Chinese Olympic Committee, Announcements on Preparations for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games (2004–2007)

In the 1990s, China emerged as a major player in the global economy. To highlight its growing importance on the world stage, Beijing lobbied hard for the honor of hosting the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. When Sydney, Australia, was chosen instead, Beijing tried again, this time with success. On July 13, 2001, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose the city to host the 2008 summer Olympic games. Many nations urged the IOC to reconsider its choice, given China’s record on human and civil rights, and the European Parliament even drafted a formal complaint, urging the IOC to “reconsider Beijing’s candidacy when the authorities of the People’s Republic of China have made a fundamental change in their policy on human rights, and the promotion of democracy and the rule of law.” Chinese officials took the IOC’s decision as an endorsement of progress China had made, both economically and politically. Vice Premier Li Lan-Qing proudly declared, “The winning of the 2008 Olympic bid is an example of the international recognition of China’s social stability, economic progress, and the healthy life of the Chinese people.” In the years and months leading up to the Olympic Games, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) posted regular updates about its Olympic preparations on its Web site. These statements, which were widely distributed in the international press, show a country at pains to prove that it is, once and for all, ready to host the world.

From Chinese Olympic Committee, http://en.olympic.cn/

Official: Beijing Olympic Projects Should Be Corruption-Free

BEIJING, Jan. 9, 2004—A top official from the Ministry of Supervision on Thursday urged the Beijing municipal government to strengthen supervision over Olympic venue construction to avoid corruption.

“Projects for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games should be projects ‘in the sun,’” said deputy Minister Huang Shuxian at a meeting with local officials and operators of the four venues under construction.

He made the remarks after an inspection tour of the construction site of the National Stadium and the National Swimming Center in north Beijing.

Huang, also director of the Supervision Commission for the 2008 Games, praised supervision efforts made by the municipal government as construction of the first batch of Olympic venues has got [sic] underway smoothly.

“It is a good beginning,” he said.

The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Auditing has finished comprehensive auditing reports over public bidding of five Olympic projects including the National Stadium, the Olympic Village and the Wukesong Cultural and Sports Center and is ready to submit them to the supervision commission, said Yang Xiaochao, the bureau director.

Venue construction will be in full swing this year as 11 gymnasiums and their accessory facilities are expected to break ground.

“All of the project spending is required to strictly adhere to the authorized budget,” said Zhou Yuzhen, vice-director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Supervision.

Every project is required to receive independent auditing and supervision from authorities in the process of bidding and construction, he added.

Zhou, also a member of the Beijing Municipal Olympic Venue Construction Supervision Leading Group established last month, said a supervision information network to oversee Olympic venue construction will be completed by April this year.

A total of 35 venues will be used during the 2008 Olympics, including 30 in Beijing and five in Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Shenyang, Tianjin, and Shanghai. Beijing has vowed to complete the construction of Olympic venues by the end of 2006.

Beijing to Further Promote Civility

BEIJING, Feb. 20, 2006—The Beijing Municipality will further improve civility of citizens in an effort to create a more favorable environment for the Beijing Olympic Games.

Although the citywide campaign is to be officially launched next month, some projects for the purpose have already been put on the agenda, according to a press conference held yesterday on the occasion of 900 day countdown to the Games to be held from August 8–24, 2008.

The education department has prepared to release a reader to popularize civility and courtesy, with an aim to cover some 4.3 million families.

Meanwhile, the public are encouraged to take part in selecting Top Ten Model Persons of Social Ethics. In public places such as squares, airports, train stations and key sports venues, model sectors of public civility are to be set up. . . .

Civility at transport stations is also a key point to be emphasized. Some of the bus stops in Beijing have already seen orderly queuing. To make this an overwhelming routine, the city will dispatch more supervisors to more bus stops and will extend the activity from the city to outskirts.

In 2006, Beijing will embark on an all-round campaign to get rid of “villages in the center of the city” and other illegal buildings and outdoor advertisement boards. The departments concerned will take harsh measures against spitting and littering in public places and will deploy more trash cans and spit bags.

Capital Takes Steps to Rein in Pollution

BEIJING, March 17, 2006—Beijing will introduce vehicle-exhaust monitoring devices in a bid to tackle the pollution that continues to plague the city.

The new move is designed to strengthen controls on harmful emissions from the capital’s 2.6 million vehicles, which are believed to contribute to around half of the city’s ozone pollution, according to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection.

Bureau official Wang Dawei said that ozone pollution, which has plagued many cities in developed countries since the 1950s, has recently become an increasingly grave problem in the Chinese capital due to the explosion in the number of cars. . . .

He warned that this pollution could pose a major problem during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, as the strong summer sunshine would accelerate the formation of photochemical smog, which may damage health.

