swimming pool and other venues. Over the past few months, the focus has been on brightening up the new concrete and steel with flowers and paint. Formerly drab grey roadsides are now decked with begonias and shrubs. Since the start of the year, 40 million flowers have been planted, tens of thousands of trees re-rooted and countless acres of lawn laid on the naturally arid red earth.
In some areas, even old Cultural Revolution wall slogans, such as "Long Live Mao Zedong thought!" - which were previously out of favour - have been given a fresh lick of red paint. Olympic signposts have been erected around the city, Olympic rings have been painted on motorways lanes reserved for Olympic traffic and Fuwa Olympic Mascots are an increasingly uqibuitous sight on hoardings, in shops and on television.
Ahead of an expected arrival of 21,500 journalists, 10,500 athletes and half a million tourists, the city has replaced its notoriously smelly public toilets with modern, cleaner conveniences. To tidy the streets, it has increased the penalty on spitting, launched anti-litter campaigns and hired tens of thousands of migrant workers like Liu. But the clean-up will soon be extended to many of those doing the cleaning. On July 20, many of the city's migrant workers - who have done more than anyone to build and beautify the Olympic city - have been ordered to return to their home towns.
"We don't want to leave because we won't be able to earn money for two months, but we have no choice," complained Fang Jingshan, a construction worker from Hebei Province.
The closure of building sites and factories is aimed primarily at clearing the air of pollution. For much of the last two weeks, the city has been enveloped in a grey haze. Earlier this week the chairman of the International Olympic Committee's coordindation commission Hein Verbruggen described air quality as an "open issue".
To reduce emissions, cars with odd and even number plates will only be able to drive on alternative days starting from July 20. But the problem of pollution is so widespread in China that many Olympic teams are taking no risks by staging their final training camps in Japan.
For human rights groups, social cleansing is the main concern. While previous Olympic hosts have driven vagrants and other itinerants out before the Games, China has gone further by locking up several dissidents, putting others under house arrest, and forcing petitioners to return to their home towns.
According to the Legal Daily, 100,000 anti-terrorism personnel will be mobilised during the Games and 300,000 surveillance cameras installed. Some Beijing residents complain that the paranoia and emphasis on cosmetic appearances is stifling the gritty, chaotic, down-to-earth humour that is the city's greatest charm.
"It's all so fake," said Lily Chen, a restaurant manageress. "I just want the Olympics to be over with as quickly as possible so that life can go back to normal."
It is hard to argue that this face-obsessed nation has not employed excessive artifice in making a propaganda success of the Games. Many of the flowers, trees and lawns are a terrible waste of water in this dry city. And there is a real risk that the emphasis on security, visa checks for foreigners and controls on journalists could squeeze the fun out of the Games.
But it is not just a "Smile-or-else Olympics," there is a real sense of hope among ordinary people that the Games will mark a change in China and how it is viewed in the outside world. By the fence around the Bird's Nest stadium, throngs of tourists pose for photographs in front of the spectacular steel-lattice sports arena - now closed off until the opening on August 8.
On the other side of the road, an elderly couple watch from afar. The 84-year-old Hao Fukun says he cycled 40 minutes to get here, pulling his wife behind him on a cart. It is the first time they have travelled so far for many year, but they wanted to see the Olympic stadium.
"You simply cannot compare Beijing now with what it was," said the old man, who has lived through war, revolution, famine, political upheaval and modern development. "Life is so much better. I hope the world can see how our lives have changed. When the Olympics starts, I will be so happy, so happy."
The numbers Games:
10,500
The estimated number of athletes competing in Beijing between August 8 and 24
302
Different events featured in the summer Games - from the 28 designated sports
906
The gold, silver and bronze medals up for grabs
37
Separate Olympic venues
21,500
Journalists descending on China's capital from around the world
1.6m
Cars off the road on any given day during the Games as part of new anti-pollution measures
5,000
Different items of official Beijing merchandise available to buy
85,000
Miles the Olympic torch has travelled on its relay, the longest since the 1936 Berlin Games
7,000
Extra buses provided for transport during the two-week period
40m
Flowers planted in the city in the build-up to the Games
On the other side of the world from Birmingham - where Britain's athletes are striving to book their places for the Olympics - Liu Xiaohua is making her own last-minute preparations for the showpiece event. Exactly four weeks before the first full day of competiton, the migrant worker from Henan province is sweeping a newly built underpass outside the Bird's Nest Olympic stadium free of construction-site grit, rubbish and the sand that blows in from the Gobi desert.
It may be one of the least glamorous and lowest paid roles in the Olympics (Liu's monthly salary is just over £100) but she is on the front-line of a massive beautification campaign, which will complete a seven-year facelift of the Chinese capital.
As sportsmen and women around the world make their final preparations, Beijing is in the throes of a final clean-up not just of streets and buildings, but "undesirable" social elements and potential troublemakers.
Liu is part of arguably the greatest transformation of a host city in the history of the Olympics. In the past five years, a construction boom has flattened swathes of the old city and surrounding countryside, replacing alleyways and farmland with the world's biggest airport terminal, a subway line, a light railway, hundreds of miles of roads as well as the spectacular stadium, gymnasium and swimming pool and other venues. Over the past few months, the focus has been on brightening up the new concrete and steel with flowers and paint. Formerly drab grey roadsides are now decked with begonias and shrubs. Since the start of the year, 40 million flowers have been planted, tens of thousands of trees re-rooted and countless acres of lawn laid on the naturally arid red earth.
In some areas, even old Cultural Revolution wall slogans, such as "Long Live Mao Zedong thought!" - which were previously out of favour - have been given a fresh lick of red paint. Olympic signposts have been erected around the city, Olympic rings have been painted on motorways lanes reserved for Olympic traffic and Fuwa Olympic Mascots are an increasingly uqibuitous sight on hoardings, in shops and on television.
Ahead of an expected arrival of 21,500 journalists, 10,500 athletes and half a million tourists, the city has replaced its notoriously smelly public toilets with modern, cleaner conveniences. To tidy the streets, it has increased the penalty on spitting, launched anti-litter campaigns and hired tens of thousands of migrant workers like Liu. But the clean-up will soon be extended to many of those doing the cleaning. On July 20, many of the city's migrant workers - who have done more than anyone to build and beautify the Olympic city - have been ordered to return to their home towns.
"We don't want to leave because we won't be able to earn money for two months, but we have no choice," complained Fang Jingshan, a construction worker from Hebei Province.
The closure of building sites and factories is aimed primarily at clearing the air of pollution. For much of the last two weeks, the city has been enveloped in a grey haze. Earlier this week the chairman of the International Olympic Committee's coordindation commission Hein Verbruggen described air quality as an "open issue".
To reduce emissions, cars with odd and even number plates will only be able to drive on alternative days starting from July 20. But the problem of pollution is so widespread in China that many Olympic teams are taking no risks by staging their final training camps in Japan.
For human rights groups, social cleansing is the main concern. While previous Olympic hosts have driven vagrants and other itinerants out before the Games, China has gone further by locking up several dissidents, putting others under house arrest, and forcing petitioners to return to their home towns.
According to the Legal Daily, 100,000 anti-terrorism personnel will be mobilised during the Games and 300,000 surveillance cameras installed. Some Beijing residents complain that the paranoia and emphasis on cosmetic appearances is stifling the gritty, chaotic, down-to-earth humour that is the city's greatest charm.
"It's all so fake," said Lily Chen, a restaurant manageress. "I just want the Olympics to be over with as quickly as possible so that life can go back to normal."
It is hard to argue that this face-obsessed nation has not employed excessive artifice in making a propaganda success of the Games. Many of the flowers, trees and lawns are a terrible waste of water in this dry city. And there is a real risk that the emphasis on security, visa checks for foreigners and controls on journalists could squeeze the fun out of the Games.
But it is not just a "Smile-or-else Olympics," there is a real sense of hope among ordinary people that the Games will mark a change in China and how it is viewed in the outside world. By the fence around the Bird's Nest stadium, throngs of tourists pose for photographs in front of the spectacular steel-lattice sports arena - now closed off until the opening on August 8.
