Blog Tracking Beijing 2008 Olympics

The CCTV building Update

2007-09-27T08:37:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-09-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-26T09:20:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-08T22:20:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2007-08-08T08:23:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-13T06:58:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-12T07:41:00.000-07:00

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)

2007-07-11T06:38:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-03T15:03:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-29T21:46:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2007-06-23T18:50:00.001-07:00

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

2007-06-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-06-21T04:38:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-19T00:53:00.000-07:00

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

2006-12-27T08:29:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-27T08:18:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2006-12-19T20:44:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-11T07:01:00.000-08:00

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.

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Update on the Water Cube

2006-12-08T10:15:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-07T02:39:00.000-08:00

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!

First Aid in Beijing

2006-12-05T04:55:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-03T22:22:00.000-08:00

Taken from www.skyscrapers.cn

What do they plan to do with the Bird Nest?

2006-12-02T05:07:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-30T05:09:00.000-08:00

(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?

2006-11-29T00:39:00.000-08:00

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.

Tianjin Olympic Stadium almost complete!

2006-11-28T06:22:00.000-08:00

This beautiful stadium is used for preliminary soccer matches.

Han Meilin - the Man behind the Running Man and Fuwas

2006-11-26T22:04:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-24T05:12:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-24T04:52:00.000-08:00

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

Porn-watching pandas help unleash baby boom

2006-11-23T21:22:00.000-08:00

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!

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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

2006-11-23T05:02:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-22T01:52:00.000-08:00

(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.

Here we go again...

2006-11-21T09:17:00.000-08:00

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?

2006-11-21T08:35:00.000-08:00

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.

Beijing building the Olympic dream

2006-11-20T23:00:00.000-08:00

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.

Beijing Chooses Flowers for the 2008 Olympics

2006-11-20T03:06:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-19T08:58:00.000-08:00

Both stadiums will be completed by 2007.

Mice star as Olympic food tasters (from BBC news)

2006-11-18T08:13:00.000-08:00

"China is determined the Olympic Games will pass off smoothly
White mice are to take part in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing - their task to protect international athletes from food poisoning.
The mice will be fed milk, alcohol, salad, rice, oil and seasonings, the city's health inspectors said.

Mice show adverse reactions within 17 hours, while laboratory tests take much longer, they said.

Poor hygiene in food handling and low standards in distribution have made food poisoning rife in China.

The move is part of the huge effort the Chinese are making to ensure the showpiece event passes off smoothly.

24-hour guard

All the food and ingredients to be prepared in Olympic kitchens will fed to the mice a day before they are served to athletes, state news agency Xinhua quoted Zhao Xinsheng of the Beijing Municipal Health Inspection Bureau as saying.

Infected food can then be traced and destroyed in time.

More than 10,000 competitors will be staying at the athletes' village during the Games.

The kitchens will also have 24-hour guards, storage will be constantly monitored and transportation will have global positioning systems.

Zhen Xiaozhen, of the Beijing Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, said the food served would be Western, complemented by Chinese dishes.

The BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Beijing says nothing is being allowed to stand in the way of the perfect Olympics.

Stray cats and dogs will vanish from the streets, he says, and anti-aircraft guns, small planes and rockets will be used to disperse rain clouds, ensuring there will be blue skies over Beijing for the duration. "

Wow! I wonder how Stuart Little will feel when he knows about the "great contribution" that his fellow mice will make to the Beijing Olympics! Mice are really the foundation of the modern world. Our progress in terms of medical and biological sciences are largely due to their sacrifice...

A Clean Beijing

2006-11-17T07:28:00.000-08:00

"(BEIJING, Nov. 16) -- Beijing has already achieved its goal of using clean energy in the heating system for the year.

Up to the end of October, a total of 1410 boilers with a combined capacity of 5,000 tons have been converted to clean energy, fulfilling the plan for the year two months ahead of schedule.

Since 1998, the capital city has devoted attention to combating air pollution, with the use of clean energy instead of coal as a major priority. Over the past several years, more than 10,000 boilers with a capacity of less than 20 tons each and 44,000 tea boilers have taken in clean energy. As a result, the annual average of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere fell to 50 micrograms per cubic meter in Beijing in 2005, which means the national standard was met.

In its 11th five-year plan for the national economic development (2006-2011) Beijing has pledged to continue upgrade the rest of 2800 boilers with a capacity of less than 20 tons each."

This report is ambiguous. Anyone knows what is the clean substitute for coal that they use? What's tea boilers?

Shuyi Olympic Canoeing-Shalom Park

2006-11-16T08:22:00.000-08:00

Qingdao Olympic Sailing Regatta is not the only venue for water sports for the Games. The other venue is actually situated in landlocked (and water deficient) Beijing! It is known as the Shunyi Olympic Canoeing-Shalom Park (顺义奥林匹克水上公园).

The interesting thing about this park is that it never existed. The authorities literally carved out the entire water park from the earth. They've recently completed the first phase of the project. The main navigation channels reaching a depth of 0.8m with 300, 000 cubic meters of water. It is expected to reach a final depth of 3.5m with 1.7million cubic meters of water next year.

The Olympic Torches Poll

2006-11-15T06:44:00.000-08:00

Which one do you like? Greece is leading right now!

1936 Berlin	1948 London	1952 Helsinki
1956 Melbourne	1960 Rome	1964 Tokyo
1968 Mexico City	1972 Munich	1976 Montreal
1980 Moscow	1984 Los Angeles	1988 Seoul
1992 Barcelona	1996 Atlanta	2000 Sydney
2004 Greece

Fly with the Fuwa, Anyone?

2006-11-14T06:12:00.000-08:00

Air China has started its sponsorship campaign by launching a "fuwa-liner"! This plane is on a tour to some major Olympic cities starting with Beijing.

This plane will be put into service thereafter! :D

In conjunction with the launch of the plane, they are launched a limited edition telephone cards (with China Mobile) and postage set! Worth keeping!

The smiles from the volunteers are the best namecards for Beijing!

2006-11-13T06:57:00.000-08:00

Apparently, the Beijing 2008 Committee is considering having wrist bands for volunteers during the Games. On 29th Oct, they gave out these sample rubber wristbands during an event to volunteers and spectators. These wristbands are called 'Smile Bands', in conjunction with the "courtesy campaign" for the Olympics! ;-)

These rubber wristbands have the words “志愿者的微笑是北京最好的名片”engraved on the inner sides and a unique number tagged with it. The literal translation is "The smiles from the volunteers are the best namecards for Beijing!"

The design's not final. In fact, they gave out 20000 surveys to ask for opinions on the wristbands including questions on what they feel the different colors should symbolise! They will unveil the final version of the wristbands on 1st Jan 2007!

Do not Fear Earthquakes in Beijing 2008!

