The CCTV building Update

The CCTV building is now at the most important point of its construction. The two towers are now going to be connect at the top portion of the building. The engineers mentioned that the connecting blocks extending from the two towers has to be built at the same pace to ensure that the suspended portion of the tower matches and do not collapse. Let's wish them all the best so that Beijing gets another incredible piece of architecture!!!

Photo is taken from http://www.skyscrapercity.com/ posted by tombeijing.

The Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium Completed!

This stadium is completed earlier this month. It is going to host badminton and rhythmic gymnastics competition! As with all university stadiums, it will be passed on to the university's management after the Games.

The Tianjin Olympics Stadium is completed

In fact, it's currently one of the stadiums hosting the Women's Soccer World Cup! Here are some photos of this magnificent stadium! :)

News on the One Year Countdown to Beijing Olympics - From CNN

Here are some video links to CNN news reports to the Games.

In this clip, you can see the performance in the countdown:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2007/08/08/stevens.cdb.olympics.one.year.cnn

Here're some some other clips that features on the preparation work on Beijing 2008! Enjoy! :)

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/08/08/olympics.beijing.reut/index.html?iref=newssearch

One Year to Beijing 2008!!!

How time flies! It's only one year left to 08082008 - The Chinese Olympics!!!

Here's the theme song for the Beijing Olympic Games! It's called "We are ready".

Well, Beijing will indeed be more than ready! Most of the stadiums (excluding the Bird Nest) will be completed by the end of the year! The new Olympic subway line is already in the testing stage. Many of the stadiums are staging pre-Olympic events to prepare them for the Games!

As many papers have said, apart from the pollution and traffic problems, this Olympics has pretty much met and exceed all expectations! It's the mark of the Chinese rise into the international scene! 加油，北京！加油，中国！加油，中华民族！

Another soccer preliminary stadium

Another incredible architecture. This is situated in Tianjin, about an hour and an half away by train from Beijing. Tianjin is the 3rd or 4th largest city in China (though less famous than Shanghai or Guangzhou). This stadium will be used for the soccer preliminaries. Don't you love the lights! :)

Shenyang Olympic Sports Center debuts on July 4th

The incredible thing about the Beijing Olympics is that even the "lesser" venues are spectacular. Here are pictures of the Shenyang Olympic Sports Center located north of Beijing in the Liaoning Province. This stadium is used for football. Photos taken from http://www.skyscrapercity.com/

The Bird Nest At Night (鸟巢夜观)

The construction of the Bird Nest is now focused on the interior. 5000 workers are working on the site everyday. Here are some pictures of the birdnest at night.

The Hong Kong Olympic Equestarian Centre

In case you still didn't know, the equestarian competition will be held in Hong Kong, instead of Beijing. The stadium is now completed. Take a look!!! (taken from 2008.sohu.com)

The Bird Nest is Powered Up

The first of 4 power installation has completed in the main Olympic Station. The power installation took just 2 months to complete the first phase.

This means that we will soon see the Bird Nest being LIT UP!!!

That's going be exciting!!! :D

CCTV Building

This is another incredible building by the Chinese. They hope to finish this before the Olympics so that it will be another spectacle for tourist to the city.

It's getting towards the crucial part of its construction real soon i.e. the joining of the two towers.

Pictures taken from http://www.beijingupdates.com/

Good Luck @ Qingdao Olympic Sailing Regatta

The Qingdao Olympic Sailing Regatta is getting ready for a preparation international event for the Beijing Olympics next year. The event (Qingdao International Sailing Competition, 9th to 24th Aug 2007) is part of a whole series of events to test the readiness of ALL the stadiums involved in the Beijing Olympics!

Here are the latest pictures of the Regatta! :)

Oops! Sorry Google!!!

I accidentally clicked on one of the google ads on my site today! *sweat*!!! I must really go and apologise to Google!!!





