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News and Updates

2008/03/01

Water Safety to Be Checked Daily Ahead of Olympics

Beijing, host city of the upcoming summer Olympics, will employ special teams to conduct daily safety checks of its huge water network.

“The team will consist of more than 300 patrol staff and 400 maintenance workers doing round-the-clock checks and maintenance of water pipelines and ground water systems,” said Yu Yaping, an official with the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Water Affairs.

Yu said the special inspections will begin in May.

“The Games will be held in August, which is the rainy season in Beijing. Our routine checks will ensure sound drainage of rain water, especially at sports venues,” said Yu.

Many large “waterscapes” have been built to beautify the city for the big event; the bureau is also responsible for detecting groundwater pollution.

The capital, which has an acute shortage of water resources, has guaranteed that there will be sufficient water for the Olympics. Water diverted through the country's south–north diversion project will reach Beijing by March.

Beijing’s neighbouring province, Hebei, will contribute its reservoir water to back up the national capital's supply.

Beijing South Railway Station Becomes Major Transport Hub

The 320,000-square-metre Beijing South Railway Station will become a transportation hub integrating high-speed railway, subway, inter-city railway, bus and taxi services.

The process of final decoration and equipment installation is underway. According to Railways Ministry plans, a test run of the electromechanical equipment will be held on April 25, 2008. On June 25, it will be delivered for use and on August 1, it will become fully operational. The largest in Asia, the station is the starting point of the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway and the Beijing–Tianjin Inner-City Line.

The station is a two-story building with a three-tier underground facility. Beijing Subway Lines Nos. 4 and 14 can be accessed on the second and third tiers underground. When put into regular operation, they will be able to accommodate about 50 percent of the passengers who use the station, hopefully relieving the traffic pressure in surrounding areas.

The station plans to be convenient, comfortable and efficient. There will be no more annoying ticket or departure queues: instead, airline-type service will be offered.

At the passenger waiting and transfer halls, 36 automatic ticket machines will be available, in addition to more than 100 manual ticket counters. The passengers will enter the station through subway-like entrances.

To ease movement, the station has installed 103 elevators, including some for people with a disability.

Beijingers Mastering Manners

Less littering, spitting and queue jumping is making the capital a more pleasant place to live in, research has revealed.

A report by the Renmin University of China, commissioned by the Capital Ethic Development Committee, was released on February 1, 2008.

Zhang Huiguang, director of the committee, a Beijing government etiquette group tasked with helping prepare the city for the Olympics, said: “The behaviour of Beijingers in public places is definitely improving. This trend is a result of mass participation in making preparations for the Olympic Games.”

Last year, the city's “civilization index,” which provides a gauge of the behaviour of Beijing residents was 73.38 (out of 100), up 4.32 points on 2006 and 8.17 points on 2005, according to Sha Lianxiang, a professor at Renmin University and head of the research team.

Between 2005 and 2006, the survey monitored 320 public places, and interviewed 10,000 locals and 1,000 foreign residents. Of the people observed at public locations, the number of litterers fell from 5.3 percent in 2006 to 2.8 percent last year, while spitting cases fell from 4.9 percent to 2.5 percent. Instances of not queuing at bus stops also fell to 5 percent from 15 percent.

Home-Stay Accommodation Sought for Olympics Visitors

Tourism authorities here are looking for welcoming households to provide rooms for foreign visitors during the 2008 Olympics.

Xiong Yumei, deputy director of the Beijing Tourist Administration, said that the bureau would recruit about 1,000 households as “Olympic Family Hotels” to increase the city's guest room supply for the event, Xinhua, the State news agency, reported on January 25, 2008.

More than 500,000 overseas visitors are expected during the summer Games, with the largest daily inflow estimated at 300,000.

Xiong said that Beijing has 806 star-ranked hotels that have 130,000 rooms with 220,000 beds. Other lodging houses and inns have another 646,000 beds.

“The guest-room supply may still fall short of demand, especially for hotels close to the sports venues,” said Xiong.

She said that the bureau would choose among households' applications in March. “Families should own the apartments that they plan to offer and be able to provide foreign guests with spare rooms, good ventilation and sanitary conditions,” said Xiong. She added that at least one person in each household should be able to communicate in English.

Home-stays are popular in western countries but are relatively new to China. Other requirements set by the Beijing Tourist Bureau include changing of bedding, appropriate dressing by household members and a willingness to help guests find their way around the city and the Games.

The charge for home-stays will be US$50 to $80 per day, less than most hotels. Xiong said that the price might be adjusted to reflect market fluctuations.

2008 Pollution Reduction Targets Set

China will strive to reduce its emissions of sulphur dioxide by 6 percent in 2008 from their 2005 levels as it steps up efforts to fight pollution, its top environmental official said in remarks published on February 12, 2008.

The official Xinhua News Agency cited Zhou Shengxian, head of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), as saying that the government would close many small coal-fired power plants, as well as steel mills and cement plants, to cut emissions that result in acid rain.

Zhou said the government aims to reduce COD, or chemical oxygen demand, a measure of water pollution, by 5 percent from its 2005 level.