2006-11-11T09:02:00.000-08:00

(edited and translated from 2008.sohu.com)

8th Nov 2006

The Beijing municipality announced the 11th 5-Years Development Plan for Natural Disaster management. The Plan highlighted that the city will build a Natural Disaster Prevention and Management Center. By the end of the 5 year period, the city center area will have the ability to withstand earthquakes of a magnitude of 6 on the Richter scale.

This means that buildings should suffer minimal serious structural damage in the event of a magnitude 6 earthquake and should not result in major casualties. At the same time the life support process and system will not be crippled for large areas.

They will also strive to detect signs of impending earthquakes above magnitude 4 and make meaningful predictions to help minimize the impact of major earthquakes (5 and above).

To ensure the safety of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, the city will draft a professional pre-disaster prediction and report process, as well as emergency response procedure in accordance to the earth movements below the venues during the Games. This will facilitate in making sure that in the event of an earthquake, the life support system can function in the face of an adversity.

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

Remember the super dogs video? They are trained for this purpose too!

Chinese Sports Star - 刘翔 (Liu Xiang)

2006-11-10T06:34:00.000-08:00

He's probably the biggest sporting star right now in China, along with Yao Ming of Houston Rockets, NBA.

He is the very first male track and field athlete in China to win the Olympic Gold and is the current world record holder of the 110m hurdles at 12.88s. Many expect him to replicate that in Beijing 2008.

As you can see from the picture, he's not really goodlooking! I think his marketability lies not in his achievement. This guy really knows how to market himself. He communicate well and is unabashed about his achievements and ambitions. I think this makes him unique among conforming one-liner Chinese sports stars and creates excitement.

He earns 3 million dollars from endorsement already.

Beijing 2008 Gets “Green” Certification

2006-11-10T05:26:00.000-08:00

"Posted 11:54 am ET (GamesBids.com)

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games has passed its environmental management system (EMS) and is accredited with a re-certified ISO14001 by China’s Environmental Certification Center.

The certification covers twelve areas including BOCOG Green Office, event route planning, communications, accommodation, catering and Games-time transportation service, marketing, Olympic procurement, organization of large scale activities, torch relay route planning, venue planning and construction, and environmental management. "

The only question I have is whether the Chinese National certification is comparable to an International one.

The Qingdao Sailing Regatta First Trial

2006-11-08T08:20:00.000-08:00

I got this from 搜狐. These are some pictures of the first ever Sailing event to be held at the Qingdao Sailing Regatta. It's the Qingdao Internationl Sailing Competition that involves all the competitive sailing events.

UK emerges as the overall champion of this event.

The First Venue to be Tested

2006-11-08T02:28:00.000-08:00

This is the Feng Tai Softball Stadium. It's the first venue to tested for international competition.

The event was held in Sep for the International Women's Softball Invitation Competition. The Americans won!

*I made an original mistake of using the term baseball. Actually, I am not even sure the difference between softball and baseball!!!*

CCTV Building Construction Photos

2006-11-08T00:53:00.000-08:00

The CCTV Building is finally showing its shape.

On a side note, yesterday I registered 390 page views which blew me away. It shocked me because it grew by nearly 4 times in a day. There wasn't much post on my blog, so it came as a surprise.

I hope it's not a google technical glitch ;). If you have visited, I appreciate if you can give some comments. :)

Air from the Beijing Games Anyone?

2006-11-07T06:36:00.000-08:00

A Chinese textbook "Little Fox Sells Air" is a primary school book about a cunning fox that opens an air-selling business in a dirty air-polluted city.

Capitalizing on that idea, Li Jie, decided to bag "World Cup Air" for 50 yuan ($6.30) and sell it.

He also wants to bag Beijing 2008 Olympic Air, Tian'anmen Square Air, Mount Everest Air and and....well, the sky is the limit, literally.

Li asked the court, "A textbook could not possibly advocate breaking the law, could it?"

The Chaoyang Industry and Commerce Bureau rejected his application.

I don't know why. Let the guy sell the air. The only thing more foolish might be the people who buy it.

My dad used to say that people will buy anything. "If you left a bucket of manure on the front porch of a house sooner or later someone would buy it, either because they want the bucket or the manure."

Hmm... I wonder how it smells like (ewww!)

Anyway imho, it's better than chipping off a slab of the concrete from the stadium! It's like tourists who bring a piece of coral back home destroying the ecosystem. Taking away the air, won't destroy the beauty of the stadiums.

Speaking of which, the baseball stadium at Wukesong is a temporary one. So they may indeed sell away parts of this stadium as memorandum!

Silver Plates

2006-11-06T16:36:00.000-08:00

There's no doubt that the Chinese love memorandums. Besides the commemorative coins, silver plates with fuwa figures depicting 38 different sports are right now being sold in Beijing. They come in sizes of 40, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 grams. The sports figures are made of 99.9% silver.

Qingdao Sailing Regatta

2006-11-06T01:41:00.000-08:00

This venue has just completed some test sailing event. Looks like a nice place :).

The exterior of the Water Cube is completed!

2006-11-05T05:55:00.000-08:00

According to 搜狐, the exterior of the Water Cube has been fully installed on 4th Nov 2006. The whole exterior is made up of 634 ETFE panels. These panels are self-clean, and can automatically adjust light and heat in the stadium by reflecting excess light and heat!

The roof of the building will be completed by end of 2006 followed by the installation of the internal ETFE wall! This is exciting!!! :)

Beautiful Watercube

2006-11-03T18:47:00.000-08:00

I want one!!!

2006-11-03T09:20:00.000-08:00

"BEIJING, Oct. 31) -- Swiss watchmaker Omega on Tuesday presented a pocket watch of the limited edition 1932 to the Beijing Municipality.

At a press conference in the Beijing Capital Museum, Kong Fanzhi, director of the Beijing Cultural Relics Protection Bureau received the watch from Stephen Urquhart, president of Omega.

The Omega company supplied 30 pocket chronographs for use at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Since then it has served as official timekeeper at 22 Olympic Games. To commemorate the achievement, Omega created 300 pieces of the Limited Edition Pocket Watch 1932.

The gold watch presented to Beijing is intentionally numbered 88, representing the opening date of the Beijing Olympic Games -- 8 August, 2008. It also bears an inscription of the Games' Emblem. The Capital Museum is expected to keep the watch for permanent collection.

Wang Wei, executive vice president and secretary-general of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) attended the press conference.

He said Omega, a Worldwide Olympic Partner, has plaid an enormous role in the process of the Olympic Movement and it is now actively involved in the preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games. The pocket watch, he said, demonstrates good and lasting cooperation between the Beijing Municipality and Omega, as well as their best wishes for the 2008 Games."

Too bad the watched labelled 88 is not for sale. I believe that it will be extremely hot and worth more than $100,000!