On the other side of the road, an elderly couple watch from afar. The 84-year-old Hao Fukun says he cycled 40 minutes to get here, pulling his wife behind him on a cart. It is the first time they have travelled so far for many year, but they wanted to see the Olympic stadium.
"You simply cannot compare Beijing now with what it was," said the old man, who has lived through war, revolution, famine, political upheaval and modern development. "Life is so much better. I hope the world can see how our lives have changed. When the Olympics starts, I will be so happy, so happy."
The numbers Games:
10,500
The estimated number of athletes competing in Beijing between August 8 and 24
302
Different events featured in the summer Games - from the 28 designated sports
906
The gold, silver and bronze medals up for grabs
37
Separate Olympic venues
21,500
Journalists descending on China's capital from around the world
1.6m
Cars off the road on any given day during the Games as part of new anti-pollution measures
5,000
Different items of official Beijing merchandise available to buy
85,000
Miles the Olympic torch has travelled on its relay, the longest since the 1936 Berlin Games
7,000
Extra buses provided for transport during the two-week period
40m
Flowers planted in the city in the build-up to the Games
Nose-picking ban for Beijing people during Olympics
(LONDON) - BBC
Beijing citizens have been told not to pick their noses, yawn or scratch their heads when talking to foreigners during the Olympics. They have also been given a list of things not to ask overseas visitors - a list so exhaustive it could make conversation difficult. Ordinary people have also been given detailed instructions on how to talk to disabled people during the Paralympics.
Chinese officials want ordinary people to show the country's most civilised face during the sporting events. A booklet prepared by the propaganda department of Beijing's Dongcheng District gives locals an introduction to the games. It has a special section on dealing with foreigners, including what to do when talking to overseas visitors.
"In conversation, wear a smile, don't stare too long or do anything to make people feel ill at ease," it says. The booklet advises Beijing people to say to disabled people such things as: 'You're really excellent' It also warns Beijing people not to yawn, shout, pick their noses, scratch their heads, play with their fingernails or pull at their clothes while talking. The booklet suggests people abide by the "eight don't ask" principle when talking to foreigners.
Subjects to avoid include what foreigners earn or how much they spend, how old they are, whether they are married and whether they are healthy. Also off-limits are questions about where foreigners live, where they have worked, their religious or political beliefs, or what they are currently doing. In the booklet, propaganda chiefs remind Beijing citizens to be careful when being interviewed by foreign journalists during the Olympics, which begin on 8 August. It tells them not to say or do anything that harms national prestige, the country's image or national security.
Beijing officials are obviously concerned about how disabled people will be treated during the Paralympics, which takes place just after the Olympics. "Before you help [a disabled person], first of all get their agreement and co-operation. Absolutely do not use force or be too enthusiastic," says the booklet. It advises Beijing people to say to disabled people such things as: "You're really excellent".
Officials have long been concerned about their own citizens' behaviour during the Olympics, and have launched several campaigns to stamp out bad habits. The 11th day of the month was designated queuing day, instituted to convince people not to barge onto buses and trains. These campaigns are generally supported by ordinary people.
"The queuing campaign definitely helps people to behave better," said Yang Xiaoyan as she waited to board a train at Beijing Yonghegong Temple subway station. "In the past it was really chaotic at this subway station," she added. Queuing, crossing the road, driving a car, watching Olympic events and talking to foreigners: Officials want to make sure everyone does it right.
Beijing citizens have been told not to pick their noses, yawn or scratch their heads when talking to foreigners during the Olympics. They have also been given a list of things not to ask overseas visitors - a list so exhaustive it could make conversation difficult. Ordinary people have also been given detailed instructions on how to talk to disabled people during the Paralympics.
Chinese officials want ordinary people to show the country's most civilised face during the sporting events. A booklet prepared by the propaganda department of Beijing's Dongcheng District gives locals an introduction to the games. It has a special section on dealing with foreigners, including what to do when talking to overseas visitors.
"In conversation, wear a smile, don't stare too long or do anything to make people feel ill at ease," it says. The booklet advises Beijing people to say to disabled people such things as: 'You're really excellent' It also warns Beijing people not to yawn, shout, pick their noses, scratch their heads, play with their fingernails or pull at their clothes while talking. The booklet suggests people abide by the "eight don't ask" principle when talking to foreigners.
Subjects to avoid include what foreigners earn or how much they spend, how old they are, whether they are married and whether they are healthy. Also off-limits are questions about where foreigners live, where they have worked, their religious or political beliefs, or what they are currently doing. In the booklet, propaganda chiefs remind Beijing citizens to be careful when being interviewed by foreign journalists during the Olympics, which begin on 8 August. It tells them not to say or do anything that harms national prestige, the country's image or national security.
Beijing officials are obviously concerned about how disabled people will be treated during the Paralympics, which takes place just after the Olympics. "Before you help [a disabled person], first of all get their agreement and co-operation. Absolutely do not use force or be too enthusiastic," says the booklet. It advises Beijing people to say to disabled people such things as: "You're really excellent".
Officials have long been concerned about their own citizens' behaviour during the Olympics, and have launched several campaigns to stamp out bad habits. The 11th day of the month was designated queuing day, instituted to convince people not to barge onto buses and trains. These campaigns are generally supported by ordinary people.
"The queuing campaign definitely helps people to behave better," said Yang Xiaoyan as she waited to board a train at Beijing Yonghegong Temple subway station. "In the past it was really chaotic at this subway station," she added. Queuing, crossing the road, driving a car, watching Olympic events and talking to foreigners: Officials want to make sure everyone does it right.
Saturday, 19 July 2008
Giant park prepared as Olympic relief zone in case of disasters
BEIJING, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The Olympic Forest Park will serve as an emergency shelter for audience and players of the Olympic Games, should a natural disaster or terrorist attack hit the city, an official source said here on Saturday.
The 680-hectare park provides a large expanse of open areas for people to take shelter from disasters and has an efficient communication system, according to the source with the Beijing Olympic organizing committee's public area management department.
The organizing committee has prepared 300 sleeping bags and 50 "huge" tents, said the official who declined to be named.
The park, the largest in Beijing and home to three Olympic venues including the Olympic Green Archery Field, the Olympic Green Tennis Center, and the Olympic Green Hockey Stadium, is expected to house a maximum of 100,000 people during the Games.
In cases of disasters like earthquakes, the Olympic venues themselves can also be used as emergency refuges, according to the source.
Over 1,000 security personnel with 150 sniffer dogs over the past few days have been engaging in safety checks in the park, which is closed to public from July 5 to August 9, he said.
The park will continue to serve as a emergency shelter for Beijing residents after the Games.
Beijing now has about 30 emergency shelters, and the city is planning to build more over the next few years to ensure that residents will spend no more than 10 minutes to reach the nearest shelter on foot.
The Yuandadu Park, one of the closest shelters to the National Stadium, or the Bird's Nest on the Olympic Green, can shelter up to 253,000 people.
The 680-hectare park provides a large expanse of open areas for people to take shelter from disasters and has an efficient communication system, according to the source with the Beijing Olympic organizing committee's public area management department.
The organizing committee has prepared 300 sleeping bags and 50 "huge" tents, said the official who declined to be named.
The park, the largest in Beijing and home to three Olympic venues including the Olympic Green Archery Field, the Olympic Green Tennis Center, and the Olympic Green Hockey Stadium, is expected to house a maximum of 100,000 people during the Games.
In cases of disasters like earthquakes, the Olympic venues themselves can also be used as emergency refuges, according to the source.
Over 1,000 security personnel with 150 sniffer dogs over the past few days have been engaging in safety checks in the park, which is closed to public from July 5 to August 9, he said.
The park will continue to serve as a emergency shelter for Beijing residents after the Games.
Beijing now has about 30 emergency shelters, and the city is planning to build more over the next few years to ensure that residents will spend no more than 10 minutes to reach the nearest shelter on foot.