Many Chinese cities suffer from choking smog, including this year's Olympic host Beijing. The level of air pollution in the capital and its possible effects on athletes has been one of the biggest issues facing organisers of the Games.

Zhou said that Beijing will work with five other provinces and municipalities surrounding it to control air pollution during the Olympics. Among other actions, the city will limit vehicular traffic even as it shuts down polluting factories.

“Share Your Seat Day” Launched to Improve Behaviour

First there was “Queuing Day”; now comes "Share Your Seat Day."

Beginning February 22, 2008, the 22nd day of each month will be officially designated “Share Your Seat Day” for Beijing residents, the latest move by city authorities to get rid off uncouth behaviour ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Jointly launched by the city's Traffic Committee and Transport Bureau, the idea is to discourage struggles over seats and to encourage residents to share seats with people who need them most.

The move was announced at the heel of a "Queuing Day" scheme, which began February 11, 2007 and takes place on the 11th day of each month.

Liu Xiaoming, a spokesman for the Traffic Committee, said the number 22 (in Mandarin) is similar to RR, which stands for sharing (rang rang), and the shape of 22 somewhat resembles a seat.

Liu said, "The move is to build a harmonious environment for taking buses and to urge people to give up the priority seats to passengers who need them."

A batch of 1.2 million cards have been released by the committee to record who has shared seat and on which bus he or she shared the seat, and they can be acquired from conductors.

On buses without conductors, volunteer inspectors will help issue the cards.

Subway Olympic Branch Line to Conduct Trial Run

The much-anticipated subway Olympic Branch Line will conduct a trial run on June 1, an official with the Beijing-based China Railway Engineering and Investment Management Group Company said on February 14, 2008.

With a length of 4.398 kilometres, the Olympic Branch Line is a key project aimed at updating Beijing's public transport infrastructure to ensure a successful Olympic Games; it is also a part of subway line No. 8. It runs through the Beitucheng, Olympic Centre, Olympic Park and Forest Park stations, running south to north.

The branch line will make history, because it is the only subway line equipped with a direct drinking water supply system and a fully-enclosed shield door system.

The inner decoration for the line is near completion. Chief engineer Chen Tieshi said the Olympic Centre Station is close to the National Indoor Stadium, and designers are intent on making the branch line “sporty.”

The Olympic Park Station will run beneath the National Aquatics Centre, the Water Cube. It will be painted blue, in harmony with the hue of the Water Cube.

The Forest Park Station will look like a forest, and the pillars on the platform will look like trees.

More Fire Stations to Ensure Safety for Olympics

Beijing will complete the construction of 34 fire stations before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to safeguard the city and its stadiums, the Beijing News reported on January 13, 2008.

Upon completion of all the stations, firemen will be able to respond to any emergency call within two minutes, the paper said.

Before the Opening Ceremony of the games, there will be more than 100 fire stations in Beijing.

In January 2008, fire station "528," close to National Stadium (Bird's Nest), was completed; it will begin service in March.

The station will act as a “regulating centre” during the Olympics and will take charge of the main stadiums including the Bird's Nest and Water Cube (National Aquatics Center).

Airport’s T3 to Welcome Passengers

The new terminal T3 at the Beijing Capital International Airport will welcome its first flights from six airlines on February 29, the Beijing Daily reported on February 13, 2008.

In addition to Shandong Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Australian Airlines, Qatar Airways, British Airways and El Al Israel Air, which will be the first to operate at terminal 3 (T3), 21 more airlines will begin operations at T3 on March 26. They include Air China, Shanghai Airlines, Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific, Dragon Air, and UAE Airlines. The 27 companies will contribute to 45 percent of the airport's passenger flows.

Occupying an area of close to one million square metres, T3 has three functional areas. T3C handles domestic and international boarding procedures, domestic departures and baggage claims for both domestic and international passengers; T3D will temporarily be devoted to charter flights for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games; and T3E will be used for international arrivals and departures.

Four expressways will link the airport with the city. When completed, before the 2008 Olympic Games begin, a rail line operating between Dongzhimen in Central Beijing and T3 will make the trip in just 16 minutes.

Spain and China Music Forum: a Window to Spanish Independent Music

In addition to its hot and passionate flamenco, Spain is rich in many other types of music such as rock, folk, jazz, lounge, chill out and Latin.

In a search for ways to make Spanish music more popular in China, a group of 12 independent Spanish record publishers and some of the most representative Chinese music professionals gathered on February 25, 2008, at the Instituto Cervantes in Beijing to participate in the Spain-China Music Forum.

Organized by the Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade (ICEX) and the Spanish Economic and Commercial Office in Beijing, the forum was an opportunity for independent music publishers and record producers from Spain and China to meet.

The 12 independent Spanish record publishers, including Blanco y Negro Music, one of the leading companies in Europe for 25 years, specialized in dance and chill out music, and Columna Music, whose record El Gato con Botas (Puss in Boots) was nominated for the 2004 Grammy for best opera recording, all have their own features. The Spanish record publishers all expressed their willingness to co-operate with Chinese record producers and music organizations to explore ways to expand Spanish music’s presence in the Chinese music market.



	Article featured in Beijing This Month, March 2008 Publication sponsored by Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Tourism