The Olympic Village in Beijing is now open, well ahead of the upcoming Summer Games. Anyone who has visited say it is a delight and environmentally friendly design although, sadly, the loos are Asian rather than Western style. Apart from that the technology could be a model for future residential developments across China.

These apartments in the 2008 Olympic Village will be home to the athletes competing in Games during their stay in Beijing.

Liu Rong from the construction firm, Guoao Investment and Development, says the Olympic Village is unique because of its environmentally friendly design, He said, ‘The harmony between culture, architecture and the environment has been achieved through the green residential area — the village with its world leading technology, as a showcase to the world, the distinguishing characteristic of the high level Olympic Games.’

Solar power will be used to generate at least some of the lighting and hot water production in the Olympic Village. It also says there will be a system for collecting and reusing rain water. And all toilets will be equipped with water-saving technology as soon as they have been changed to European style.

Parts of the Olympic Village are still being built. Officials promise large green spaces in the residential area, and they are counting on the design to spur similar construction projects across China.

Jeff Ruffolo, who is a senior official with the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee, said, ‘People will be looking at the Olympic Village and the Olympics throughout this country as the blueprint and the model to continue on throughout the nation.’
Souce: VOA News

Tourism authorities in Beijing are looking for welcoming households to provide rooms for foreign visitors during the summer Olympics.

Xiong Yumei, deputy director of the Beijing Tourist Bureau, 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. 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.

Xiong Yumei said, ‘The guest room supply may still fall short of demand, especially for hotels close to the sports venues.’

She said, ‘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.’ She added that at least one person in each household should be able to communicate in English.
Source: China View