Beijing Olympic facelift

When the Olympics take place in Europe or the USA, there might be some new construction of a major sports facility or two, some upgraded transportation facilities, maybe some new housing in the athletes' Olympic Village...

But for China, the Olympics is of much greater significance - and will have a much greater impact on the face of the City. Already several years ago, planning started for the major venues, and now some of the projects are taking shape. The "Bird's Nest" National Stadium, designed by Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron, will become a symbol for the games, and also involved some construction innovation (see photo), and there are many other sport facility projects underway (10 impressive new facilities; 6 renovation/expansion projects, 8 temporary facilities).

But it is not just the Olympic venues that are changing Beijing; there is also an ambitious plan to take full advantage of the event to show the new face of modern China. This involves everything from a campaign to provide special training of school children, the hoard of 70 000 mainly university student volunteers that will assist with the Games (plus another 30 000 for the Paralympic Games) and the general citizenry. The "Beijing 2008" Elementary and Secondary School Olympic Education Program, in which 500 Olympic model schools participate, will popularize Olympic knowledge among 400 million young people in China. The numbers are always staggering.

Then there is the general facelift: Streets are being beautified with parks, trees and flowers (see photo); there is a major campaign to correct errors in the numerous English signs in Beijing; and shops are getting more beautiful storefront signs, all courtesy of the government. In addition, entire parts of the city are being leveled and replaced with modern facilities. Public transportation is also being expanded massively (e.g., some 100 kilometers of new subway lines, including one that will connect the airport).

One of the goals of Beijing 2008 is to carry out the concept of a "Green Olympics", aiming for sustainable development through environmental protection, resource conservation and ecological balance. This does just not just mean using recycled paper and encouraging the use of public transportation, although the Organizing Committee has implemented an Environmental Management System compliant with ISO 14001. A whole new Olympic Forest Park to the North of the main Olympic venue in alignment with the central South-North axis of other historical and modern landmarks (Temple of Heaven, Tian'anmen Square, Forbidden City, JingShan Park, Drum Tower, Bell Tower, Central Olympic Green) is under development, and is being hailed as a symbolic "return to nature" for the city. The park is 680 hectares (6.8 km2), and will sport a manmade mountain and lake, streams, wetlands, etc. to serve as a green lung for the city of Beijing.