Anyway, what surprised me is that the ad site shows that some of the tour packages has already sold out! It's more than a year before the Olympics!!! The tour packages are not cheap either... at least $6,000 dollars for 5 nights!





According to sohu.com, the price of the hotel rooms around the Olympics village has already rose 6 times or more! If you are really planning to go, book now!

(images from skyscrapercity.com)

The National Grand Theatre - Beijing

The National Grand Theatre is another INCREDIBLE architecture in Beijing. Nickname the "Egg", it is just next to the Forbidden City and Tian An Men Square. When it was first announced, many people condemned it's architectural style being unauspicious and that it destroyed the view of the most important architectural site of China.

It is now almost complete. It's first performance is scheduled in July. Here are some pictures of it. Be the judge. :)

Engineering Triumph or Environmental Destruction?

China to build highway on Mt Everest for 2008 Olympics

Beijing, June 20 (PTI): China has started building a 108-km-long "highway" on Mt Everest from the Tibetan side so as to ease the path of those bearing the 2008 Beijing Olympics torch, but environmental concerns remain.

The construction of the road -- costing $ 19.7 million -- kicked off yesterday at Mt Everest Base Camp 5,200 meters above sea level.

It is not clear if the road construction project will affect the fragile environment of the Himalayan region. The planned 2008 Beijing Olympics flame ignition and torch relay over Mt Everest will not harm the fragile environment, Tibet's Communist Party chief Zhang Qingli said recently.

Some media reports have blamed the environmental changes of Tibet partly on the increase of tourists and mountaineers to this area, citing more modern facilities will be brought up the mountain to ensure the torch burning and television broadcast, which will then result in greater pollution.

The organisers of the torch relay has said the Olympics flame is expected to reach Mt Everest from the southern slope before the mountaineers carry it down along the northern slope.
The project aims to turn a 108-km rough road linking Tingri County of Xigaze Prefecture at the foot of the world's tallest mountain to the Base Camp into a blacktop highway fenced by undulating guardrails.

The project will take about four months. On completion, the highway will become the major route for tourists and mountaineers who are crowding onto Mt Everest in ever larger numbers, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Olympic Village - The Sportsman Condo

This is the interior of some of the condo units that sportsman will stay in during the Games. They will be sold after the games. Do you like them? :)

p.s.: They are supposed to be environmentally friendly homes!

Reflections at the Bird Nest

I've not been posting for a while. Here're some new photos of the Bird Nest that I find. The water effect is really beautiful, don't you think? They build a man-made river next to the stadium! :)

Currently, this stadium is cladding with EFTE cushions to keep rain out of the stadium. Previously, it was reported that the Water Cube is the largest structure to use EFTE as building materials. It turns out that Bird Nest uses even MORE EFTE (over 110,000 sq. m worth of EFTE)! 12m below the EFTE cushions is another layer of cushion made of PFTE. They act as sound absorbent.

The biggest threat to the structure is - BIRDS!!! Their sharp claws can puncture the cushions. To prevent that, they are installing wire lines just above the cushions so that birds can rest on the wires!

Football in Shenyang Olympic Center

This is one of the stadiums staging the preliminary football matches come Beijing 2008. As you can see, it's also almost done!!!

Note: The stadium is located in Shenyang, a city north to Beijing.

Wrestling in Chinese Agricultural University Gymnasium

The wrestling competition of Beijing 2008 will be held in yet another brand new stadium - The Chinese Agricultural University Gymnasium.

Another beauty :). Well, here are some stats about the stadium: Location: China Agricultural University (East Campus)

Total land surface (sq. m.): 23,950

Seats: 6,000 permanent and 2,000 removable

Post-Games use: The gym will have a warm-up court and spaces for various sport competitions and large-scale activities, such as badminton, table tennis, gymnastics, volleyball, basketball, handball and indoor football matches.

Book your Hotels to Beijing 2008!!!

I went on a vacation during the weekend! Many things have happened since. One of the more important one is the following news!