The Yuandadu Park, one of the closest shelters to the National Stadium, or the Bird's Nest on the Olympic Green, can shelter up to 253,000 people.
Friday, 18 July 2008
Tight security deters Olympic tourists, agencies warn
LONDON - The Guardian - Tight security restrictions and higher prices are hampering domestic demand for Olympic package tours in China and reducing the number of overseas visitors, travel agencies and hotels have warned.
The Chinese government has made security a top priority for the games, but some of its stringent measures are deterring people. A clampdown on visas has cut the number of international business travellers, while tour companies reported that Chinese people had been put off by the security checks and cost.
"Fewer people are going to Beijing because the ticket prices are too expensive and there are too many strict rules to get into the city," said an employee at the China Travel Agency in Chongqing.
Hospitality industry insiders report that several large hotels are running at anything from 50-70% occupancy while some smaller places are struggling to book more than 50% of their rooms. Even the state newspaper Shanghai Daily reported that the appetite for Olympic trips was considerably lower than expected.
Zhang Lei, a spokesman with the Shanghai-based Spring International Travel Service, told the paper that its special packages had met "a slack response", with only 1,000 customers taking up the offers - around half the number expected.
Yin Jun, manager of the Jiangsu provincial branch of China Travel Service, blamed the prices of accommodation and tourist buses, saying the cost of packages had tripled to above 6,000 yuan (£440).
Officials have forecast that about half a million foreign visitors, and an even greater number of domestic travellers, will come to the city for the games.
But asked if tourist numbers were lower than expected, an official at the Beijing Tourism Bureau declined to comment yesterday. "The government will not talk about anything negative," said the man, who gave his name only as Mr Song. "If the matter was something positive, then maybe we could talk about it more."
At the higher end, many four- and five-star hotels are booked out for the games. A staff member at the Hilton said it would be full next month because it was hosting six countries' national organising committees. But she added: "There have been fewer guests in the period before the Olympics."
A few domestic travel agencies said demand for travel to Beijing had picked up slightly in their area, in part because tourists had been deterred from visiting Sichuan because of the earthquake and were looking for other destinations. The hospitality industry in Shanghai also appears to be suffering the knock-on effects of the games, with many business people unable to gain entry to China.
"We haven't got a lot of people coming into town because visas are harder to get," said Paul French, chief China analyst at the Shanghai-based research firm Access Asia. "Places that cater to foreigners are really feeling the pinch. Airlines have also been hurt because they thought flights to Beijing would be so booked up that there would be overspill.
"The long-term effect is that people can't do deals."
Under security measures introduced in the last few weeks, bus passengers to all cities hosting Olympic events must show identity cards as well as tickets; subway luggage is checked; and bars and other entertainment venues report increased visits from police checking for drug dealing and prostitution.
Yesterday, airline officials said the landing and taking off of planes during the Olympic opening ceremony would be restricted, forcing the rescheduling of dozens of flights. Domestic media reports quoted unnamed aviation sources as saying that Beijing Capital Airport would be closed to all non-Olympic traffic between 8pm and midnight on the evening of the opening ceremony.
Tightened security even appears to have spread to Shanghai, where staff at all public swimming pools must now check customers' shampoos, shower gel and other liquids in a bid to avoid explosions or other terrorist attacks.
The Chinese government has made security a top priority for the games, but some of its stringent measures are deterring people. A clampdown on visas has cut the number of international business travellers, while tour companies reported that Chinese people had been put off by the security checks and cost.
"Fewer people are going to Beijing because the ticket prices are too expensive and there are too many strict rules to get into the city," said an employee at the China Travel Agency in Chongqing.
Hospitality industry insiders report that several large hotels are running at anything from 50-70% occupancy while some smaller places are struggling to book more than 50% of their rooms. Even the state newspaper Shanghai Daily reported that the appetite for Olympic trips was considerably lower than expected.
Zhang Lei, a spokesman with the Shanghai-based Spring International Travel Service, told the paper that its special packages had met "a slack response", with only 1,000 customers taking up the offers - around half the number expected.
Yin Jun, manager of the Jiangsu provincial branch of China Travel Service, blamed the prices of accommodation and tourist buses, saying the cost of packages had tripled to above 6,000 yuan (£440).
Officials have forecast that about half a million foreign visitors, and an even greater number of domestic travellers, will come to the city for the games.
But asked if tourist numbers were lower than expected, an official at the Beijing Tourism Bureau declined to comment yesterday. "The government will not talk about anything negative," said the man, who gave his name only as Mr Song. "If the matter was something positive, then maybe we could talk about it more."
At the higher end, many four- and five-star hotels are booked out for the games. A staff member at the Hilton said it would be full next month because it was hosting six countries' national organising committees. But she added: "There have been fewer guests in the period before the Olympics."
A few domestic travel agencies said demand for travel to Beijing had picked up slightly in their area, in part because tourists had been deterred from visiting Sichuan because of the earthquake and were looking for other destinations. The hospitality industry in Shanghai also appears to be suffering the knock-on effects of the games, with many business people unable to gain entry to China.
"We haven't got a lot of people coming into town because visas are harder to get," said Paul French, chief China analyst at the Shanghai-based research firm Access Asia. "Places that cater to foreigners are really feeling the pinch. Airlines have also been hurt because they thought flights to Beijing would be so booked up that there would be overspill.
"The long-term effect is that people can't do deals."
Under security measures introduced in the last few weeks, bus passengers to all cities hosting Olympic events must show identity cards as well as tickets; subway luggage is checked; and bars and other entertainment venues report increased visits from police checking for drug dealing and prostitution.
Yesterday, airline officials said the landing and taking off of planes during the Olympic opening ceremony would be restricted, forcing the rescheduling of dozens of flights. Domestic media reports quoted unnamed aviation sources as saying that Beijing Capital Airport would be closed to all non-Olympic traffic between 8pm and midnight on the evening of the opening ceremony.
Tightened security even appears to have spread to Shanghai, where staff at all public swimming pools must now check customers' shampoos, shower gel and other liquids in a bid to avoid explosions or other terrorist attacks.
USA Olympic soccer team announced
Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Former United States national team forward Brian McBride, who retired from the senior team in 2006, was one of 18 players named to the U.S. men's Olympic team roster Thursday.
McBride, 36, is one of three overage players coach Peter Nowak selected. He has played in three World Cups. McBride played for Fulham in England Premier League from 2004-2008, and is likely to join Major League Soccer after the Olympics.
"I don't look at myself as being 36 and I certainly don't feel 36. For me its more about the mentality so I think I have a little more upstairs as far as experience that will help me," he said. "When it comes down to it, it really is all about how you play on the field, and being a part of this team, regardless of what age you are, is a great honor."
McBride brings a wealth of experience to the young squad having earned 95 caps during 10 years with mens national team. He ended his national team career with 30 goals, and is the only U.S. player to score a goal in multiple World Cups.
Goalkeeper Brad Guzan and defender Michael Parkhurst were the other overage players added to the roster, which features 12 players with full national team experience. Each team is allowed only three players over the age of 23.
"After an extensive process of evaluation, we are very excited about the group of players that we have chosen to represent the United States at the Olympic Games," Nowak said. "It has been a very competitive environment, and we had some tough decisions to make."
U.S. teen stars Jozy Altidore and Freddy Adu, who have both moved to Europe to play club soccer in the last year, highlight the rest of the roster.
The U.S. will begin final preparations for the Beijing Olympics on Sunday with six days of training in San Jose, Calif. The team will then depart for Hong Kong, where they will participate in the ING Cup, facing fellow Olympic teams Ivory Coast on July 30 and Cameroon on Aug. 2.
The U.S. was drawn into difficult Group B and will open against Japan on Aug. 7 before facing the Netherlands on Aug. 10, with both matches taking place at the Olympic Sports Center Stadium in Tianjin, China. The team will then travel to Workers Stadium in Beijing to conclude group play against 1996 gold medalist and 2005 Under-20 World Cup champion Nigeria on Aug. 13.