Oliver Stone, Giuseppe Tornatore and Majid Majidi

2006-11-03T01:30:00.000-08:00

Oliver Stone to shoot short film for Beijing 2008
02/11/2006 23:48

BEIJING (Reuters) - Oliver Stone, director of "JFK" and other films that have courted controversy for their political content, will shoot a short film to promote Beijing ahead of the 2008 Olympics, organisers said on Thursday.

The five-minute film would form a "promotional video for cultural exchange between Beijing and the world" and be shown on television, in cinemas and on aircraft in China and abroad, the organisers said in a statement.

"Today, many peoples of the world can live in harmony, and China plays an important role," Stone told the Beijing News.

"China and the United States are two big countries that should have more interaction. My goal in shooting this Olympic short film also lies in this -- the need to build a harmonious international society."

The 60-year-old Oscar winner is the third director invited to capture impressions of Beijing as it prepares for the Olympics.

Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore, whose 1989 movie "Cinema Paradiso" won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, and Oscar-nominated Iranian director Majid Majidi will also release short films, organisers said.

Stone toured Beijing this week to promote "World Trade Centre", a movie about the September 11 2001 attacks in the U.S.

Originally set for release last month, "World Trade Centre" and blockbuster "Miami Vice" were delayed after China’s culture ministry declared October a month for home-made films, most of which featured patriotic and revolutionary themes.

Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore, whose 1989 movie "Cinema Paradiso" won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, and Oscar-nominated Iranian director Majid Majidi will also release short films, organisers said.

Stone toured Beijing this week to promote "World Trade Centre", a movie about the September 11 2001 attacks in the U.S.

Originally set for release last month, "World Trade Centre" and blockbuster "Miami Vice" were delayed after China’s culture ministry declared October a month for home-made films, most of which featured patriotic and revolutionary themes.

Tianjin Olympic Stadium

2006-11-02T15:47:00.000-08:00

This stadium is going to be used for the Soccer Preliminaries. Tianjin is a city that enjoys municipality status like Beijing and Shanghai. This stadium is quite a big project by itself too and consists of three different areas - The Competition area, the Integrated Area (Business, Conference and Recreation) and the residential area.

I am still figuring out where the residential area is from the pic! ;)

One Last Article on the Pollution Trilogy

2006-11-01T08:35:00.000-08:00

Satellite data reveals Beijing as air pollution capital of world

Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Monday October 31, 2005
The Guardian

As it gears up to host the 2008 Olympic Games Beijing has been awarded an unwelcome new accolade: the air pollution capital of the world.
Satellite data has revealed that the city is one of the worst environmental victims of China's spectacular economic growth, which has brought with it air pollution levels that are blamed for more than 400,000 premature deaths a year.

According to the European Space Agency, Beijing and its neighbouring north-east Chinese provinces have the planet's worst levels of nitrogen dioxide, which can cause fatal damage to the lungs.

An explosive increase in car ownership is blamed for a sharp rise in unhealthy emissions. In the past five years the number of vehicles clogging the capital's streets has more than doubled to nearly 2.5m. It is expected to top the 3m mark by the start of the Olympics in 2008.
Alarm about the perilous state of the environment has gathered pace in recent years. China is the world's second-largest producer of greenhouse gases, and the World Bank has warned it is home to 16 of the planet's 20 most air-polluted cities.

According to the European satellite data, pollutants in the sky over China have increased by about 50% during the past 10 years. Senior officials warn that worse is still to come. At a recent seminar Zhang Lijun, deputy director of the environmental protection agency, said that pollution levels could more than quadruple within 15 years unless the country can slow the rise in energy consumption and automobile use.

A recently published study, conducted by the Chinese Academy on Environmental Planning, blamed air pollution for 411,000 premature deaths - mostly from lung and heart-related diseases - in 2003. It said that a third of China's urban residents were exposed to harmful levels of pollution. More than 100 million people live in cities, such as Beijing, where the air is considered "very dangerous".

The political implications are also becoming more apparent. Health concerns, particularly regarding cancer and birth defects thought to be caused by chemical factories, have been a major factor in a recent wave of protests. Conservation groups say acid rain falls on a third of China's territory and 70% of rivers and lakes are so full of toxins they can no longer be used for drinking water.

Another way to improve traffic

2006-11-01T08:18:00.000-08:00

Beijing is fully confident about providing sound transport for the 2008 Olympic Games, a top municipal traffic management official said here on December 10, 2004.

Vice Director of the Beijing Municipal Committee of Communication (BMCC) Liu Xiaoming told a press conference held at the Olympic Press Center that the city authorities has adopted measures to address traffic problems by stepping up infrastructure construction and developing public transport.

Liu said the total number of automobiles in Beijing has reached 2.27 million, and that the number is still growing as citizens buy more new cars this year. However, traffic mobility on main roads within the Fourth Ring Road had improved by up to 15 percent so far this year, Liu said.

Liu said in order to ease traffic congestions, the city has started 101 construction projects this year, including 43 new roads, 35 trunk roads, three highways and 20 road renovations. The total length of the newly built road will reach 102.6 kilometers. So far 11 of the construction projects have been completed and five are expected to be open to traffic at the end of the year. Liu said the construction of 32 roads and 11 clover-leaf bridges are currently under way in such areas as the Olympic Park area.

Since infrastructure construction takes a relatively longer time, the city authorities has optimized traffic control at 100 junctions and stepped up supervision along hazardous sections of roads. As a result, the number of traffic accidents have declined by 50 percent over the last year, Liu said.

More than 60 Chinese and international media members attended the press conference, which is presided by Director of the Olympic Press Center Wang Hui.

... but not air quality for sure.

Car Free Day

2006-11-01T04:51:00.000-08:00

"BEIJING : Hundreds of thousands of drivers have heeded official calls to stay off Beijing's busy streets for a high-profile summit in what is seen as a rehearsal of 2008 Olympic traffic-control efforts.

Traffic was lighter than normal in this city of 15 million notorious for its traffic jams on Wednesday, as a six-day ban on most government vehicles taking to the road got underway.

At least 490,000 vehicles from the government's fleet stayed in the garage, according to the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau.

At least 250,000 private drivers also heeded the call, aimed at preventing delegates here for a China-Africa Cooperation Forum summit from getting ensnared in traffic, state media said.

Members of hundreds of motor clubs in the Beijing area pledged to stay off the road or minimise their driving during the summit, the Beijing Daily reported.

Fast-modernising Beijing has nearly three million registered motor vehicles, including nearly two million private cars, and the number is increasing by more than 1,100 a day, state media reported last month.

The official Xinhua news agency described traffic in Beijing as at "crisis point".

China, which has been on a recent drive to increase its influence in Africa and its access to the continent's energy resources, is pulling out all the stops to impress delegations from 48 African nations for this weekend's summit.

