Car owners forced off the road to reduce pollution during August’s Beijing Olympics will be compensated.

Beijing plans to take as many as half of its 3.3 million vehicles off the roads during the Games to help cut emissions.

Beijing vice mayor Ji Lin said, ‘Automobiles, excluding taxis, buses and emergency vehicles, are to stay off roads every other day in accordance with the even and odd numbers on the licence plates. The ban is aimed to ensure air quality during the sports events in Beijing.’

Ji Lin said there would be compensation but the exact levels were still being discussed.

Beijing, one of the most polluted cities in the world, held a four-day test of similar restrictions in August last year.

Despite huge efforts to improve the environment over the last decade, air quality remains one of the biggest problems facing organisers in the run-up to the Olympics.

Olympic chief Jacques Rogge said last year that some endurance events would have to be rescheduled if air quality could not be guaranteed.

Plans to reduce pollutants during the Olympics also involve cutting emissions at power plants and factories in Beijing and five surrounding provinces.

Full details of the contingency plans have yet to be announced, but another Beijing vice mayor, Liu Jingmin, said earlier this week that measures should not be too disruptive to the city’s economy of the lives of the people.
Source: The Guardian

Authorities have said some restaurants, bars and nightclubs in one of Beijing’s main nightlife centers and celebrity hangouts are to be closed to help ensure security at an Olympic football venue.

Stadium Vice-manager He Zhenxing said, ‘About six restaurants and bars inside the Beijing Workers’ Stadium compound will be ordered to suspend operation for more than 20 days before and during the Olympic Games.’

He agreed the venues, popular among Beijing residents, will lose business, but the order was issued to guarantee security for the Games.

He said, ‘The stadium will not pay compensation to them, but may extend their leases or give preferential treatment after the Olympic Games.’

Managers of the businesses said they would accept the order, although they felt ‘very unhappy’ about it. Most of the venues are still open, but some are carrying out renovations.

Zhang Youjing, manager of Youjingge Restaurant said ‘More than 130 employees in my restaurant will be out of work during the suspension. If they don’t return after the Games, I will have to hire new people and start over again.’

Zhang said his 700-square-meter restaurant had hosted celebrities including David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Jacky Chan, and took RMB20 million($2.7 million) in sales in 2004 when it opened.

Zhang Youjing said, ‘I really don’t know what it will look like after the Games. I’m not a threat to the Olympic Games and I cannot resist the official order by any means. I only wish myself good luck.’

The manager of Club Mix nightclub, surnamed Guo, said he would have no choice, but to obey the order. ‘We have almost 800 customers every night. More than 200 workers will stay at home on a minimum salaries during the closure.’

Source: Shanghai Daily

China’s state-run national television broadcaster is teaming with two Internet ventures to deal with droves of online viewers who will be watching the Olympic Games.

China Central Television has announced it is working with the MySpace China social-networking site and online-video site Tudou.com to run an interactive Web site for the August Games.

The CCTV site will offer streaming video broadcasts of events, which will be viewable only in China. The Web site of CCTV, the monopoly national broadcaster, draws relatively little traffic.

There is a conflict of interest in all of this.

Around the world Internet users want to view the Olympics. The Web offers new opportunities for advertising revenue, but also threatens to detract from the lock on Olympic viewers long enjoyed by TV. Selling TV rights is the major source of income for the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC didn’t sell audio and video transmissions rights for Olympics competitions over the Web until 2000.

In many markets like the U.S., the IOC now generally offers the Internet and wireless-broadcast rights for the Games bundled with TV rights, but that is beginning to change. An open tender on the online rights in China last year, which was eventually won by CCTV, was among the first.

CCTV’s Olympics Web site will be a dedicated one within CCTV.com, with a video channel supported by Tudou.com, a three-year-old start-up, and a social-networking section supported by MySpace China, which was launched last April in a joint venture with News Corp., the part of the Murdoch empire which is still interested in China.

The Olympics video site — to go live August 8, the first day of the Games — will include live video, playbacks from the Games, commentary and user-generated content. Users will be able to interact with athletes and coaches using the MySpace China part of the site.

However there may be problems regarding exclusivity.

China’s Internet is home to numerous services that illegally broadcast copyrighted TV shows or movies — even whole TV channels.

Christopher Stokes, the chief executive of United Kingdom-based NetResult, which helps companies enforce sports rights, said, ‘At this stage nobody knows who is going to do the work of making sure the videos are legal.’
Source: Wall Street Journal

It will not be late. Merely that the completion date for the Beijing Olympics marquee venue has been pushed back by a month to allow preparations for the opening and closing ceremonies. It will now be fully ready late April,

Jiang Xiaoyu, in the China Daily newspaper, said, ‘The construction of the venue and the background setting up for the ceremonies are going on together now, which has postponed the working progress of the Bird’s Nest. The Bird’s Nest will be the last but the best venue at the Beijing Games.’

Organizing committee spokesman Sun Weide said the main structure of the stadium was complete and only finishing touches remained.

With enormous twisted beams wound around the exterior like silver twigs in a nest, the 91,000 seat National Stadium is the centerpiece of the games, a massive prestige effort which will make the games memorable and will remain as a wonderful sympol. A legacy of the games.

Jiang Xiaoyu did not elaborate on the preparations for the opening and closing ceremonies — directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou. The details are top secret.

Speculation among ordinary Chinese abounds on the Internet, with many guessing at how the Olympic flame will be lit during the August 8 opening ceremony.
Source: AP

For the first time in Olympic history, a Chinese person will run the second leg of the torch relay in ancient Olympia, Greece, where the flame will be lit.

George Aidonis, the city’s mayor, said, ‘There will be a few changes to the torch relay in Olympia this year, as a Chinese person will run the second leg, carrying the torch from the gate of the ruins to the municipal government hall.’

The Olympic flame for the Beijing Games will be lit in front of the ruins of the Temple of Hera at 12 noon on March 24.

The lighting ceremony of the torch ceremony will start with the ‘High Priestess’, played by Greek actress Maria Nafpliotou. She will then pass the torch to the first runner, a Greek athlete, who will carry it to the temple gateway and pass it over to the Chinese runner.

George Aidonis said, ‘This will be the first time a torchbearer from the Games’ host country will take the flame from a Greek athlete and run the second leg. The Chinese runner will be decided by the Chinese embassy in Greece and the Beijing Olympic organizing committee.’

The mayor said everything is in place, despite the fact the city is still trying to recover from a forest fire last year.

The mayor has participated in every lighting ceremony since 1978, and said he expects this year’s to be something special.

‘It’s hard to describe the feeling you get when the Olympic flame is lit. It is a deeply heartwarming experience. And seeing the flame lit for China — a country that has a long history and rich culture, just like Greece — will make the event even more special. The Olympic spirit will spread rapidly around the world.’
Source: China Daily