Following is the complete roster, with club team in parentheses:
GOALKEEPERS: Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake).
DEFENDERS: Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC).
MIDFIELDERS: Freddy Adu (Benfica), Michael Bradley (Heerenveen), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Danny Szetela (Brescia Calcio)
FORWARDS: Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Brian McBride (None), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew).
McBride, 36, is one of three overage players coach Peter Nowak selected. He has played in three World Cups. McBride played for Fulham in England Premier League from 2004-2008, and is likely to join Major League Soccer after the Olympics.
"I don't look at myself as being 36 and I certainly don't feel 36. For me its more about the mentality so I think I have a little more upstairs as far as experience that will help me," he said. "When it comes down to it, it really is all about how you play on the field, and being a part of this team, regardless of what age you are, is a great honor."
McBride brings a wealth of experience to the young squad having earned 95 caps during 10 years with mens national team. He ended his national team career with 30 goals, and is the only U.S. player to score a goal in multiple World Cups.
Goalkeeper Brad Guzan and defender Michael Parkhurst were the other overage players added to the roster, which features 12 players with full national team experience. Each team is allowed only three players over the age of 23.
"After an extensive process of evaluation, we are very excited about the group of players that we have chosen to represent the United States at the Olympic Games," Nowak said. "It has been a very competitive environment, and we had some tough decisions to make."
U.S. teen stars Jozy Altidore and Freddy Adu, who have both moved to Europe to play club soccer in the last year, highlight the rest of the roster.
The U.S. will begin final preparations for the Beijing Olympics on Sunday with six days of training in San Jose, Calif. The team will then depart for Hong Kong, where they will participate in the ING Cup, facing fellow Olympic teams Ivory Coast on July 30 and Cameroon on Aug. 2.
The U.S. was drawn into difficult Group B and will open against Japan on Aug. 7 before facing the Netherlands on Aug. 10, with both matches taking place at the Olympic Sports Center Stadium in Tianjin, China. The team will then travel to Workers Stadium in Beijing to conclude group play against 1996 gold medalist and 2005 Under-20 World Cup champion Nigeria on Aug. 13.
Following is the complete roster, with club team in parentheses:
GOALKEEPERS: Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake).
DEFENDERS: Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC).
MIDFIELDERS: Freddy Adu (Benfica), Michael Bradley (Heerenveen), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Danny Szetela (Brescia Calcio)
FORWARDS: Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Brian McBride (None), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew).
Beijing Games architecture aims to shock and awe
LONDON - Daily Mirror - feats of athletic brilliance may be the main focus of cameras during the Beijing Olympics, the telegenic venues set to host the athletes will draw their own share of gasps from admiring spectators.
Beijing's Olympic construction boom has bequeathed an 800-year-old city with some of the world's most futuristic architectural statements, potent symbols of a resurgent power's desire to showcase its development and mastery of technology.
"I think the venues show a new openness and tolerance among common Chinese people. They also show our amazing achievements," said Zheng Fang, a Chinese architect who worked on the acclaimed National Aquatics Centre, dubbed the "Water Cube" for its shape and bubbly facade.
The Olympic swimming venue, designed by a consortium of Arup engineers, architects from Australian firm PTW and Zheng's China Construction Design International (CCDI), competes with the adjacent National Stadium for the affections of thousands of camera-wielding tourists who flock to the main Olympic Green every day.
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The 91,000-seat Herzog & de Meuron-designed National Stadium, known as the "Bird's Nest" for its lattice work of interwoven steel, has made such an impact as to displace late Chinese leader Mao Zedong's face from commemorative Olympic bank notes.
Standing together, the stadium and the swimming venue form "one of the most powerful urban precincts in the world," said John Bilmon, a principal director with PTW.
DRAGON'S BACK
Many Games visitors' first experience of Beijing's building ambitions, however, will start well before they get to the competition venues.
The city's new airport terminal designed by British architect Norman Foster is supposed to resemble a dragon, complete with triangular windows cut into the ceiling as though they were scales.
After touching down at the $3.6 billion (1.8 billion pounds) terminal, passengers will be able to board a brand new airport train to the city centre, and then ride a new subway link to Beijing's business district, where the vertigo-inducing CCTV building looms improbably over lesser towers.
Designed by Rem Koolhaus' Office for Metropolitan Architecture as a subversion of the traditional skyscraper, the nearly completed headquarters for China's staid state broadcaster joins two towers sloped together with a gravity-defying canopy at 80 storeys' height.
The buildings are not just testament to China's engineering skills, but an authoritarian country's ability to rapidly mobilise manpower and resources, according to Ming Liang, a design professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts.
"Authorities can simply order 1,000 of the country's best welders to leave their homes and come weld the 'Bird's Nest' together in Beijing," said Ming. "This is what can be done here."
Politics, which have re-shaped Beijing's landscape for more than eight centuries, have also played an undeniable part in the city's modern transformation.
Architects see little coincidence in the Olympic Green's location directly north of the Forbidden City and its modern equivalent Zhongnanhai, where the Communist Party's top leaders live and govern in almost total secrecy.
"No wealth or power can be concentrated in the south as that would be challenging the king. All rich people live behind the king on the left and the right," said Ming.
WORLD'S BEST IN BEIJING
The controversial National Theatre, a shiny half-sphere that looms south of imperial-era Zhongnanhai, is an exception to the rule, albeit one endorsed by opera fan and former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, reportedly the first soloist to grace the stage on its completion last year.
While eye-catching and widely praised, Beijing's new architectural marvels have also weathered a storm of criticism, from academics complaining of a developing country's wastefulness, to environmental experts panning the venues for not living up to the "Green Olympics" pledge.
Chinese architect Ai Weiwei, a design consultant for the "Bird's Nest", last year said he regretted that the stadium he helped inspire had become a symbol of a one-party state's "fake" Olympic smile.
Other architects prefer to focus on the benefits derived from the global skills and technologies concentrated for the Olympic construction.
"In reality, in building these stadiums and other buildings like the CCTV Tower, we brought the world's best technology and masters to Beijing," said CCDI's Zheng.
Criticising China for wanting to showcase its development achievements is in any case misguided, said Tristram Carfrae, a structural engineer for Arup and the mastermind behind the Water Cube's playful facade.
"If you look at Beijing's history of architecture and design as being about monumentalism, about the grand statement, then why should these sport venues be any different?"
Beijing's Olympic construction boom has bequeathed an 800-year-old city with some of the world's most futuristic architectural statements, potent symbols of a resurgent power's desire to showcase its development and mastery of technology.
"I think the venues show a new openness and tolerance among common Chinese people. They also show our amazing achievements," said Zheng Fang, a Chinese architect who worked on the acclaimed National Aquatics Centre, dubbed the "Water Cube" for its shape and bubbly facade.
The Olympic swimming venue, designed by a consortium of Arup engineers, architects from Australian firm PTW and Zheng's China Construction Design International (CCDI), competes with the adjacent National Stadium for the affections of thousands of camera-wielding tourists who flock to the main Olympic Green every day.
Advertisement
The 91,000-seat Herzog & de Meuron-designed National Stadium, known as the "Bird's Nest" for its lattice work of interwoven steel, has made such an impact as to displace late Chinese leader Mao Zedong's face from commemorative Olympic bank notes.
Standing together, the stadium and the swimming venue form "one of the most powerful urban precincts in the world," said John Bilmon, a principal director with PTW.
DRAGON'S BACK
Many Games visitors' first experience of Beijing's building ambitions, however, will start well before they get to the competition venues.
The city's new airport terminal designed by British architect Norman Foster is supposed to resemble a dragon, complete with triangular windows cut into the ceiling as though they were scales.
After touching down at the $3.6 billion (1.8 billion pounds) terminal, passengers will be able to board a brand new airport train to the city centre, and then ride a new subway link to Beijing's business district, where the vertigo-inducing CCTV building looms improbably over lesser towers.
