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The photo taken on Aug. 5, 2008 shows the white cloud floating above the National Stadium, namely the Bird’s Nest, in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua Photo/Li Ziheng)

The photo taken on Aug. 5, 2008 shows the clear sky above the National Stadium, namely the Bird’s Nest, in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua Photo/Li Ziheng)

The photo taken on Aug. 5, 2008 shows the clear sky above the National Stadium, namely the Bird’s Nest, in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua Photo/Li Ziheng)

(Photo: Sina.com)

(Photo: Sina.com)

(Photo: Sina.com)

(Photo: Sina.com)

(Photo: Sina.com)

The 798 art district is located in the eastern Dashanzi neighborhood in Beijing. For anyone serious about contemporary art, a pilgrimage to 798 (also known as Dashanzi Art District) is a must.

Constructed in the 1950s, this compound was a joint venture between East Germany and China, accounting for the Bauhaus aesthetic of its structures. After years of decline, these factories got a new lease on life when Central Academy of Fine Arts professors rented them out as studios in the early 2000s. Artists and other creative organizations followed. As early as 2004, the area boasted 100 art galleries, and two years later, Factory 798 was deemed an official “art and culture district.”

If you tire of Olympic fever and can’t stomach sites jammed with flag-waving throngs of tourists, don’t despair. The factory zone has now been transformed into a bohemian oasis with dozens of galleries, a smattering of cafes, book stores, outdoor sculptures, and lots of bemusing graffiti splashed on the old factory walls.

Premier Wen Jiabao shoots a basketball during a trip to the Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium, August 3, 2008. (Xinhua)

Premier Wen Jiabao (R) receives a basketball signed by all the players of the Chinese men’s basketball team from China’s center Yao Ming during a trip to the Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium, August 3, 2008. (Xinhua)

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao plays pingpang with a local resident in the Dajing neighborhood of the Fengtai District during his inspection tour on August, 3, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

Blue skies smiled over Beijing for the fourth day in a row and excitement filled its air Sunday as Premier Wen Jiabao promised a clean, green and beautiful city during and after the Olympic Games.

A day earlier, International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge cleared another “layer of haze” by praising the Beijing Games organizers for their work and labeling the Olympic Village the “best ever”.

Premier Wen visited athletes and met with volunteers and utility workers five days before the Games. Thanks to the efforts of the entire society, the Beijing Olympics will satisfy the athletes, officials and the spectators at home and abroad, he said.

“China is a responsible country. We will fulfill the promises we made for the Olympics. We will not only host a quality and unique Games, but also build a more scenic, greener and more civilized city in a sustainable manner.”

Wen and senior officials of the Beijing Olympic organizing committee (BOCOG), Liu Qi, Liu Yandong and Guo Jinlong, visited the Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium, where the Chinese men’s team was training.

Wen shook hands with the players and coaches, including NBA star Yao Ming, who has recovered fully from his left foot injury. “Are you feeling well? Is your foot okay?” Wen said. Yao replied that he was fine.

“I loved playing basketball when I was a kid,” the premier said. “It’s still my favorite game.” And then he joined the players to shoot hoops.

The Chinese hoopsters will take on the mighty Americans in their first game on Aug 10. “Your first game will attract great attention,” Wen said. “You need confidence and win or lose, it’s important to have the sporting spirit.”

Wen signed the basketball with which he went for the hoops, and the team presented him with one signed by all the players. The premier encouraged the volunteers at the stadium to serve “in a careful and serious manner with a strong sense of responsibility”.

With the sun shining brightly and the premier going about town visiting Olympic venues, officials dismissed fears over rescheduling endurance events because the level of pollution has gone down drastically.

Though the average air pollution index rose to 35 yesterday from Saturday’s 34, it was still “excellent”. The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) has said a pollution reading below 50 is “excellent”, from 51 to 100 is “fairly good”.

From the data gathered over the past few days, “I believe the chance of rescheduling any event because of air quality is very low,” Fan Yuansheng, director of MEP’s pollution control, said.

