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Aussie artist to send Beijing Olympic painting

Charles Billich of Australia, famous for his Olympic-related paintings, announced on Monday that he would send the Beijing Municipal Government a painting to commemorate the city's successful bid for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Billich, who sent Beijing a painting titled "Beijing Millennium Cityscape" during Beijing's bid for the 2008 Olympic Games in 2001, said "the second painting will be more ambitious and a natural sequel to the first. I have used the Terracotta Warriors to spread the Olympic message: soldiers competing in sports, not killing each other. I've always painted cities and this is the first time I'm going to paint a country, the biggest country in the world. This painting will be a milestone for me."

Billich, who was born in Italy, has been called "the Olympic painter". His unique cityscapes of Atlanta, Sydney, Paris, Salt Lake City and Athens have been equally well received in those cities.

Billich said: "In this painting I will try to symbolize all the cities and provinces of China including Macao, Hong Kong and Taiwan, one China in celebration. But this mammoth task is more than I can handle. Therefore I need help. I welcome suggestions from people around China. I even need some bright title ideas for this painting."