Designed by Rem Koolhaus' Office for Metropolitan Architecture as a subversion of the traditional skyscraper, the nearly completed headquarters for China's staid state broadcaster joins two towers sloped together with a gravity-defying canopy at 80 storeys' height.
The buildings are not just testament to China's engineering skills, but an authoritarian country's ability to rapidly mobilise manpower and resources, according to Ming Liang, a design professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts.
"Authorities can simply order 1,000 of the country's best welders to leave their homes and come weld the 'Bird's Nest' together in Beijing," said Ming. "This is what can be done here."
Politics, which have re-shaped Beijing's landscape for more than eight centuries, have also played an undeniable part in the city's modern transformation.
Architects see little coincidence in the Olympic Green's location directly north of the Forbidden City and its modern equivalent Zhongnanhai, where the Communist Party's top leaders live and govern in almost total secrecy.
"No wealth or power can be concentrated in the south as that would be challenging the king. All rich people live behind the king on the left and the right," said Ming.
WORLD'S BEST IN BEIJING
The controversial National Theatre, a shiny half-sphere that looms south of imperial-era Zhongnanhai, is an exception to the rule, albeit one endorsed by opera fan and former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, reportedly the first soloist to grace the stage on its completion last year.
While eye-catching and widely praised, Beijing's new architectural marvels have also weathered a storm of criticism, from academics complaining of a developing country's wastefulness, to environmental experts panning the venues for not living up to the "Green Olympics" pledge.
Chinese architect Ai Weiwei, a design consultant for the "Bird's Nest", last year said he regretted that the stadium he helped inspire had become a symbol of a one-party state's "fake" Olympic smile.
Other architects prefer to focus on the benefits derived from the global skills and technologies concentrated for the Olympic construction.
"In reality, in building these stadiums and other buildings like the CCTV Tower, we brought the world's best technology and masters to Beijing," said CCDI's Zheng.
Criticising China for wanting to showcase its development achievements is in any case misguided, said Tristram Carfrae, a structural engineer for Arup and the mastermind behind the Water Cube's playful facade.
"If you look at Beijing's history of architecture and design as being about monumentalism, about the grand statement, then why should these sport venues be any different?"
World media freedom assured by China for Olympics coverage
BEIJING, July 17 (Xinhua) -- China is trying its best to facilitate foreign media's coverage of the Olympics, said Beijing Olympic Games' spokesman Guo Weimin here on Thursday.
In response to recent reports concerning worries on whether foreign media could cover news freely in China, Guo reiterated such reporters, as well as those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, were free in covering news and doing interviews during the Games once it was agreed by the people or organizations to be interviewed.
The regulation on reporting activities in China by foreign media during the Beijing Olympic Games and the preparatory period had been implemented for about a year, Guo said during the press conference. "Generally, we have received favorable feedback from the foreign media."
The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) and other relevant departments had offered "as much assistance as possible" to foreign media. Efforts were made to help them import their equipment into China smoothly, he said.
So far, the authorities had approved 407 applications from television transmission companies and registered media for importing and using satellite devices. These included 52 satellite news operations.
The local authorities had also cooperated with foreign media inrequests to hire helicopters for shooting and setting up cameras in some popular tourists sites, including Tian'anmen Square, Guo said.
Beijing had learned from other Olympic hosts how to efficiently operate its three media centers for the Games, Guo said. Since starting operation on July 8, its centers had operated accordingly.
From this week, there would be two press conferences daily on average, in addition to pool interviews and cultural functions.
"We will try our best to serve all media and welcome them to give us advice and proposals," Guo said.
In response to recent reports concerning worries on whether foreign media could cover news freely in China, Guo reiterated such reporters, as well as those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, were free in covering news and doing interviews during the Games once it was agreed by the people or organizations to be interviewed.
The regulation on reporting activities in China by foreign media during the Beijing Olympic Games and the preparatory period had been implemented for about a year, Guo said during the press conference. "Generally, we have received favorable feedback from the foreign media."
The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) and other relevant departments had offered "as much assistance as possible" to foreign media. Efforts were made to help them import their equipment into China smoothly, he said.
So far, the authorities had approved 407 applications from television transmission companies and registered media for importing and using satellite devices. These included 52 satellite news operations.
The local authorities had also cooperated with foreign media inrequests to hire helicopters for shooting and setting up cameras in some popular tourists sites, including Tian'anmen Square, Guo said.
Beijing had learned from other Olympic hosts how to efficiently operate its three media centers for the Games, Guo said. Since starting operation on July 8, its centers had operated accordingly.
From this week, there would be two press conferences daily on average, in addition to pool interviews and cultural functions.
"We will try our best to serve all media and welcome them to give us advice and proposals," Guo said.
Thursday, 17 July 2008
Beijing Olympic Games: Facts & Figures
BEIJING, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Key facts and figures about the 2008 Olympic Games, which will start on Aug. 8:
THE GAMES
-- The Games of the XXIX Olympiad will take place from Aug. 8 to 24, 2008 under the slogan "One World, One Dream".
-- The Games will feature the 28 summer sports on the Olympic program; 10,708 athletes are expected to compete in 302 events (165 male events, 127 female, and 10 mixed) at 31 venues in Beijing and six venues in Qingdao, Hong Kong, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao.
-- 21,600 accredited journalists from more than 200 countries and regions will come to China to cover the Games.
-- The opening and closing ceremonies of the Games will be held at the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium. The woven girder stadium, covering 20.4 hectares, can accommodate an audience of up to 91,000.
-- More than 80 heads of state or government have confirmed they will attend the opening ceremony, including U.S. President George W. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
-- More than 400,000 Beijing volunteers will provide visitors with services, including information, translation and first aid at550 sites around the city from July 1 to Oct. 8.
-- A total of 74,615 volunteers will provide services at Games venues and media centers and at the Olympic Village, with the oldest aged 87. Another 7,600 venue volunteers were recruited in the venues outside Beijing. More than 1.12 million applied for theposts, of whom 22,000 were foreigners. In addition, 1 million "social volunteers" will help to keep traffic moving and maintain order in communities and townships.
-- Six million tickets for the Olympic Games had been sold by mid June, and organizers planned to put on sale the remaining 1 million tickets in late July at the Olympic venues.
-- The most expensive tickets are the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games at 5,000 yuan and 3,000 yuan respectively.
-- The Olympic torch relay, now progressing on Chinese soil, is the longest ever, lasting 130 days and covering 137,000 kilometers worldwide. The flame was carried to the top of the Qomolangma (Mount Everest) for the first time and will arrive in Beijing on Aug. 6, according to the BOCOG.
THE CITY
-- Beijing is expecting more than 500,000 overseas visitors for the Games. The city has 660,000 visitor beds, and has chosen 598 homeowners as Olympic hosts. These homes can offer 726 rooms for more than 1,000 guests.
-- Beijing had 115 "blue sky" days, or days with fairly good air quality, for the year to June 18. With government investment of 140 billion yuan in environment improvement, total "blue sky" days rose to 246 last year from 100 in 1998, when the city launched the "blue sky" campaign.
-- Beijing took 300,000 high-emission cars off its roads in early July.From July 20 private cars will be banned on alternate days according to odd/even number plates, as part of measures to improve air quality and ease traffic on the clogged highways.
-- Statistical analysis of Beijing weather records from 1951 to2007 indicates a high possibility of warm and humid weather in midAugust, with about one rainfall every three days.