“Excellent” air quality has been recorded on all the three days of this month. And overall, Beijing has had 152 “blue skies” or days with fairly good air quality.

Fan attributed the improvement in air quality to the emission control measures. “If environmental departments foresee serious air pollution during the Olympics, Beijing and neighboring areas will close more factories temporarily and pull more cars off the roads,” he said.

Government vehicles have been told to stay off the roads one day a week in the latest clean air initiative.

On the Games organizational front, Jacques Rogge credited Beijing for its work and providing the best possible facilities for athletes and officials. “It’s a totally different ball game (from the Athens Games),” he said on Saturday, reminding journalists that media headlines a week before the 2004 Olympics were on the delay in the completion of venues and the lack of organization.

“Today we have absolutely no concerns for the organization,” he told journalists at the Main Press Center as fireworks of the Games’ opening ceremony rehearsals lighted up the sky around the National Stadium.

“I am sure that on the 9th of August, the day after the Opening Ceremony, the magic of the Games and the flawless organization will take over,” the IOC president said, addressing his first conference in Beijing in the run-up to the Games.

He talked on many subjects, from media freedom, doping, the lifting of the ban on Iraqi athletes, and China’s rise in sports and athlete’s freedom of expression.

Praising the Olympic Village, he said: “I have had the privilege of staying in Olympic villages since the 1968 Mexico Games, and I have never seen a village like this. It is outstanding.”

CHENGDU, Aug.1 (Xinhua) — A fresh aftershock measuring 6.1 on the Ritcher Scale hit southwest China’s Sichuan Province at 4:32 p.m. Friday, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

The epicenter was located at an area between Pingwu County and Beichuan County, Mianyang City. Slight tremor was felt in Chengdu,the Center reported.

Chinese dancers perform the “Thousand-hand Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva”, or “Guan Yin”, a Chinese goddess, at the Olympic Village in Beijing July 31, 2008.

BEIJING, Aug. 1 — Another 10 percent Beijing vehicles will go off the roads if the weather is “extremely unfavorable” during the Olympic Games, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has said.

The traffic restriction already in force allows vehicles with even and odd license numbers to hit the roads only on alternate days, reducing them by half.

The emergency measure would make private cars whose last two license plate digits match the date (between August 8 and 24) to be off the roads. This could reduce the total number of private cars on the capital’s roads by 60 percent.

Other emergency steps include temporarily closing 105 more factories and stopping all construction work in the city. Another 56 factories in Olympic co-host city Tianjin and 61 in Hebei province will be closed, too.

Earlier, independent experts had suggested the environmental authorities take up to 90 percent cars off the roads if the air quality does not improve during the Games.

Zhu Tong, an environmentalist advising the city government, told the Beijing News yesterday: “Though the final emergency plan will not be as effective as the one in which 90 percent cars would have been banned, the government must have considered the interests of all sides.”

It’s not common for Beijing to experience sultry weather like it did last week, Zhu said.

But “our independent study shows Beijing’s long-term efforts have worked”.

Yesterday’s air pollution index (API) was 69, much healthier than what it was a couple of weeks ago, before the even-and-odd license plate number restriction was imposed. Wednesday’s API was even better at 44.

BEIJING, Aug. 1 — Beijing will handle up to 1,500 flights and 260,000 passengers a day, the most its airport can cope with, in the run-up to and during the Olympic Games, Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) officials have said.

The challenge Beijing faces is evident from the fact that Athens handled 795 flights and 58,000 passengers on the eve of the 2004 Games’ opening.

Adding to the challenge is the threat of thunderstorms on Aug 8 and 9, according to a study based on the city’s decades-long weather data, said Huang Dengke, of the CAAC North China regional administration and in-charge of the airport’s Games time coordination.

But contingency plans are in place, with four airports in North China chosen to handle some of the flights if Beijing encounters bad weather or air traffic congestion, Huang said. The four airports are in Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan and Hohhot, and together they have 100 parking bays ready for emergency landings.

