Beijing's Air Quality Suitable For The Health of Most Athletes  

 

On 17th, Mar,2008, the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Medical Commission released the findings from its most recent appraisal of the air quality in Beijing. Based on air quality data from August 8 to 29, 2007, the IOC's Medical Commission satisfactorily found that the air quality will be suitable for the health of most athletes.

 

Arne Ljungqvist, the chairman of the IOC's Medical Commission said they will make of Beijing Olympic Games as well as the forepassed to be "confident that measures already put in place, plus those planned by Beijing organizers and city authorities, will continue to improve the city's air quality leading up to -- and during -- the Games."

　

　

Use mobile phone in China

 

For the reason of that many tourists worry about if their mobile phone can be used in China, the Olympic Games Organization reply it on their webpage (China.org.cn December 17, 2007) that most of the mobile phones that are supported by GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) do work throughout China. Businessmen use their American/European blackberries here with no problem whatsoever. China mobile, the nation's biggest telecommunication service provider, usually recognizes two dual frequencies—900 and 1,800 Hz. However, that you should also consult your domestic mobile communication firm on the cross-nation service issue before coming, because the technological supports may be differentiated in details due to varied rules. If you are staying a while in China and calling locally it would be cheaper to purchase a Chinese SIM card and some minutes. And if you are calling abroad regularly you might want to check your carrier's rates with Chinese rates as well.

　

In additional, it is said that China Telecommunication Department is planning to offer the SIM reapplying service for overseas who lose their mobile phone during their visits in China. If anyone lose their cell phones, they can get new SIM cards with their original phone numbers at authorized telecom locations. This service is not put in practice.

　

　

The layout for the Central District of Beijing Olympic Park has been confirmed.

 

From Xinhua News Agency’s news,9th, Jan, 08, Beijing Planning Committee announced that the layout for the Central District of Beijing Olympic Game Park, the core area where the 2008 Olympic Games will be held has been completed and put into construction. It has 84 hectares in area. It is said the layout mainly includes the designs for the views in central area, the marking system, the middle axes and square, and some sights.

 

To welcome the 29th Summer Olympics in 2008, to build the urban cultural landscape, the layout fully displays the three ideas of Green Olympics, Sci-tech Olympics and People’s Olympics. It combines modernistic and Chinese traditional garden element. As this layout, either the permanent or the temporary facilities can serve visitors during and after the Olympic Game. At present, the designs for the Subsided Garden , the Great Minzu Dadao (the Great National Road), the Middle Axes and square, and its greenbelt has been confirmed already and being implemented.

　

Tickets for next year's Beijing Olympic Games 2008 has already been on sale in the mainland.  Seven million tickets are up for grabs for the 17-day sporting event, with 75 per cent reserved for people who live on the mainland, with 14 per cent of these allocated to students and young athletes.  The remaining 25 per cent will go to the rest of the world - including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Sales will be held in three phases, with mainland residents able to apply for tickets on the Internet, by phone and at certain Bank of China branches. Applicants in the first phase will be chosen by lucky draw.

　

About 40 per cent of the 60,000 tickets to the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 on August 8 next year will be reserved for mainlanders. Because of heavy demand for the opening and closing ceremonies, each mainland resident is entitled to buy only one ticket.  Tickets have been priced with affordability in mind, with prices for sporting events ranging between 30 and 1,000 RMB, more than half being 100 RMB or less.

　

Overseas sales have yet to be launched and will be handled by each country's National Olympic Committee and ticketing agents.

　

　

Organizers of the Beijing Olympics has unveiled an ambitious route for a torch relay that would cross five continents and all of China in 130 days ahead of the Games' opening in August next year.  The route includes Mount Everest and Taiwan, covering 137,000 km in 130 days, 97 of them in China.

It will be a relay that covers the longest distance and have the largest number of people carrying it of any Olympic torch in Olympic history.

　

The flame will be lit in Athens on March 26, 2008 and the relay will start in Beijing and go to Almaty, Kazakhstan. The torch will be carried through 20 countries and five continents - Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia, including Britain, the United States, France, Australia, India and Japan. It will be carried through Hong Kong and Macau, then arriving mainland on March 31 and travel to 113 cities and regions - including Lhasa in Tibet, finally in Beijing to light the Olympic fire during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

　

Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games vice-president Jiang Xiaoyu said the ancient Silk Road was the inspiration for the route.  Eleven out of the 19 international cities along the route are along the Silk Road.

A second torch will be carried to Mount Everest, where a team will try to take it to the summit in May.

　

The torch's design, a red-and-silver tube 72cm tall and shaped like a Chinese scroll, was chosen from among 300 competing entries.  Developed by a team at computer maker Lenovo, the torch boasts technological innovations to keep it lit in winds of up to 65km/h and in rain of up to 50mm/h.

Beijing has viewed the torch relay as an opportunity to promote China's international image ahead of the Olympics and as a political test.  Organizers have vowed to make the relay highlight the country's culture and national character, with Taiwan and Mount Everest included on their route.

　

　

Beijing has chosen the lucky number 8 for the start of the Olympic Games, setting the clock at 8pm on August 8, 2008, or 8/08/08/08 for the opening ceremony.

　

More than three million overseas visitors, including 20,000 athletes, coaches and 30,000 journalists, are expected in the mainland capital for the Olympic Games – which will start on August 8 and finish on August 24, 2008.

　

The newly-built National Stadium, popularly known as the bird’s nest, will be used for the opening and closing ceremonies, track and field events, as well as the men's football finals in the 2008 Games.  The project, jointly designed by Herzog and de Meuron of Switzerland and the China Architecture Institute, will feature as the centerpiece of Beijing’s 2008 Olympic Games.