THE VENUES
- New Venues in Beijing:
-- National Aquatics Center (Water Cube):
Location: Olympic Green (Chaoyang District)
Events: Swimming, diving, synchronized swimming
-- National Stadium:
Location: Olympic Green
Events: Opening and closing ceremonies, track and field, football
-- National Indoor Stadium
Location: Olympic Green
Events: Artistic gymnastics, trampoline, handball
-- Beijing Shooting Range Hall
Location: Shijingshan District
Events: shooting
-- Beijing Olympic Basketball Stadium
Location: Wanshou Rd., Haidian District
Events: basketball
-- Laoshan Velodrome
Location: Laoshan, Shijingshan District
Events: cycling
-- Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park
Location: Shunyi District
Events: rowing, canoe/kayak -- flat-water
-- China Agriculture University Gymnasium
Location: Yuanmingyuanxilu Rd., Haidian District
Events: wrestling
-- Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium
Location: Shuanglong Rd., Chaoyang District
Events: badminton, rhythmic gymnastics
-- Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium
Location: Beisihuanlu Rd., Haidian District
Events: judo, taekwondo
-- Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Court
Location: Olympic Green
Events: tennis
-- Peking University Gymnasium
Location: Yiheyuanlu Rd., Haidian District
Events: table tennis
-Temporary Venues in Beijing
-- Beijing Olympic Green Hockey Stadium
Location: Olympic Green
Events: hockey
-- Fencing Hall of National Convention Center
Location: Olympic Green
Events: fencing preliminaries and finals, modern pentathlon (fencing and shooting)
-- Beijing Olympic Green Archery Field
Location: Olympic Green
Events: archery
-- Beijing Wukesong Sports Center Baseball Field
Location: Wanshou Rd., Haidian District
Events: baseball
-- Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground
Location: Chaoyang District
Events: beach volleyball
-- Triathlon Venue
Location: Changping District
Events: Triathlon
-- Laoshan Bicycle Moto Cross (BMX) Venue
Location: Laoshan, Shijingshan District
Events: cycling (BMX)
-- Road Cycling Course
Location: To be determined
Events: cycling (road race)
Existing Venues in Beijing
-- Olympic Sports Center Stadium
Location: Anding Road, Chaoyang District
Events: modern pentathlon
-- Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium
Location: Asia Games Village, Chaoyang District
Events: handball
-- Beijing's Workers' Stadium
Location: Gongti Road., Chaoyang District
Events: football
-- Beijing's Workers' Gymnasium
Location: Gongti Road., Chaoyang District
Events: boxing
-- Yingdong Natatorium of National Olympics Sport Center
Location: Asia Games Village, Chaoyang District
Events: water polo, modern pentathlon
-- Capital Indoor Stadium
Location: Baishi Bridge, Haidian District
Events: volleyball
-- Laoshan Mountain Bike Course
Location: Laoshan, Shijingshan District
Events: mountain bike
-- Beijing Shooting Range CTF
Location: Xiangshannanlu Road, Shijingshan District
Events: shooting
-- Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium
Location: Zizhuyuan, Haidian District
Events: volleyball
-- Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Gymnasium
Location: Xueyuan Rd., Haidian District
Events: weightlifting
-- Fengtai Sports Center Softball Field
Location: Xisihuannanlu Rd., Fengtai District
Events: softball
Venues outside Beijing
-- Hong Kong Olympic Equestrian Venue
Location: 25 Yuen Wo Road, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong
Events: equestrian
-- Shanghai Stadium
Location: Tianyaoqiao Rd., Shanghai
Events: soccer
-- Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center
Location: Fushan Bay, Qingdao, Shandong Province
Events: sailing
-- Qinghuangdao Olympic Sports Center Stadium
Location: Hebai St., Haigang District, Qinghuangdao, Hebei Province
Events: football
-- Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium
Location: Linshuidao Rd., Tianjin
Events: football
-- Shenyang Olympic Stadium
Location: Hunnanzhonglu Rd., Shenyang, Liaoning Province
Events: football preliminary
THE GAMES
-- The Games of the XXIX Olympiad will take place from Aug. 8 to 24, 2008 under the slogan "One World, One Dream".
-- The Games will feature the 28 summer sports on the Olympic program; 10,708 athletes are expected to compete in 302 events (165 male events, 127 female, and 10 mixed) at 31 venues in Beijing and six venues in Qingdao, Hong Kong, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao.
-- 21,600 accredited journalists from more than 200 countries and regions will come to China to cover the Games.
-- The opening and closing ceremonies of the Games will be held at the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium. The woven girder stadium, covering 20.4 hectares, can accommodate an audience of up to 91,000.
-- More than 80 heads of state or government have confirmed they will attend the opening ceremony, including U.S. President George W. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
-- More than 400,000 Beijing volunteers will provide visitors with services, including information, translation and first aid at550 sites around the city from July 1 to Oct. 8.
-- A total of 74,615 volunteers will provide services at Games venues and media centers and at the Olympic Village, with the oldest aged 87. Another 7,600 venue volunteers were recruited in the venues outside Beijing. More than 1.12 million applied for theposts, of whom 22,000 were foreigners. In addition, 1 million "social volunteers" will help to keep traffic moving and maintain order in communities and townships.
-- Six million tickets for the Olympic Games had been sold by mid June, and organizers planned to put on sale the remaining 1 million tickets in late July at the Olympic venues.
-- The most expensive tickets are the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games at 5,000 yuan and 3,000 yuan respectively.
-- The Olympic torch relay, now progressing on Chinese soil, is the longest ever, lasting 130 days and covering 137,000 kilometers worldwide. The flame was carried to the top of the Qomolangma (Mount Everest) for the first time and will arrive in Beijing on Aug. 6, according to the BOCOG.
THE CITY
-- Beijing is expecting more than 500,000 overseas visitors for the Games. The city has 660,000 visitor beds, and has chosen 598 homeowners as Olympic hosts. These homes can offer 726 rooms for more than 1,000 guests.
-- Beijing had 115 "blue sky" days, or days with fairly good air quality, for the year to June 18. With government investment of 140 billion yuan in environment improvement, total "blue sky" days rose to 246 last year from 100 in 1998, when the city launched the "blue sky" campaign.
-- Beijing took 300,000 high-emission cars off its roads in early July.From July 20 private cars will be banned on alternate days according to odd/even number plates, as part of measures to improve air quality and ease traffic on the clogged highways.
-- Statistical analysis of Beijing weather records from 1951 to2007 indicates a high possibility of warm and humid weather in midAugust, with about one rainfall every three days.