Huge banners and billboards emphasising Sino-African friendship have been put up around the city for what the Chinese media have hailed as the highest-profile international gathering in China since 1949.

But the Beijing Daily also said this week's traffic measures were a "high-level rehearsal for the Olympic Games".

The measures also include a ban on taxis using the expressway linking the city with its airport.

Chinese authorities have said previously they intend to take short-term measures during the Olympics to ensure the roads are not congested while the Olympic spotlight shines on the city.

Beijing has hinted it may ban some cars from the streets and ration petrol.

A senior official with the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee told reporters last week the city was considering establishing special Olympic traffic lanes and encouraging people to use public transport.

- AFP/ms"

Let's do the maths. It's 645 days to the Olympics. Assuming the number of cars increase at a constant pace, then we will have: 3 million + (1100 * 645) = 3.709 million cars. That's a 24% increase.

How are they going to keep to a Green Olympics?

Smile! You are on Camera!

2006-10-31T06:07:00.000-08:00

Monday, October 30, 2006
Beijing 2008 Volunteers Keep Smiling
Posted 8:22 am ET (GamesBids.com)

More than five thousand volunteers including workers, college students, school children, farmers, teachers, public servants, artists, foreign students, seniors, and staff from foreign companies in China, gathered at the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall of China Sunday and flashed smiles to display there readiness to volunteer at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

The Great Wall was decorated in the colours of the Olympic Ring and the volunteers wore colourful dancing belts. Two hundred college students formed a heart-shaped pattern, which later turned into a formation of a smiling face.

Each volunteer wore a “gelatinous” hand ring inscribed with the slogan “the smile of the volunteers is the best name card of Beijing”, and the symbol of the Beijing Olympic Games.

The event was organized by the Beijing youth league, the city’s volunteer association and Beijing 2008.

The Beijing 2008 Games need 70,000 volunteers for the Olympic Games and 30,000 Paralympic Games volunteers.

Number of People who Signed Up as Beijing 2008 Volunteers - 220000

2006-10-30T06:20:00.000-08:00

Yup. It's really getting huge support from the local people. They are looking for people in the areas of:

Transportation
VIP Reception and Translation
Award Presentation
Media Relations
Competition Organisation
Medical Services
Accomodation
Security

I don't mind helping out in the translation. It's an opportunity to give out namecards. Ahahahaha!!!

Stadiums

2006-10-29T01:27:00.000-08:00

A Chinese Olympic!

2006-10-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

I read off a chinese new website (2008.sohu.net) that there will be more than 7 million tickets to be sold in the games. Among these, 80% will be sold in the country and the remaining to the rest of the world.

Which means that you will probably see a sea of black hair and red shirts in all Games venues. It's an open secret that China aims to be top of the medal table in Beijing 2008. It does help when you have a home crowd cheering you on! Actually, the Games is one of the great ways to instill national fervour and pride!

At the same time, to assist the local people to be able to afford the tickets, the Olympic committee asserted that the ticket price will be the cheapest of the last few Olympics. Most locals reflect that they like the tickets to be less than 100rmb (US$12.67). Many don't mind paying 500rmb for the Opening Ceremony too. Still, this is even lower than the Los Angeles Games in 1984 (US$32 then) and cheaper than going to a movie in the States!

In fact, the committee is thinking of giving concession tickets (which are dirt cheap) to students too. Can they really make money to cover the extremely high expenses in building 11 new stadiums, upgrading of the other stadiums and other infrastruture?

But one thing's for sure, there will be lots of enterprising students selling the tickets for a profit!

2006-10-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

The Water Cube

Look carefully at the workers at the bottom of the pictures. Yes, it's that big.

2006-10-27T11:38:00.000-07:00

Good night, Beijing!

"Beijing 2008 – All track and field finals to be held in evening sessions
Thursday 26 October 2006
At the end of a three day meeting of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Coordination Commission in Beijing, China, earlier today the competition schedule of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, Beijing 2008 (8 August to 24 August 2008) was agreed.

The Commission was joined by IOC President, Jacques Rogge, who was in the Chinese capital to view progress for himself ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games, and to meet Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on a range of Games related matters.

IOC Coordination Commission Chairman Hein Verbruggen confirmed that the finals of all track and field stadium events will take place in the evening competition sessions, and that this will commence at 1900hrs local time each day (GMT + 8hrs).

However, the men’s and women’s marathons will start at 0700hrs local time.

The morning sessions in which the most of the qualification rounds of the track and field schedule will take place will commence at 0900hrs local time each day.

The full timetable of the athletics events of Beijing 2008 will now go for approval by the IAAF Council whose next sitting takes place on 13 and 14 November 2006 in Monaco."

This is an interesting arrangement. I wonder why... Is it because of USA or because of the weather?

2006-10-26T09:19:00.000-07:00

Qin Huang Dao Olympic Stadium

Qin Huang Dao is another city in Hebei, China, 300km east of Beijing. Honestly, I've never heard of this city until the Olympics.

Anyway, this is the first stadium to be completed for the Olympics! It has a capacity of 33000 and will be used for soccer preliminaries.

2006-10-25T11:07:00.000-07:00

Beijing Olympic: Green Convention Center

Another megastructure that the Chinese has built for the Olympics.

It'll be used for fencing, the Shooting and Fencing disciplines of the Modern Pentathlon, as well as the International Broadcast Centre and the Main Press Centre.

2006-10-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

The Olympic Sailing Centre

This is the venue of the Olympic Sailing Centre. For your information, it's at Qing Dao, a major port city in Shandong, Northeastern China.

2006-10-23T18:00:00.000-07:00

Wukesong Basketball Stadium as of 18th October

This seems to be the site of the Giant TV. The construction progress pales in comparison to the Bird Nest and Water Cube. I watched a documentary detailing the stadium before. Apparently, the technology to build the giant TV wasn't there when it won the bid.

Maybe that's why it's still at this stage of construction.

2006-10-23T09:23:00.000-07:00

Yao Ming: Chinese must be more polite

"2006/10/21
By Grant Clark SINGAPORE, Bloomberg

Yao Ming, China's most popular athlete and a three-time NBA All-Star, said his countrymen must stop jumping queues, speak more quietly in restaurants and generally improve manners ahead of the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
"I suggest we work on our public courtesy," Yao told the official Beijing 2008 magazine. "Such courtesies are no small matter. They are the sign of an internationalized host nation with a great cultural tradition."

Beijing Olympic and government officials have started an etiquette campaign targeting habits such as queue-jumping and spitting in the buildup to the 17-day sports event starting Aug. 8, 2008. The Chinese Olympic Committee president this year said good manners should be "at the top of our agenda."

The 7-foot-5 Yao, whose comments will be published in the next edition of Beijing 2008, urged China to move into line with international standards of behavior.