Beijing 2008 Online Accommodation Booking Centre Announced
Posted 11:29 am ET (GamesBids.com)

The Beijing tourism administration said it will open an online accommodation booking centre on its website http://www.bjta.gov.cn before March for visitors going to the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games. The site will be linked to the official Beijing 2008 website, said Xiong Yumei, deputy director of the bureau.

The People’s Daily reports that the website will feature pictures of hotels and information in three languages – Chinese, English and French.

About 1,000 budget hotels providing 100,000 beds will be recommended on the site.

Xiong said, “in 2008 these budget hotels will be introduced in eight languages for the convenience of visitors”.

All the hotels must have service guides, signs, menus in Chinese and English, Internet connection in all rooms, and the ability for visitors to pay by credit card.

The tourism administration has named 134 star hotels in Beijing as “green hotels”. They have all passed the state standards which require the setting up of eco-friendly managerial systems and facilities, and the adoption of technology that conserves water, energy and reduces waste, reports People’s Daily.

About 500,000 international visitors are expected in Beijing during the Games and Xiong said she believed the city has the capacity to accommodate all the visitors.

Tunneling through the Four Seasons with the Olympic Subway Line

Beijing is building a new subway line to service the Olympic Park. There are altogether 4 stations with the 4 seasons as the theme for the line! The base color of the four stations will be red/back, yellow, blue and green respectively. The Olympic Subway Line is 4.398km long. Its theme is borrowed from the “rhythm of music”. Each station represents a fermata (rest) in a musical performance, while the tunnel between the stations represents a string of musical notes (the tunnel is decorated!). As the train moves through the four stations, the traveler will experience five different “music pieces” with each station being the end and the beginning of the next.

The “Pan-Island Panda Station” (literal translation, not official) has red and black as the main hue represent the passionate Summer; The Olympic Center Station is yellow signifying a brilliant Autumn. The Olympic Park Station is blue representing the expansive Winter; and lastly the Forest Station is green as hopeful Spring. In addition, the walls of the stations will be gray representing the continuity of the culture of Beijing.

P.S.: There will be water coolers in the stations (first in the Beijing Metro System). There will also be special access gates and lifts to facilitate people with disabilities.

Update on the Water Cube

Inside the Stadium


Roof Membrane Installation



The membrane installation of the National Aquatic Center (‘Water Cube’) is now 85% completed and is expected to be complete by the end of the year with the installation of the roof membranes.

The Chinese name for the ‘Water Cube’ is actually very interesting. It’s called 水立方, or “Where the Water Stands”. I thought that’s a very poetic name for the stadium!

The ETFE membrane is said to have the ability to “self-clean”. The surface of ETFE has anti-adhesion property that prevents dust from staying on the surface. Even when dust does get trapped, rain will be sufficient to wash the particles away. So when is human effort required for a wash? Well, when the infamous dust storm strucks!

The Water Cube will eventually have 3000 ETFE membranes of varying sizes and they function like air pillows. Are they strong enough? Well, apparently ETFE is able to withstand pressure better than other types of membrane. You can use it as trampoline! If a membrane is damaged, it will be replaced in 8 hours time. How is that possible? Well, Beijing already has facilities that manufacture this new age material! What’s more? These EFTE membranes ensure the use of sunlight as the source of ambient lighting in the stadium!

The exterior coat of the structure will be decorated with many white light spots. They are called galvanizing points. What’s their function? To regulate and enhance the luminosity, aesthetic and temperature of the stadium during the hot summer days when the Games are being played. I believe they also ensure that there’s not too much reflection and shadows into the building. It will be completed in Oct 2007.





Welcome to the stadium of the 21st Century :).

NBA in Wukesong Stadium in 2008

Looks like not only NFL games are planning to be held in the Bird Nest Stadium in 2007! Even NBA is expressing interests in staging the pre and post-2007 NBA season games in the Wukesong Stadium!!!