THE VENUES
- New Venues in Beijing:
-- National Aquatics Center (Water Cube):
Location: Olympic Green (Chaoyang District)
Events: Swimming, diving, synchronized swimming
-- National Stadium:
Location: Olympic Green
Events: Opening and closing ceremonies, track and field, football
-- National Indoor Stadium
Location: Olympic Green
Events: Artistic gymnastics, trampoline, handball
-- Beijing Shooting Range Hall
Location: Shijingshan District
Events: shooting
-- Beijing Olympic Basketball Stadium
Location: Wanshou Rd., Haidian District
Events: basketball
-- Laoshan Velodrome
Location: Laoshan, Shijingshan District
Events: cycling
-- Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park
Location: Shunyi District
Events: rowing, canoe/kayak -- flat-water
-- China Agriculture University Gymnasium
Location: Yuanmingyuanxilu Rd., Haidian District
Events: wrestling
-- Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium
Location: Shuanglong Rd., Chaoyang District
Events: badminton, rhythmic gymnastics
-- Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium
Location: Beisihuanlu Rd., Haidian District
Events: judo, taekwondo
-- Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Court
Location: Olympic Green
Events: tennis
-- Peking University Gymnasium
Location: Yiheyuanlu Rd., Haidian District
Events: table tennis
-Temporary Venues in Beijing
-- Beijing Olympic Green Hockey Stadium
Location: Olympic Green
Events: hockey
-- Fencing Hall of National Convention Center
Location: Olympic Green
Events: fencing preliminaries and finals, modern pentathlon (fencing and shooting)
-- Beijing Olympic Green Archery Field
Location: Olympic Green
Events: archery
-- Beijing Wukesong Sports Center Baseball Field
Location: Wanshou Rd., Haidian District
Events: baseball
-- Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground
Location: Chaoyang District
Events: beach volleyball
-- Triathlon Venue
Location: Changping District
Events: Triathlon
-- Laoshan Bicycle Moto Cross (BMX) Venue
Location: Laoshan, Shijingshan District
Events: cycling (BMX)
-- Road Cycling Course
Location: To be determined
Events: cycling (road race)
Existing Venues in Beijing
-- Olympic Sports Center Stadium
Location: Anding Road, Chaoyang District
Events: modern pentathlon
-- Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium
Location: Asia Games Village, Chaoyang District
Events: handball
-- Beijing's Workers' Stadium
Location: Gongti Road., Chaoyang District
Events: football
-- Beijing's Workers' Gymnasium
Location: Gongti Road., Chaoyang District
Events: boxing
-- Yingdong Natatorium of National Olympics Sport Center
Location: Asia Games Village, Chaoyang District
Events: water polo, modern pentathlon
-- Capital Indoor Stadium
Location: Baishi Bridge, Haidian District
Events: volleyball
-- Laoshan Mountain Bike Course
Location: Laoshan, Shijingshan District
Events: mountain bike
-- Beijing Shooting Range CTF
Location: Xiangshannanlu Road, Shijingshan District
Events: shooting
-- Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium
Location: Zizhuyuan, Haidian District
Events: volleyball
-- Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Gymnasium
Location: Xueyuan Rd., Haidian District
Events: weightlifting
-- Fengtai Sports Center Softball Field
Location: Xisihuannanlu Rd., Fengtai District
Events: softball
Venues outside Beijing
-- Hong Kong Olympic Equestrian Venue
Location: 25 Yuen Wo Road, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong
Events: equestrian
-- Shanghai Stadium
Location: Tianyaoqiao Rd., Shanghai
Events: soccer
-- Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center
Location: Fushan Bay, Qingdao, Shandong Province
Events: sailing
-- Qinghuangdao Olympic Sports Center Stadium
Location: Hebai St., Haigang District, Qinghuangdao, Hebei Province
Events: football
-- Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium
Location: Linshuidao Rd., Tianjin
Events: football
-- Shenyang Olympic Stadium
Location: Hunnanzhonglu Rd., Shenyang, Liaoning Province
Events: football preliminary
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
Official Olympic Games Beijing 2008 Ad No.1
Here you can watch the first in a series of official 2008 Beijing Olympic Games TV commercials, starring sportsmen and women from around the world including Roger Federer, Yao Ming, Yelenea Isinbayeva, Heile Gebrselassie, Liu Xiang, Vanessa Ferrari and Laure Manaudou.
Press release:
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) - Chinese sport superstars Yao Ming and Liu Xiang feature as superheroes in a commercial for the Beijing Olympics released Thursday for screening around the world.
Yao, a center for the NBA's Houston Rockets, and Liu, the Olympic 110 meters hurdles champion, are joined by a stellar team of athletes _ including Roger Federer and Heile Gebreselassie _ for the «Heroes» public service film created for the International Olympic Committee. Other gold medalists who volunteered to be shown performing impossible feats include Sweden's Carolina Kluft, the heptathlon winner in Athens four years ago, and French swimmer Laure Manaudou, the 400 meters freestyle champion.
The commercial is part of a series of films called «The Best of Us» promoting the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Games and the Olympic movement's stated values of excellence, friendship and respect.
Press release:
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) - Chinese sport superstars Yao Ming and Liu Xiang feature as superheroes in a commercial for the Beijing Olympics released Thursday for screening around the world.
Yao, a center for the NBA's Houston Rockets, and Liu, the Olympic 110 meters hurdles champion, are joined by a stellar team of athletes _ including Roger Federer and Heile Gebreselassie _ for the «Heroes» public service film created for the International Olympic Committee. Other gold medalists who volunteered to be shown performing impossible feats include Sweden's Carolina Kluft, the heptathlon winner in Athens four years ago, and French swimmer Laure Manaudou, the 400 meters freestyle champion.
The commercial is part of a series of films called «The Best of Us» promoting the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Games and the Olympic movement's stated values of excellence, friendship and respect.
New Web Site for Olympics Tourists in Beijing
BEIJING, July 16 (Xinhua) -- A Beijing municipal government-run website was launched Wednesday to help worldwide athletes, referees, officials, journalists and tourists easily find restaurants, shopping centers and entertainment venues during the Olympics period.
The website, www.bj2008guide.com, offers in Chinese and English languages information about 2,066 restaurants, 855 shops, chemists and supermarkets, 90 museums, 49 cinemas, 116 fitness centers and 227 bars.
Tourists can also find information about 31 Olympic venues and 112 star-rated Olympic hotels.
In addition, the website operator, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, recommends 22 distinctive business streets in Beijing, such as gallery street, tea street and antique street.
About 2 million domestic tourists and 450,000 overseas tourists are expected to visit Beijing during the Olympic Games period, according to the forecasts by the Games organizer and Beijing municipal tourism bureau.
The website, www.bj2008guide.com, offers in Chinese and English languages information about 2,066 restaurants, 855 shops, chemists and supermarkets, 90 museums, 49 cinemas, 116 fitness centers and 227 bars.
Tourists can also find information about 31 Olympic venues and 112 star-rated Olympic hotels.
In addition, the website operator, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, recommends 22 distinctive business streets in Beijing, such as gallery street, tea street and antique street.
About 2 million domestic tourists and 450,000 overseas tourists are expected to visit Beijing during the Olympic Games period, according to the forecasts by the Games organizer and Beijing municipal tourism bureau.
Beijing Pollution - Facts and Figures
One of the biggest challenges facing Beijing in the final run-up to the Olympic Games is how to deal with the city's pollution problem.
The World Health Organization says air pollution figures for Beijing are still far higher than its recommended target level.
IOC President Jacques Rogge has given a warning that some endurance events might have to be postponed to a different time of day if pollution levels are very high.
The Beijing authorities say pollution levels are coming down and they have introduced a series of measures, such as reducing traffic driving in to the city and stopping work at building sites, to bring down levels even further.
THE PROBLEM
Air pollution in Beijing is a problem. Figures for particulate matter (PM10) - tiny airborne particles caused by the burning of fossil fuels like motor vehicles - are regularly several times higher than the WHO air quality guideline level of 50 micrograms/cubic metre.
They even exceed WHO's interim target for developing countries of 150 micrograms/cubic metre. The interim or "easy" target is intended to encourage developing countries to begin gradually cutting down emissions.
The BBC is taking its own PM10 readings in the run-up to the Olympic Games. The reading is being taken by a hand-held meter outside the BBC office in Beijing in early afternoon.
The Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau also publishes a daily reading based on an average figure for a 24-hour period taken from a variety of locations around the city.
Pollution levels can vary widely during the day and this may help explain some of the discrepancy between the two readings. Different measuring tools can also give different readings and local factors such as a big fire, or a particularly busy rush-hour, can also cause a sudden spike in pollution levels.
According to the Beijing authorities, the number of "blue sky" days in the city, or days measuring less than 100 PM10/microgram per cubic metre, has increased from 100 in 1998 to 246 in 2007.
It is aiming for 256 days blue sky days in 2008.
Concern has been raised about pollution levels at different Olympic venues in the past.
In Seoul, Korea, host to the games in 1988, traffic was banned because of fears about air pollution but the predicted problems did not materialise.
Similar fears were raised about the games in Athens in 2004, and Los Angeles in 1984.
London, which hosts the next Olympic games in 2012, already achieves daily PM10 levels below the WHO target.
In 2007, at a measuring station in Tower Hamlets, East London, close to the Olympic site, only 12 days measured above the WHO air quality target.
THE IMPLICATIONS
The IOC is insisting there is no health risk to athletes taking part in the games. But it has said some events, like the marathon, triathlon and open water swimming may have to be postponed, or scheduled for a different time of day when pollution levels are lower.
In normal conditions, oxygen makes up about 21% of the air. High levels of PM10 means less oxygen passing through the lungs into the blood and to the muscles which, in turn, could affect athletes' performance times.
Athletes can take in up to 20 times more air than sedentary people and thus 20 times as much pollution. Once in the lungs PM10 particles can cause irritation and inflammation and exacerbate existing conditions such as asthma.
The athletes most likely to be affected are those taking part in endurance and longer events, who are most exposed to the pollution.