"For example, Westerners lower their voices in restaurants so as not to bother other people," Yao said. "Jumping ahead in queues is a definite no-no. Motorists should follow traffic rules, respect pedestrians and stop to let them pass first."

Chinese authorities last month listed mainland tourists' bad habits in a move to encourage better manners before the Olympics, state news agency Xinhua reported. Those included "taking off socks and shoes in public" and "bad temper and cursing."

The 26-year-old Yao, who plays for the Houston Rockets, said China's service industries should be "more internationally minded" during the Olympics and follow the example of the past two Summer Games.

"In Sydney and Athens the service people were very nice," he said. "They smiled and said 'Hello' to you but they also gave the athletes lots of personal space, they did not bother them. I hope the Olympic staff in Beijing will learn from such foreign practices."

I agree fully with Yao Ming. These days it's all about creating an experience. You may have the most beautiful buildings in the world, with the most vile behaviour, it would still leave a very bad impression. I wonder why is it that some Chinese can be so uncivilised when China always pride herself as a civilised nation.

2006-10-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

With a Foreign Touch

Well, I just realised that the cost of this stadium is fully paid by overseas Chinese. Well, I guess it's not surprising as many overseas Chinese (like my dad) feel a great affinity to the "motherland" and want to contribute to her in any way they can!

2006-10-20T07:58:00.000-07:00

The Paralympic Beijing 2008 logo

This will be held from 6th Sep to 17th Sep 2008.

2006-10-20T06:24:00.000-07:00

The Chinese really know how to make money!

"Domains and email addresses for 2008 Olympics mascot fetch high price on Taobao
Shanghai. October 17 INTERFAX-CHINA -

The official mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, previously named "The Five Friendlies", were renamed "Fuwa" on October 9 causing Fuwa-related email addresses and domains to go on sale at Taobao.com for high prices.

According to a Shaanxi local newspaper, Hua Shang Chen Bao, a reseller "xiyanyan" was the owner of most of the domains. He successfully sold a domain, chinafuwa.com, for RMB 80,000 (USD 10,000), but was said to regret not holding out for a higher price.

However, according to Hua Shang Chen Bao and Beijing Times, China's network information center CNNIC and the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) had differing views on the matter.

CNNIC said in October that the domain registration rule was "whoever applies first wins" and that domain names can be traded freely.

But according to Beijing Times, BOCOG said the transactions violated the Regulations on the Protection of the Olympic Logo, which was issued by the Trademark Office of the State Administration For Industry & Commerce, responsible for the registration and administration of trademarks.

Beijing Times reported that Taobao.com didn't prohibit the domain auction activities because CNNIC allowed domain transactions. However, after they contacted the BOCOG, Taobao decided to delete the related webpages after 6 p.m., October 17.

Beijing Times said "xiyanyan" registered these domains one year ago. After October 15, 2006, he began to receive more and more inquiries, and over ten phone calls a day.

On the afternoon of October 16, "xiyanyan" suddenly suspended the sales of these domains, saying he would wait until the price went up to a higher level. As a result, chinafuwa.net, china-fuwa.com, and fuwachina.com temporarily disappeared from Taobao.

Currently, three email addresses, fuwa.bj2008@gmail.com, bj2008.fuwa@163.com, fuwamother@yahoo.com.cn and three domains, five-fuwa.cn, fuwa-beijing2008.com and fuwa-beijing2008.net are still waiting for buyers on Taobao.

The owner of fuwa-beijing2008.com, who is from Quanzhou, Fujian province, is asking for RMB 500,000 (USD 62,500) for the domain. And fuwa.bj2008@gmail.com is the most valuable email address with the owner asking RMB 2,000 (USD 250).

Before the "Five Friendlies" were renamed, fivefriendlies.com was also waiting for buyers. "

Such an easy way to make a quick buck!

2006-10-19T03:08:00.000-07:00

The Olympic Rehearsal

"2008.sina.com.cn
By Li Ai

On 19th Apr 2008, The International Athletes Federation’s Walkathon Competition will be held at the National Stadium aka Bird Nest. This will be the FIRST international event ever to use the stadium. Yesterday, the Beijing Olympic Committee announced at its website the schedule for the series of competitions collectively known as “Good Luck Beijing 2008”. This is the series of events that will test all the Olympic venues in areas of infrastructure, service system process and competition organization process.

“Good Luck Beijing 2008” is the rehearsal and practice for the stadiums ahead of the Olympics. It begins on 1st Aug 2007 and will progress through all the stadiums. As the main venue for the games, the National Stadium (Bird Nest) is estimated to be completed by end of 2007. It will be revealed before the World on 19th April 2008 as the Walkathon begins. The National Aquatic Center will also be put into use for the first time in Feb 2008.

According to the Beijing Olympics Committee correspondent, starting from the second half of 2007, all venues will be hosting events to verify and validate their infrastructure and competition management process as part of the rehearsal for the Beijing Olympics. "

To think that 4 years ago in Greece, they were still doing the landscaping when the games started.

2006-10-18T05:56:00.000-07:00

Top of the World, Anyone?

"MONACO, Oct 17, 2006 (AFP) - The Olympic flame could pass by Mt Everest, the world's highest mountain, en route to Beijing, organisers of the 2008 Summer Games announced on Tuesday. ``We're planning to take the Olympic flame to Mount Everest, it's a project we're studying,'' spokesman Yang Binyuan said here. The move could be seen as a highly contentious one given that most of the Himalayan mountain range lies within Tibet, a region ruled by China since it sent in the military to ``liberate'' the Himalayan region in 1950. Mt Everest, standing 8,848 metres (29,028 feet) high, lies on Nepal's border with Tibet, which international rights groups accuse the Chinese of ruling through repression and military intimidation. Yang confirmed that construction of the 37 sporting infrastructures, including 31 in Beijing, being built for the Games would be finished by the end of 2007. Once the sites are finished, the organisers plan to host around 40 test events, including the Paralympic Games. Two have already taken place at the Beijing softball centre and sailing in Qingdao. AFP"

Whoa! For your information, in Chinese, Mt Everest is called 朱穆拉马烽 (Zhu Mu La Ma Feng). I believe it's derived from the Tibetian name for the mountain which means "Mother of the Universe".

2006-10-18T05:36:00.000-07:00

Yum yum!

"Chinese cuisines recommended for Beijing Olympic menu
www.chinaview.cn 2006-10-18 16:49:45

XI'AN, Shaanxi Province, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 100 cuisines from all over China were recommended to be listed in the Beijing Olympics menu and made their appearance in an Expo here on Wednesday.

Yak steak, Malan Noodle, Mushroom soup are among the cuisines from all parts of China and many of the 30,000 visitors of the Chinese Catering Industry Expo showed interest in them which only account part of the recommended menu for the 2008 Games.