It's 2007! Not 2008!!! These events will help Beijing build its sports city brand name and at the same time, test the stadiums ahead of the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

This will catalyse the Sino-ising of America and the Americanising of China!
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First Aid in Beijing

How many Basic First Aid-ers are there in Beijing? The answer is around 225,000. This works out to be about 1.5 per 100 people in Beijing.

The Beijing Multiplicity has been engaging the Red Cross to help build the first aid skills of Beijing citizens. They are aiming for 1 first aid trained person for every 50 people by 2008.

The priority goes to the volunteers of the Beijing 2008 Games! These include drivers, police, parks, hotels and shops attendants! Do other countries do this as well?

Inside the Bird Nest

Taken from www.skyscrapers.cn

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What do they plan to do with the Bird Nest?

Someone ask me what does Beijing plan to do with the stadiums when they are probably completed 1 year ahead of schedule.

Well, the Chinese are determined that NOTHING goes wrong. So, they have planned for be a series of pre-Games tournaments to test out ALL the stadiums before the Games. This whole series of international events is officially called "Good Luck, Bejing!". In fact, the Chinese had already started testing the Fengtai Softball Stadium and the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Regatta from Aug this year!

Some events that has been announced for the Bird Nest are:

Race walking IAAF Race Walking Challenge 2008.04.19-04.20
Marathon 2008 China Open 2008.04.20
Athletics China Open 2008.05.22-05.25

Functions during the Games: Athletics, Football;
Post-Games use: The Stadium is to stage sports events at national and international levels,as well as cultural and entertaining activities. The sitting capacity is expected to reduced from 91000 during the games to 80000.

Height of the stadium: 41m/135ft to 68m/223 ft
Maximum Length (Major axis): 333m/1093 ft
Maximum Width (Minor axis): 297m/974 ft
Weight: 45,000 tonnes
Cost: US$422,000,000

(BEIJING, Nov. 30) -- With the finishing of the hoisting project, the main structures of the National Stadium for the 2008 Olympic Games have all completed.

The key steps of the construction of the main stadium, also called "the Bird's Nest," are moving to the installation of its membranes, fit-ups and decorations, installation of electromechanical equipment and the outdoor engineering project.

The hoisting project, crucial in the stadium's construction, was arranged into two phases. The main structures' hoisting project started on October 28, 2005 and ended on August 31, 2006. The sub-structures' hoisting was done between September 17 and November 30, 2006.

The Bird's Nest underwent two other major steps this year. On August 31 the welding process was completed on its main steel structures and on September 17, its supportive structures were successfully removed. The engineering and technical staff as well as the workers overcame many difficulties in the construction process.


This is the last 5m steel beam to be fitted.


Secured!

Wanna ticket to the opening ceremony?

The Beijing Olympic Committee has finally decided on the ticket prices for the competition!



For competition preliminary events, the price ranges from 30 to 300 rmb (US$3.80 to US$38.30).

For competition finals, the price range from 60 to 1000 rmb (US$7.70 to US$127.60)

For the opening ceremony, the price range from 200 to 5000 rmb (US$25.50 to US$638.20)

For the closing ceremony, the price range from 150 to 3000 rmb (US$19.10 to US$382.90)

Most importantly, the committee has reserved 14% of the tickets and fixed them at a special price to encourage chinese youth to watch the games live! These tickets will be directly marketed to the students at 5 rmb (US$0.63) for preliminaries and 10 rmb (US$1.27) for the finals!
Man! Are they lucky!!! The tickets will be opened for purchase from the first half of 2007.
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Tianjin Olympic Stadium almost complete!

This beautiful stadium is used for preliminary soccer matches.

Han Meilin - the Man behind the Running Man and Fuwas

Here's an interesting news article about the man who designed the 'Fuwa' and the logo of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. In essense, this 70 year old man by the name of Han Meilin is ranked as a first-class artist in China.

He's rewarded with 1 yuan (USD$0.13) for his designs....