John Brewer of the Sports Science Academy in Slough, Berkshire, says no comparative studies have been made measuring the impact of air pollution on an athlete's performance in clean and polluted air.
But, he said, if air pollution levels in Beijing remained high, performance would be affected.
High levels of air pollutants are known to cause respiratory diseases. A WHO report in 2006 said 32.8 million people in China had COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, an umbrella term used to describe lung diseases such as bronchitis. Out of a total population of 1.3 billion, 39 million also had asthma.
WHO figures for 2004 show 110 people out of every 100,000 die from chronic respiratory diseases in China, compared to a level of 72 per 100,000 in the UK.
SOLUTIONS
The Beijing authorities have announced a series of measures to bring down air pollution levels. They include:
New tough EU-standard emissions levels were introduced for cars in March
From 20 July, traffic driving into Beijing will be restricted
Factories and other industrial plants are being ordered to stop work or stagger opening times
Coal-burning boilers are being replaced
The Beijing Olympic Committee insists it is on target for a pollution-free games.
Air pollution figures during the Chinese summer tend to be lower than the rest of the year. In fact, figures for July and August 2006 were both well under the WHO interim target.
Source:BBC
The World Health Organization says air pollution figures for Beijing are still far higher than its recommended target level.
IOC President Jacques Rogge has given a warning that some endurance events might have to be postponed to a different time of day if pollution levels are very high.
The Beijing authorities say pollution levels are coming down and they have introduced a series of measures, such as reducing traffic driving in to the city and stopping work at building sites, to bring down levels even further.
THE PROBLEM
Air pollution in Beijing is a problem. Figures for particulate matter (PM10) - tiny airborne particles caused by the burning of fossil fuels like motor vehicles - are regularly several times higher than the WHO air quality guideline level of 50 micrograms/cubic metre.
They even exceed WHO's interim target for developing countries of 150 micrograms/cubic metre. The interim or "easy" target is intended to encourage developing countries to begin gradually cutting down emissions.
The BBC is taking its own PM10 readings in the run-up to the Olympic Games. The reading is being taken by a hand-held meter outside the BBC office in Beijing in early afternoon.
The Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau also publishes a daily reading based on an average figure for a 24-hour period taken from a variety of locations around the city.
Pollution levels can vary widely during the day and this may help explain some of the discrepancy between the two readings. Different measuring tools can also give different readings and local factors such as a big fire, or a particularly busy rush-hour, can also cause a sudden spike in pollution levels.
According to the Beijing authorities, the number of "blue sky" days in the city, or days measuring less than 100 PM10/microgram per cubic metre, has increased from 100 in 1998 to 246 in 2007.
It is aiming for 256 days blue sky days in 2008.
Concern has been raised about pollution levels at different Olympic venues in the past.
In Seoul, Korea, host to the games in 1988, traffic was banned because of fears about air pollution but the predicted problems did not materialise.
Similar fears were raised about the games in Athens in 2004, and Los Angeles in 1984.
London, which hosts the next Olympic games in 2012, already achieves daily PM10 levels below the WHO target.
In 2007, at a measuring station in Tower Hamlets, East London, close to the Olympic site, only 12 days measured above the WHO air quality target.
THE IMPLICATIONS
The IOC is insisting there is no health risk to athletes taking part in the games. But it has said some events, like the marathon, triathlon and open water swimming may have to be postponed, or scheduled for a different time of day when pollution levels are lower.
In normal conditions, oxygen makes up about 21% of the air. High levels of PM10 means less oxygen passing through the lungs into the blood and to the muscles which, in turn, could affect athletes' performance times.
Athletes can take in up to 20 times more air than sedentary people and thus 20 times as much pollution. Once in the lungs PM10 particles can cause irritation and inflammation and exacerbate existing conditions such as asthma.
The athletes most likely to be affected are those taking part in endurance and longer events, who are most exposed to the pollution.
John Brewer of the Sports Science Academy in Slough, Berkshire, says no comparative studies have been made measuring the impact of air pollution on an athlete's performance in clean and polluted air.
But, he said, if air pollution levels in Beijing remained high, performance would be affected.
High levels of air pollutants are known to cause respiratory diseases. A WHO report in 2006 said 32.8 million people in China had COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, an umbrella term used to describe lung diseases such as bronchitis. Out of a total population of 1.3 billion, 39 million also had asthma.
WHO figures for 2004 show 110 people out of every 100,000 die from chronic respiratory diseases in China, compared to a level of 72 per 100,000 in the UK.
SOLUTIONS
The Beijing authorities have announced a series of measures to bring down air pollution levels. They include:
New tough EU-standard emissions levels were introduced for cars in March
From 20 July, traffic driving into Beijing will be restricted
Factories and other industrial plants are being ordered to stop work or stagger opening times
Coal-burning boilers are being replaced
The Beijing Olympic Committee insists it is on target for a pollution-free games.
Air pollution figures during the Chinese summer tend to be lower than the rest of the year. In fact, figures for July and August 2006 were both well under the WHO interim target.
Source:BBC
Beijing recruits 74,000 volunteers for Olympics
BEIJING -- Beijing has recruited 74,615 volunteers to provide services at venues, the Olympic Village and media centers of the Olympic Games, with the oldest aged 87, according to an organizer on Wednesday.
Among the volunteers who come from 98 countries and regions, 73,195 were from the Chinese mainland, 299 from Hong Kong, 95 from Macao, 91 from Taiwan and 935 from other countries and regions, said Zhang Juming, deputy director of the Volunteers' Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).
The oldest is 87-year-old Sun Fangchui, chief engineer of the Beijing Jianxue Architecture and Engineering Design Institute Co. Ltd., who will work at the National Stadium.
Meanwhile, 7,600 venue volunteers were recruited at six Olympic co-host cities, including Qingdao, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang, Qinhuangdao and Hong Kong, he said.
The number of volunteers recruited for the Paralympics stood at about 30,000. All volunteers had received training.
More than 1.1 million people submitted application to volunteer for Olympics during the recruitment period between August 28, 2006, to March 31 this year. Of them, more than 900,000 also applied to work for the Paralympics.
"The number of applicants is the biggest in Olympic history," Zhang said.
BOCOG had also recruited 400,000 "city volunteers" to offer such services as information inquiry, translation and first-aid assistance at 550 temporary volunteer stations around the capital, he said.
In addition to the Olympic volunteers directly serving the Games and the "city volunteers," BOCOG organized 1 million "social volunteers" to offer various service, such as maintaining traffic order and public order at communities and townships, he said.
"We are confident the volunteers, through their professional service and sincere smiles, will leave a most beautiful memory to the international athletes and guests," he added.
Among the volunteers who come from 98 countries and regions, 73,195 were from the Chinese mainland, 299 from Hong Kong, 95 from Macao, 91 from Taiwan and 935 from other countries and regions, said Zhang Juming, deputy director of the Volunteers' Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).
The oldest is 87-year-old Sun Fangchui, chief engineer of the Beijing Jianxue Architecture and Engineering Design Institute Co. Ltd., who will work at the National Stadium.
Meanwhile, 7,600 venue volunteers were recruited at six Olympic co-host cities, including Qingdao, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang, Qinhuangdao and Hong Kong, he said.
The number of volunteers recruited for the Paralympics stood at about 30,000. All volunteers had received training.
More than 1.1 million people submitted application to volunteer for Olympics during the recruitment period between August 28, 2006, to March 31 this year. Of them, more than 900,000 also applied to work for the Paralympics.
"The number of applicants is the biggest in Olympic history," Zhang said.
BOCOG had also recruited 400,000 "city volunteers" to offer such services as information inquiry, translation and first-aid assistance at 550 temporary volunteer stations around the capital, he said.
In addition to the Olympic volunteers directly serving the Games and the "city volunteers," BOCOG organized 1 million "social volunteers" to offer various service, such as maintaining traffic order and public order at communities and townships, he said.
"We are confident the volunteers, through their professional service and sincere smiles, will leave a most beautiful memory to the international athletes and guests," he added.
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