Organizers said the China Cuisine Association have been busy with choosing suitable food for athletes, officials, journalists as well as spectators during the Games two years away.

Asked by the Beijing Olympics organizers at the beginning of this year to help with the Olympic menu, the association will make recommendations to the BOCOG and Olympic service providers, Expo organizers said. "

Personally, I like Peking Duck, Xiao LongBao (soup dumplings) and various dim sum. I believe that they will be serving these as well! :)

2006-10-17T09:36:00.000-07:00

The Water Cube Revolution

Looks almost done from this side yah! :) I wonder if they will illuminate it in different colors like the Allianz Arena (pictured last).

2006-10-17T09:28:00.000-07:00

The Sports Icon

Good things come in pairs yah :). Not very sure why there's two color schemes, perhaps for night and day?

2006-10-16T02:34:00.000-07:00

Chinglish

"Sunday, October 15, 2006
Drive Launched To Correct Bad English Ahead Of Beijing 2008
Posted 10:23 am ET (GamesBids.com)

A new drive has been launched to correct bad English in China ahead of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

Although there have been previous attempts to wipe out what is called “Chinglish” phrases often seen on Chinese street signs and product labels, they have not been successful.

Examples of Chinglish range from emergency exists at Beijing airport which read “no entry on peacetime”, a road sign on Beijing’s Avenue of Eternal Peace warning of a dangerous pavement says, “to take notice of safe; the slippery are very crafty” and menus which list such items as “corrugated iron beef”, “government abuse chicken”, and “chop the strange fish”.

Xinhua reports that Beijing city authorities will issue new translation guides by the end of the year. Booklets would be handed out to hotels and shopping malls, on public transit, and at tourist attractions.

Mistranslations reportedly happen because many Chinese words express concepts obliquely and can be interpreted in multiple ways, making translation a minefield for non-English speakers.

A month after being awarded the 2008 Games in 2001 Beijing’s municipal government attempted to stamp out the problem and a year later the Beijing Tourism Bureau set up a hotline for visitors and residents to monitor complaints about bad English. The bureau said a panel of English professors and expatriates would review results."

A classic example.

2006-10-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

These figurines are so cute!!!

So much cuter than the drawings! :P 北京欢迎你！

2006-10-15T04:59:00.000-07:00

You'd make a great investment with these coins!

"Olympic commemorative coins: age-old dream cast in
Last Updated(Beijing Time):2006-10-11 09:10
By Jin Xuan

On 20 September, the People's Bank of China issued the First Set of Precious Metal Commemorative Coins for 29th Olympic Games worldwide, which is the only official program for precious metal commemorative coins issuing for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The unveiling of this set of coins must lead to a surge of Olympic coins collection nationwide.
It has been a long time to release commemorative coins for the Olympic Games, which has now been regarded as an international practice.

According to ancient Greeks, issuance of souvenirs to absentees of the Olympic Games can shorten the distance between the public and the Olympic Movement. The issuance of golden and silver commemorative coins on the Olympic theme can be traced back to B.C.420 with a history of over a thousand years. These coins are called as commemorative coins for ancient Olympic Games by collectors.

Golden and silver commemorative coins for Modern Olympic Games emerged over 50 years later than the reviving of Modern Olympic Games. In 1896, the very first Modern Olympic Games was held in Athens, which is the symbol of the official emergence of Modern Olympic Movement. In 1951, a silver coin engraved with five Olympic rings was issued to commemorate the 15th Olympic Games held in Helsinki, bearing a face value of 500 Finnish Marks.

To commemorate the 29th Olympic Games to be held in Beijing, carry forward Olympic spirit and advocate Chinese age-old and splendid culture, having been approved by International Olympic Committee and Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), the People's Bank of China will issue three sets of precious metal commemorative coins for 2008 Olympic Games between 2006 and 2008. One set is scheduled for release every year. This is the only official program of precious metal commemorative coins for 2008 Olympic Games.

The first set of precious metal commemorative coins for the 29th Olympic Games consists of two gold coins and 4 silver coins. The coin's design embodies Chinese age-old sports culture and national characteristics, which might be called as the choicest coin.

The common obverse design for the gold and silver coins features the traditional paired "Chinese Dragon" image, the 29th Olympic Games emblem, the name of the country and the year.

The reverse design for the gold coins, mainly with athletic sports as the theme, taking the image of sports movement derived from Chinese ancient sports culture as major scene, including equestrianism and toxophily with a span from Dong Han, Bei Zhou, Sui, Yuan to Ming Dynasties, nearly 1600 years. Opposite to the historical sportsman is the image of sports items of the 29th Olympic Games. The overall design features the image of Chinese age-old Wadang, with body of the face overlapping with the margin of Wadang, making the face of coin vivid and lively. The reverse design is characterized by Chinese national style, representing Chinese age-old sports culture.

The reverse design of silver coins focuses on lively, brisk, lovely and enchanting Children's folk games, taking scenes on four typical Children's games like flying kite, jumping goat, rolling hoop and kicking shuttlecock as the theme of the coin. The actions of Children's games are shown exaggeratively, powerfully and beautifully like rising sun. The one third of right side of the scene is divided by a Chinese knot, accompanied by such colored toy-like pattern as pinwheel, rabbit figurine, paired-fish hang decoration and cloth made tiger as right wings, joyously energetic. The brisk and lively style of the whole set of silver coins and partial color technology make people feel fresh.

In respect of technology, the obverse of coins introduces mirror background technology，while image, rim, name of the country and the year introduces sand blast and counter sand blast technology respectively highlighting cultural relic like simplicity and unsophistication and vicissitudes of life. The reverse design introduces multi-layer sand blast technology embodying the eyes expression and rich finery of the character. The reverse of the silver coin introduces partially colour devolve printing technology with precise colors and high resolution. The signs for manufacturers are marked with micro character printing technology to improve anti-counterfeit function. (signs of manufacturers: S,Y and Z refer to Shanghai Mint, Shenyang Mint and Shenzhen Guobao Mint respectively.)

The certificate of commemorative coins features ancient Chinese dragon, Beijing Great Wall Beacon Tower (for Gold coin certificate of authenticity), Qinian Hall of Beijing Temple of Heaven (for silver coin certificate of authenticity), Peony and emblem of the 29th Olympic Games, with profound meanings and national characteristics. The certificate printing uses anti-counterfeit technology with high security effectiveness. In addition, coins are accompanied by collection instruction and certificate cover.

The coin's packaging design also highlights Chinese characteristics. Each set of 1 ounce silver coin consists of 4 individual package boxes, which can be integrated into a Peking opera mask pattern of Dianwei. The boxes for the set of 4 Silver coins and boxes for 2 gold and 4 silver coin package introduce Chinese traditional penthouse-like streamline style.