The Official Mascot of the Beijing Paralympics 2008

This is the official mascot of the Beijing 2008 Paralympics! He's called 福牛乐乐 (translated as Fortune Cow, Happy).

Cow symbolises a simple, positive, diligent and proactive attitude towards life. This is congruent with the philosophy of the Paralympics.

Personally, I find this more appealing than the Fuwas.

More Water Cube

These series of photos really demonstrate how huge and spectacular the "Water Cube" is.

Porn-watching pandas help unleash baby boom

Well, this doesn't have any correlation with Beijing 2008 other than Pandas being one of the Fuwas!

Nonetheless, I thought this is really funny!

---------------------------------------------------------

Picture this: pandas watching porn to procreate.

"It works," enthuses Zhang Zhihe, a leading Chinese expert, about showing uninitiated males DVDs of fellow pandas mating.

It's taken years of worldwide research and now scientists say they have unleashed a baby boom among one of the world's most beloved but endangered animals, China's giant panda.

A bit of panda porn has helped too, they say.




Pandas are known to be poor breeders and blue movies are just one of many techniques that have been tried to teach them to breed. The efforts to understand and simulate conditions for mating and raising cubs have paid off in China, the panda's native habitat.

Now it's a matter of successful mating outside China. The first test will come in January, when Prasertsak Buntragulpoontawee hopes to bring off a successful mating between male Chuang Chuang and partner Lin Hui in the northern Thailand city of Chiang Mai.

"It is the same idea as chimpanzees seeing people smoke and then copying it," says the Thai researcher.

Zhang, director of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, says this year's record high births is because of an accumulation of research on panda biology, nutrition and genetics while "trying to imitate nature better."

In the first 10 months of this year 31 cubs were born in captivity in China and 28 survived, said Zhang. That's an increase from 12 births in 2005 and just nine in 2000. Of this year's births, 14 came through natural breeding, while artificial insemination or a combination of the two produced the rest.

No cubs were born among the roughly 20 pandas outside China, but sperm from Atlanta Zoo's Yang Yang yielded an offspring for Lun Lun in Chengdu, China, Zhang told a conference here of 140 panda experts.

JoGayle Howard, an animal reproduction specialist at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., said the goal of raising the captive breeding population to 300 from the current 220 is rapidly being reached. This would prevent inbreeding, widen the genetic pool and enable more captive animals to re-enter the wild, where the panda population is estimated at 1,600 to 3,000.

Howard said the biggest challenges in panda breeding are an extremely high rate of incompatibility and the very narrow window of opportunity -- females are ready to mate for as few as 48 hours a year.

"At first people thought that you just put two animals together and they would figure it out. But it didn't turn out that way," she said. "Now we know how to take care of the panda better. We've really made progress. But we're still learning a lot of even basic things.¡±

Howard explained that captive animals lacked proper socialization and when the male and female met for breeding ¡°they just freaked out and fought." Now enclosures are bigger and contain more animals.

There's also a push to keep cubs with their mothers longer, for up to two years, to give them more natural sex education.

In the wild females in heat will climb a tree while suitors below fight for her. In captivity, with no male rivals around, pandas often take out their aggression on the female.

"In the wild they have their own choices when mating," adds Zhang. "But when we breed them in captivity it's like taking two human beings and forcing them to mate."

There are still only about 15 captive male adults which breed naturally. Second best is artificial insemination, and after years of study frozen semen can now be shipped around the world and applied according to a comprehensive genetic database.

Prasertsak is prepared to use both methods as he readies his couple for mating at Chiang Mai Zoo, which has rented the animals from China for research and tourism purposes.

Last year Lin Hui showed promising symptoms but it turned out to be a pseudo-pregnancy, not unusual among pandas.

Opinions differ on the effect of blue movies, but Zhang and Prasertsak agree on the sound track.

"It's the sounds of breeding that stimulate them," Zhang said. "Pandas are just like human beings. They understand everything."