The CAAC has imposed a five-hour air traffic ban at the Beijing airport between 7 pm and midnight on Aug 8, the opening day of the Games, in line with the practice adopted by previous host cities, CAAC deputy head Yang Guoqing said.

The CAAC estimates that the busiest time for aviation and airport authorities will be between Aug 6 and 11, and peak on Aug 7.

The number of landings and take-offs will increase by 20 percent, compared with normal days, during the period, and the volume of passengers by 25 percent, Yang said.

To cope with the unprecedented increase in the number of flights and passengers, part of Terminal 3 will only receive Olympic guests, including more than 10,000 athletes. Terminal 3 is the world’s largest and was opened in March.

The newly built VIP terminals will handle special flights carrying 80 heads of state, and 160 chartered and 1,000 business flights.

Yang said the increase in the number of special flights will not disrupt ordinary passenger flights.

The CAAC has tightened security checks at airports since July 20 to foil any terrorist attack. It has been collaborating closely with other departments to verify and analyze information on possible terrorist threat, Yang said.

Some international terrorist groups, including the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement, have threatened to attack Olympic venues. Security officers in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region busted a terrorist plot to hijack a plane bound for Beijing this March.

But airport manager Zhang Zhihong said security forces are ready to deal with any eventuality. “We will ensure 100 percent security for the airport and the Games,” he told journalists at the airport.

Photo shows a Beijing-Tianjin high-speed train on its test run July 31, 2008. The new 350 kph train shortens the journey between the two cities to just 30 minutes. The Beijing-Tianjin high-speed railway will open on August 1, 2008. [Xinhua]

Photo shows a Beijing-Tianjin high-speed train on its test run July 31, 2008. The new 350 kph train shortens the journey between the two cities to just 30 minutes. The Beijing-Tianjin high-speed railway will open on August 1, 2008. [Xinhua]

A stewardess stands at the entrance to a Beijing-Tianjin high-speed train on its test run July 12, 2008. The new 350 kph train shortens the journey between the two cities to just 30 minutes. The Beijing-Tianjin high-speed railway will open on August 1, 2008. [Xinhua]

Photo taken from the inside of a Beijing-Tianjin high-speed train July 18, 2008. The new 350 kph train shortens the journey between the two cities to just 30 minutes. The Beijing-Tianjin high-speed railway will open on August 1, 2008. [Xinhua]

A stewardess displays the rotating chairs in a Beijing-Tianjin high-speed train on its test run July 17, 2008. The new 350 kph train shortens the journey between the two cities to just 30 minutes. The Beijing-Tianjin high-speed railway will open on August 1, 2008. [Xinhua]

BEIJING, July 31 (Xinhua) — Rail fans and passengers queued upon Thursday morning to buy tickets for Friday’s debut of the world’s fastest intercity rail line linking Beijing with Olympic co-host city Tianjin.

Tickets were available at the Beijing Railway Station, the Beijing West Railway Station and other ticket outlets. But at the Beijing South Railway Station, where the first train would leave from, ticket sales were expected to start later on Thursday, station staff told Xinhua.

The Ministry of Railways (MOR) announced on Wednesday this ultra-modern line would go into service on Aug. 1, one week before the Games begin.

The first train would leave the Beijing South Railway Station at about 11 a.m. after an official launch ceremony, the Beijing Times reported.

After regular service begins on Aug. 2, the first train would leave Beijing for Tianjin at 6:15 a.m., according to a time schedule provided by the Beijing South Railway Station. Twenty minutes later, another train would leave the Tianjin Station for Beijing.

The final train would leave Beijing for Tianjin at 10:10 p.m. while in Tianjin, the final train would depart at 10:06.

During regular services, there would be 47 pairs of trains every day. Trains bound for Tianjin would leave at various intervals of 15, 20 and 30 minutes.

A first-class ticket costs 69 yuan while the price for a second-class ticket is 58 yuan, Vice Railway Minister Wang Zhiguo told a press conference. Fares would be unchanged in the first year of operation.