Internationally, most Olympic coins have had a large increase in value after their issuance and been favored by numismatic investors. For example, after over 50 years of preservation, Helsinki Olympic coins issued in Finland in 1951, has been increased in value by more than 30 times, from 18 Euros to 665 Euros; the value of the silver coin with image of High Jump among Atlanta Olympic coins had a four-fold increase to 186 Euros in 2003 from issuing price of 49 Euros in 1996; the first silver coin released in Greece in 2003 for the Athens Olympic Games has an increase up to 95 Euros from issuing price of 70 Euros, which gold coin up to 700 Euros from 499 Euros; In China, the silver commemorative coin for the success of Beijing's bidding for 2008 Olympic Games has had a large increase in value from 220 yuan of issuing price to the latest market price of 1650 yuan. (whoa!)

The First Set of Precious Metal Commemorative Coins for 29th Olympic Games is distributed by China Gold Coin Incorporation, exclusive enterprise for precious metal commemorative coins directly under the People's Bank of China. According to estimates by numismaticians, the national characteristic embodied in the coin design is sure to lead to a worldwide surge of collecting precious metal commemorative coins for the 29th Olympic Games, in the context of worldwide rising passion about Chinese culture. "

2006-10-15T04:34:00.000-07:00

Lao Shan Velodrome

This is going to be the cycling (track) stadium. It can hold 6000 people. The construction photo is dated.

2006-10-15T03:54:00.000-07:00

Don't you think some of these are creative? :)

A more neutral stance in this report. Don't you think some of these measures are creative? ;)

"BEIJING (AP) - Beijing is considering hospitalizing the mentally ill, relaxing restrictions on religious services and giving many businesses and factories a holiday, among contingency measures for the 2008 Olympics.

The city office overseeing Olympic preparations discussed dozens of contingency measures needed for the Games at an internal meeting Thursday, from limits on the use of cars to banning the posting of handbills around the city, the state-run Beijing Morning Post said Friday.

Among the measures discussed, the newspaper said, were shutting down heavily polluting factories to clean up the air, giving most Beijing residents a 16-day holiday to alleviate traffic and allowing foreigners to worship in groups, which is officially outlawed, although the ban is rarely enforced.
A spokesman for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Environmental and Construction Headquarters Office, which conducted the meeting, confirmed the newspaper report but stressed no decisions have been made. "Everything is still under discussion," said spokesman Zhou Jiawang.

Chinese leaders have staked the country's prestige on running a successful Games and raised expectations in the sports and business worlds that the event will set a new standard for the Olympic movement. But the city often chokes with pollution and is gridlocked in standstill traffic, posing logistical and planning challenges.
City officials and the Beijing Olympic organizing committee, known as BOCOG, have previously said that a host of contingency plans were being looked at to deal with pollution and traffic and ensure Chinese regulations comply with international norms during the Games. The Beijing Morning Post report was the most detailed glimpse yet of the range of issues.

More controversially, the newspaper also said that the city was considering hospitalizing all mentally ill people "to avoid creating any harm to society" and expelling many of the city's one million migrant workers.

Zhou denied that such a wide-scale expulsion order was on the table. He said ordering out the migrants was proposed by one of the advisers at the meeting, but that the newspaper report was incorrect. At first he said that his office would issue a clarification later but then said it would be done by the city government. The city government's press office said it did not know when the statement would be released.

The confusion underscores the sensitivities human-rights issues hold for China in its Olympic ambitions. Chinese leaders have promised that hosting the Olympics will improve respect for human rights. Privately, International Olympic Committee officials have warned Beijing officials that excessive social controls could mar the Games.

Beijing has previously enacted extraordinary measures to reduce the chances of protest or spruce up the grimy capital's appearance. In 1993, during its failed bid for the 2000 Olympics, Beijing expelled beggars, forced the handicapped to stay at home and closed smokestack industries when International Olympic Commission inspection teams visited.

Some of the contingencies deal with legalities. While the city has the authority to shut down heavily polluting factories on days of high pollution, it does not have the power to do so for the sake of a major event, the Beijing Morning Post said. Visa requirements must also be waived to allow Olympic Games participants visa-free entry to China.

To deal with the traffic congestion, the city may limit cars to driving every other day, with licence plates ending in odd numbers allowed on some days and those with even numbers on the others, the report said. Olympic event ticket-holders would be allowed free rides on public transport to encourage them not to drive, the newspaper said." - 15th Sep 2006, Canadian Press

2006-10-15T03:34:00.000-07:00

A Green Olympics in Beijing?

"Back in 2000, China was able to win the coveted right to host the summer Olympics in 2008 because it claimed that the Games would be “green.” Since then, the central government has been busily mapping an ambitious environmental protection plan to build gas-fired power plants, plant more trees, and improve the city’s air quality.
In late September, China’s Olympic Organizing Committee announced that the government may grant all of Beijing’s residents 16 days paid vacation during the Games, which start on August 8, 2008. “This is because the Games have a special requirement for the air quality,” said the committee.

This will enable the city to shut factories and businesses during the Games and keep thousands of cars off the streets. In addition, the government will close down “backstreet beauty salons,” China’s euphemism for houses of prostitution. Beijing will also likely expel about one million migrant workers from the capital city, some of whom are likely the same ones helping to build the Olympic facilities.
Even weirder is this: Chinese citizens from other provinces or cities will need approval from their local governments if they want to travel to Beijing during the Games, a move reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) when China enforced similar laws that restricted travel within the country. Given all these measures, Beijing may not need other environmental protection regulations, as it appears the city will be shutting down in order to run the Games and comply with the environmental decrees.

All this demonstrates what has been known for a long time: in China, the number-one problem facing environmental protection is, in fact, the government. By ignoring the massive pollution problems caused by coal-burning power plants, the government has tacitly endorsed that pollution. China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC), has openly admitted that 400 Chinese cities were hit by acid rain in the first half of this year. The NPC acknowledged the rapid deterioration of the country’s air and water quality, noting that the country’s sulfur dioxide emissions have risen by 27 percent since 2000, reaching some 25.5 million tons in 2005, twice the acceptable volume. China is the world’s biggest sulfur dioxide polluter. " - from Energy Tribune, 13 Oct 2006

At first, I don't know if this report is true but I saw other reports on the web saying basically the same thing. However, they stressed that these are just CONTIGENCY measures. It's a well known fact that many Chinese cities are heavily polluted. In fact, there has been reports of people who died running marathons in Beijing due to respiratory problems. Well, I think this must have in part to do with the air quality in Beijing.

The dust storms from the Gobi Desert is a huge threat too. In fact, Beijing is keeping count on the number of clear sky days and aims to hit around 150 days of clear day last year. Hopefully, they can resolve their pollution problems because no matter how grandiose the place is, it's not pretty when athletes all can't perform because of bad air.

