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Tags: Olympics, Learn+Chinese

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Qinhuangdao

2008 Summer Olympic venues and Olympic Park

By May 2007, construction of all thirty-one Beijing-based Olympic Games venues had begun. The Chinese government is also investing in the renovation and construction of six venues outside Beijing as well as fifty-nine training centers. Its largest architectural pieces will be the Beijing National Stadium, Beijing National Indoor Stadium, Beijing National Aquatics Centre, Olympic Green Convention Centre, Olympic Green, and Beijing Wukesong Culture & Sports Center. Almost 85 percent of the construction budget for the six main venues is being funded by US$2.1 billion (RMB¥17.4 billion) in corporate bids and tenders. Investments are expected from corporations seeking ownership rights after the 2008 Summer Olympics. Some venues will be owned and governed by the State General Administration of Sports, which will use them after the Olympics as facilities for all future national sports teams and events.

It was announced on July 8, 2005 that the equestrian events are to be held in Hong Kong because of the “uncertainties of equine diseases and major difficulties in establishing a disease-free zone.” The five venues outside Beijing will be located in Qingdao, Hong Kong, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Qinhuangdao.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pSSQbn-iRU

Added: March 23, 2008
The Olympic torch for the Games will be lit using a mirror to focus the sun’s rays in Olympia on Monday, according to BOCOG.

Greek mythology says the Sun God Apollo lit the Olympic flame to bring brightness and warmth to humanity. The flame will be handed over to BOCOG at 3 p.m. on March 30 at the Panathenian Stadium in Athens, the city where the first modern Olympics Games was held in 1896. After a reception in Beijing on March 31, the Olympic flame will begin its global tour of 135 cities on April 1.

The relay will cover 137,000 km in 130 days before the flame finally arrives at the National Stadium in Beijing on Aug 8, 2008 for the opening ceremony. The highlight of the torch relay, involving a total of 21,780 torchbearers, will be an attempt to take the Olympic flame to the summit of Mount Qomolangma, or Mount Everest as known in the west, in May.