Besides placing monitoring devices on roads, the city is considering offering financial assistance to private owners of cars which produce heavy fume [sic] to purchase new cars whose exhaust-gas emissions meet the upgraded standards introduced in late 2005, said Pei Chenghu, the bureau’s deputy director.

Meanwhile, around 8,000 of the city’s old taxis and 2,000 buses will be required to have new technology installed that helps cut their emissions. It is estimated that emissions from one old car are the same as from 14 new cars that meet the new standard.

Apart from vehicles, the city will also take steps this year to curb heavy pollution from around 200 plants in the power, petrochemical, steel and sewage treatment sectors. All of these plants, which account for 80 percent of the city’s total industrial pollution, will be equipped by the end of this year with real-time monitors on their gas and water discharges. Pei warned that the operation of those plants that exceed the discharge standards will be suspended or they may even be closed.

These moves are part of a raft of measures that the city’s authorities have taken this year to tackle pollution. Other steps include stricter supervision of construction sites and the expanded use of low-sulphur coal.

This year, the city has pledged that at least 238 days should meet good or excellent air quality standards.

Beijing Able to Treat 90 Percent of Sewage

BEIJING, Feb. 5, 2007—The nine sewage treatment plants in Beijing’s urban area treated 780 million cubic meters of waste water, or 90 percent of Beijing’s total in 2006, meeting its water purification target for the Beijing Olympic Games ahead of time, the Venue and Environment Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) said Monday.

The city’s sewage disposal capacity of 2.914 million tons per day has now exceeded the objective of 2.68 million tons per day set in its bid to host the Olympic Games, the department quoted the Beijing Water Drainage Group as saying.

During the 2001–2006 period, the group built a total of 14 sewage treatment plants with a combined daily capacity of 1.834 million tons, in addition to the capacity of 1.08 million tons of the three plants built before 2001. The total capacity has now outstripped the Olympic bid target of 2.68 million tons per day, the group said. The group is striving to reuse 50 percent of the treated water in 2007, a target for the Olympic Games.

Beijingers Urged to Queue on Monthly “Queuing Day”

BEIJING, Feb. 11, 2007—The girl carefully pasted the card with her signature on an exhibiting board. On the card, the four-year-old Liang Miaozhu vowed to queue in the public and respect order.

Liang, accompanied by her mom, is among hundreds of Beijing citizens who participated on Sunday in activities in Beijing’s busy Wangfujing Street to promote the city’s first “queuing day.”

The 11th day of every month is chosen as the promotion day for queuing up as part of a drive to improve the city’s image before next year’s Olympics, according to Zhang Huiguang, director of Beijing’s Capital Ethic Development Office earlier this month.

The number 11 resembles two queuing persons, according to Zhang. “That means that even if there are only two people, they should wait in line,” she said.

People expressed their support for the move. “The Beijing Olympic Games is drawing near, but bad behaviors still exist in the city,” said 63-year-old Liu Chun’e, “we should display to our foreign guests the courtesy of Chinese people.”

Although netizens voiced their doubt on the Internet and large numbers of bus passengers made it difficult to keep order, Zhang noted that it was important to create an environment where the wrongdoing was a shame. “The Chinese people don’t like to lose face,” she said.

Before the Olympics, the city is also determined to eradicate bad habits like spitting in the public and littering.

Beijing Getting Rid of Badly Translated Signs

BEIJING, Feb. 27, 2007—Work has begun to ensure all of Beijing’s signs are grammatically correct and free of “Chinglis” by the end of 2007, before hordes of foreign visitors arriving [sic] in town for the 2008 Summer Olympics, yesterday’s China Youth Daily reported.

“We have worked out 4,624 pieces of standard English translations to substitute the Chinglish ones on signs around the city,” said Lu Jinlan, head of the organizing committee of the Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Program (BSFLP). The committee plans to focus on improving English menus after the English translations of signs are all corrected.

Lu admitted that the committee faced many difficulties in consigning Chinglish to history, particularly in correcting the English translations used by private businesses.

For years, foreigners in China have delighted in the loopy English translations that appear on the nation’s signs. They range from the offensive—“Deformed Man,” outside toilets for the handicapped—to the sublime—“Show Mercy to the Slender Grass,” on park lawns.

Ten teams of linguistic monitors have patrolled the city’s parks, museums, subway stations, and other public places searching for gaffes to fix.

The city has replaced thousands of road signs that carried bewildering admonitions such as: “To take notice of safe: The slippery are very crafty.” (Translation: Be careful, road slippery.) Replacing signs is expected to cost the city a substantial amount of money.

The sign initiative is the latest of a campaign to improve English translations in public. The BSFLP is headed by Chen Lin, an elderly language professor who acts as its language police chief.

“We want everything to be correct. Grammar, words, culture, everything,” says Professor Chen. “Beijing will have thousands of visitors coming. We don’t want anyone laughing at us.”

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