Source:Xinhua/Agencies

The Anti-Terrorism System

The following pictures include the anti-terrorism vehicles. Some of the vehicles are really perculiar. Anyone knows what exactly they are for???

Beijing uses GPS to track down and demolish illegal construction

(translated from 2008.sina.com.cn)
In the beginning of 2006, Beijing city planned to demolish 4.5 million m2 of illegal houses and buildings. This operation is now completed. To date, 1.6 milion m2 of the cleared land has already been converted to public areas.

A further 3 million m2 of illegal construction are planned for demolition in 2007. This is announced during an Urban Development Forum organized by the Beijing 2008 Environment Development Agency.

According to the agency, the current development to transform the urban environmental landscape has been smooth. They have step up the frequency of satellite tracking from once a quarter to bi-monthly to prevent new illegal construction. In the last 3 tracking, they have identified 40 different spots covering an area 87,200 m2.

The demolishment and relocation operation includes many of the “city villages”. The agency has planned for 80 “city villages” to be demolished and re-located to better quarters this year. 36 of these are already relocated while the rest should be completed by year end. Similar plans are in the work for the peripheral “villages” of the city.

The remaining 22 “city villages” will be demolished and relocated next year and mark the completion of the urban relocation plans for all the “city villages” in Beijing.

At the same time, relocation project of the villages in the Aviation corridor are also going on. 3 of the 9 villages are in the relocation phase while the rest are preparing for the shift.

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Here we go again...

BEIJING (Reuters) - Air pollution in Beijing, under pressure to provide clear skies before the 2008 Olympics, reached the worst level on a government air quality index on Tuesday.

Beijing's air pollution was rated "hazardous" -- the highest category in the China Environmental Monitoring Center's index -- for the 24-hour period ending at noon on Tuesday, Xinhua said.

For a second consecutive day, Beijing was blanketed in heavy fog, which reduced visibility to a few hundred metres, and had delayed at least 80 flights, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The capital's worsening pollution comes as China's environmental watchdog reported on Tuesday that national industrial emissions continued to soar in the first nine months of 2006.

Beijing has pledged to cut air pollution in the lead-up to the Olympics but faces an uphill battle as its increasingly wealthy population rushes to buy exhaust-emitting cars.

From July to September, one out of every three days were classified as polluted in Beijing and 15 other major cities and had affected the "physical" and "psychological health" of some 15 million people, the State Environmental Protection Agency said on its Web site.

Pollution is really a huge problem in China... Beijing is one of the most polluted cities in the world. Looks like this is the biggest challenge for the success of the Games in Beijing 2008 will continue to be air pollution!

The Beijing University Stadium now the Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat Stadium?

Today, the Beijing University received a $173.3million rmb ($22million USD) donation from the Khoo Foundation (Singapore) to aid the construction of the Beijing University Stadium. This stadium will the venue of the Ping Pong competition in Beijing 2008.

The late Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat was the richest man in Singapore. He had an estimated fortune of $5 billion usd. As a result, the stadium will be renamed after him.

It's kinda interesting and heartwarming how many overseas Chinese are willing to give huge sums of money to help build the stadiums. The Water Cube is fully funded by overseas Chinese. So is the equestrain competition venue in Hong Kong. Many of these overseas Chinese are decendents of the very poor who were forced to leave their villages to seek a better life for themselves and the family.

For those who made it, many will give millions of dollars to help build schools, factories, houses and now stadiums in China. Even when they are died, they will give a sum of money, like the Khoo family.

It's ironic at the same time because if China wasn't weak for the first 80 years of the 20th century, many of these people won't have left, become rich and contribute back right now. Will they make it rich if they have stayed on in a stronger China? Nobody knows. The only thing we know is that many Chinese love their motherland no matter how far they are away from it.

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Beijing building the Olympic dream

By Carrie Gracie
BBC News, Beijing

"The Olympics is seen as a chance to show China as rich and united

The Beijing Olympics may be almost two years away for you, but this city lives and breathes it.