2006-10-14T07:46:00.000-07:00

Thursday, September 28, 2006
IOC Wants To Slow Down Beijing 2008 Construction
Posted 12:57 pm ET (GamesBids.com)

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) asked organizers of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games to slow down construction because the new stadiums and venues would be ready too early ahead of the Opening Ceremony on August 8, 2008.

The Globe and Mail reports that Kevan Gosper, chairman of the IOC’s press commission, said Wednesday that it wouldn’t be “financially appropriate” for the venues to sit dormant so long in advance of the 29th Summer Games. The buildings would be expensive to maintain but wouldn’t be bringing in any revenue.

He said, “the Chinese are far more advanced in their preparations than anything I’ve seen in all my years with the Olympics”.

There are 31 competition venues for the 2008 Games, and 11 are being built from scratch, including the main stadium and the main aquatics centre. The rest are existing facilities. Eleven have been renovated and nine have been refurbished.

Liu Qi, president of Beijing 2008 said, “now the construction of all the new Olympic venues is in full swing”.

Construction on most of the new venues began in 2003.

One of the stadiums is finished and has had a dry run. The Fengtai softball field staged the women’s fast-pitch world championship recently.

Games organizers hope to hold another 42 test events in the next two years to work out the logistical bugs before the Olympics open.

A block for apartment towers for 16,000 athletes, the main press and broadcasting centres, and two hotels are also being built near the two stadiums.

BOCOG official Zhang Jingin said, “the whole city of Beijing is undergoing enormous change. There are still a lot of details to be defined but we are getting closer. I hope in 2008 there will be less construction and more green”.

Personally, I think it's better that the stadiums are completed early. I believe that the Chinese government will still recoup some of the money from the test events. Besides, there are additional problems that the Chinese has to deal with to make the Olympics a success. For example, the pollution issue and the building of other infrastrutures to accomodate the games' needs.

2006-10-13T19:36:00.000-07:00

The National Indoor Stadium

This is used for Artistic Gymnastics, trampoline and handball events. Capacity: 19000.

2006-10-13T06:18:00.000-07:00

The Bidding Video

If I am not wrong, it's directed by Zhang Yimou (张艺谋）of Red Lanterns Rising.

Many Chinese hated it! I thought it's beautiful!

2006-10-13T06:11:00.000-07:00

The song from Beijing 2008

I can't BELIEVE that the official song for the Beijing Olympics is out! This song is called "Open up your Dreams" sang by Jane Zhang or 张靓颖。She's the second runner up for the 2005 Super Girl (超女）competition.

I seriously think she has a bright future ahead. She also sang the title song for the Chinese movie Banquet (夜宴）to perfection!

2006-10-13T06:04:00.000-07:00

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Official Promotional Video

See the making of the Dancing Man!

2006-10-13T06:02:00.000-07:00

Promotion video of Slogan for the beijing 2008 Olympic games

I realised I've not commented on the slogan of the beijing 2008 games!

It's "One World, One Dream" (同一个世界，同一个梦想）

2006-10-13T05:59:00.000-07:00

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games - 5 Rings

2006-10-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

The CCTV Headquarters

Ain't this a cool building? :) It's about 245m and serves as the new headquarters of the powerful State broadcasting division. The Chinese really like giant TVs yeah!

2006-10-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

Beijing to invest 59.5 bln USD in Olympics infrastructure

"China's capital will invest an estimated 470 billion yuan (59.5 billion U.S. dollars) in infrastructure in the 2006-2010 period. The money will be spent on 2,400 construction and upgrading projects, according to a master plan unveiled on Sunday by the city's development and reform commission.

Projects to ease city traffic, improve energy and water supply and better the city environment will be completed before 2008 when Beijing hosts the Olympics, said Chai Xiaozhong, deputy head of the commission.

By 2008, Beijing will have a hyper-modern international air service hub. Upgrading of the current international airport will be completed and work will have begun on the city's second international airport. The Capital Airport hub will be able to process 60 million passengers a year, according to the plan.

In the next five years, Beijing will upgrade subway lines 1 and 2, and build lines 5 and 10, as well as a special subway leading to the Olympic village and gymnasiums. A light-rail track will also be laid to the airport. Intervals between subway train services will be shortened to 150 seconds. The total length of the city's subway and light rail network will reach 270 kilometers, and high-grade highways in the city center will stretch 280 kilometers. It will take 50 minutes at most to commute to areas within the city's fifth ring road.

Beijing will also expand parking lots to ensure a parking place for each motor vehicle in the five-year period. Official statistics show that Beijing now has approximately 2.8 million motor vehicles but only 1.4-1.5 million parking places.

By 2008, the Taiyanggong gas-firing thermal power plant will have been built and heating pipes laid for the Olympic gymnasiums and surrounding areas. Electricity transmission projects for the areas will be completed, and construction will be revved up on the Beijing section of the south-to-north water diversion program. At the end of 2007, the section will be ready for water supply.

Beijing will clean up its rivers and lakes and improve water quality. Two water recycling plants will also be built. In 2010, annual consumption of natural gas in the capital will reach seven billion cubic meters.
Source:Xinhuanet"

Hmm.... just for comparison, Singapore has a US$125 billion GDP this year. The figures are really scary.

I wonder if this will affect the already polluted environment in Beijing. However, it's still very exciting to see an ancient capital revitalised!

2006-10-12T19:40:00.000-07:00

Out of this world!
The Water Cube Reloaded!

originally posted in skyscrapercity by se9.

2006-10-12T02:12:00.000-07:00

The 2008 Olympics Park

The picture below is taken from Google Earth and shows the "current" state of construction of the sports venues. Quite cool yah! Google Earth's powerful!

By the way, the coordinates are 39'59'29.47 N 116'23'17 07 E.

2006-10-11T19:46:00.000-07:00

Wukesong Cultural and Sports Centre - the Giant TV

"In a park measuring 0.7 by 0.7 kilometers, ten sports facilities will be built. One of the most spectacular is the basketball hall with 18,000 seats in a 70-meter tall cube with a footprint measuring 130 by 130 meters. The ceiling covering the stadium is suspended from above by twelve steel structures resembling basketball baskets. Above this are commercial and conference levels covering a surface area of 65,000 square meters.

The outer walls are designed as huge liquid crystal display screens. They allow hundreds of thousands of spectators to follow the events inside the stadium from outside. The architecture is ahead of the current state of the art of audiovisual technology, but by the time construction of the stadium starts, developments for such oversize displays are expected to have matured. The project will be the world’s biggest TV set. This, too, won the hearts of the Beijing team of experts."
- taken from EuropaConcorsi

By the way, wukesong (五棵松）literally means Five Pine Trees. Does anyone knows why?