Ever since it won the bid, the Chinese capital has been straining every sinew to make the 2008 Olympics the best ever.

The stadiums rising over the Beijing skyline are cutting-edge, a firm statement about China's growing confidence on the world stage.

And it is not just Olympic architecture - subways, roads, railways and a huge new airport from one of the world's top architects are also being built.

Beijing is using the Olympics to transform itself into a fitting capital for a 21st century superpower.

Making up for lost time

For the ruling Communist Party this is also an important re-branding exercise. If it can demonstrate to its own public that Beijing is accepted and respected on the international stage, and if it can persuade the world that - political corruption and repression notwithstanding - China is strong, rich and united, it wins twice over from the games.

A win on the field would be gratifying too. Arguments over Taiwan kept Chinese athletes out of the Olympics until 1980, but they have been making up for lost time.

China was only three gold medals behind the US in 2004, and to come top on home turf would make Beijing's 2008 celebration complete.

Sports chiefs have just told their athletes to cut out socialising and avoid all the lucrative distractions of advertising and self-promotion, so they can focus their energy on training.

Critics mutter that China pushes its athletes too hard and still harbours drugs cheats in some sports.

But Olympic gold medallist Deng Yaping told me China's athletes are cleaner than most others, and that the authorities are determined to stamp out drugs altogether.

As for being bullied, she was picked as a future table tennis star at the age of five and spent 20 years inside the sports system.

She insists that it is the athletes who push themselves. She says she got only encouragement from her coaches.

Good impressions

The public is in training too. Mass campaigns of self-improvement are under way, with schoolchildren taking part in Olympic quizzes and essay competitions, and their parents are being urged to learn English and study books on etiquette.

China wants to make the best possible impression on the world in 2008. Spitting, jostling, swearing or surliness will not be permitted.

When I carried out a random survey of Beijingers in a vegetable market and on a bus, I did not find anyone complaining about all of this. They said the Games had helped modernise their city and boost the economy.

Even the builders from southern China I found squatting at the roadside over a mug of rice and vegetables had more complaints about their lunch than the Olympics. They said the Games would be a proud moment for the nation.

Outside China, not everyone is convinced. Political and religious exiles argue that Beijing should never have been awarded the Olympics and that anyone who cares about human rights or democracy should boycott the 2008 event.

Beijing's backers say the opposite is true, that the Olympics is opening China to the world in every field from sport to broadcasting and architecture.

The legacy of 2008, they hope, will be not just stadiums, medals and fireworks, but a government which is more responsive to its own people."

The last paragraph is really heartwarming. I hope it turns out this way.
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Beijing Chooses Flowers for the 2008 Olympics

Chinese botanists are gathering in Beijing this weekend to select the flowers that will be used to decorate parts of Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

"Experts will select 100 types of flowers from more than 300, which will be able to cope with Beijing's climate," said an official from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry.

Chrysanthemums and China roses are already confirmed on the list thanks to their status as "flowers of the city", titles bestowed on them by Beijing residents in 1986. Also on the list include peony and calla.

In recent years, a debate has arisen over the suitability of the Chrysanthemum as one of Beijing's signature flowers due to its widespread use as a funeral flower in the West.

Supporters of the flower argue that it received high praise in ancient Chinese literature and if you gave someone a single Chrysanthemum, it meant you viewed the person as honest. Even so, Chinese diplomatic officials now no longer consider a gift of a Chrysanthemum appropriate for visiting foreign guests.

Plants grown in the Beijing summer can usually sustain the oppressive heat and humidity, but the current amount of flowers is not sufficient to meet the capital's demand for street and stadium decoration in 2008.

Landscape engineers are going to introduce more flower types from other parts of the country through crossbreeding to produce flowers that can blossom in the heat of August , experts said.

[Source - Xinhua News Agency]

Water Cube and the Bird Nest

Both stadiums will be completed by 2007.

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