The line would be the world’s only line on which passenger trains could run at 350 km per hour, Wang said. It would also be the first high-speed intercity rail line in China.

The railway, on which construction started in July 2005, was built at a total cost of 21.5 billion yuan (3.1 billion U.S. dollars), said Wang.

About 100 km of the line, or 86 percent, was built on an elevated alignment because of the area’s alluvial soil, which was sensitive to ground settlement.

The new service would cut the 120-km journey from the current 70 minutes to about 30 minutes, according to Wang. There are five stations along the line: the cavernous new Beijing South Railway Station, Yizhuang, Yongle, Wuqing and Tianjin.

The train is classified by the MOR as C-category, with C standing for Chengji, meaning intercity.

There will be 10 trains of eight cars that can seat about 600 passengers. These sleek trains, with aircraft-like cabins, swivel seats, spacious interiors and rooftop solar panels, were built by the Sifang Locomotive and Rolling Stock Company.

Called the CRH-3 (China Railway High-speed), these were China’s first self-designed and self-manufactured passenger trains.

The MOR had said about 26 million passengers traveled between the two cities every year, and this new line was forecast to raise the figure to 32 million in 2008.

Wang said more trains would be put into service in the future as the signal system allowed trains at minimum intervals of three minutes.

At least three kinds of trains already run between the two cities.

D-category trains run at 200 to 250 km per hour and take 70 minutes. Passengers pay 51 yuan for a first-class seat and 42 yuan for a second-class seat.

K-category trains run slower and take 100 minutes. The maximum fare is 20 yuan.

A third category runs only during major holidays, such as the Lunar New Year, and supplements regular services

BEIJING, July 31 (Xinhua) — The U.S. side should curb the “odious conduct” of a handful of anti-China lawmakers, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao here on Thursday.

Liu made the remarks when commenting on a resolution passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, which citing the “Olympic traditions of freedom and openness,” criticized China on human rights issues and asked the Chinese Government to stop supporting the governments of Sudan and Myanmar.

The House of Representatives passed the resolution proposed by a handful of anti-China lawmakers against China’s firm opposition. This disclosed their malicious intention to politicize the Olympic Games, and interrupt and sabotage the Beijing Olympic Games, Liu said.

He noted such a deed itself is blasphemy to the Olympic spirit, and is against the common wishes of people all around the world, including people in the United States. China has made solemn representations to the U.S. administration and Congress, urging the U.S. side to concretely curb the “odious conduct” of a handful of anti-China lawmakers.

Liu said to hold a successful Olympic Games is the dream of the Chinese people for many years, as well as the common expectation of people across the world. We firmly believe that the Beijing Olympic Games will become a great world sports event with the joint efforts and support of the big Olympic family.

We advise those anti-China lawmakers in the U.S. Congress to see clearly the situation and change their course so as to avoid further harming their own images, Liu said.

MADRID? July 30 (Xinhua) — The first Spanish competitors for the Olympic Games flew out from Madrid’s Barajas airport on Wednesday for Beijing.

The group consisted of the women’s basketball team? the handball team?boxers? gymnasts? water polo players? archers? sailors and canoeists? amongothers.

The second batch of competitors will leave next Wednesday. Among them is women’s 1?500 meters runner Natalia Rodriguez? who booked her ticket at the lastminute.

Rodriguez qualified for the Olympics with a performance of 4.03?68 in Monaco and will now be added to the athletics squad which was presented to the press in Madrid on Tuesday.

People form long queues outside Bank of China Tower to snap up special-edition HK$20 Olympic banknotes more than a day before their official release in Hong Kong July 15, 2008. [Agencies]

People form long queues to snap up special-edition HK$20 Olympic banknotes more than a day before their official release in Hong Kong July 15, 2008. [Agencies]

A photo taken on July 11, 2008 shows a new HK$20 bank note commemorating the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. [Xinhua]

HONG KONG - Thousands formed long queues outside Bank of China branches across Hong Kong on July 15, 2008, in a feverish bid to snap up special-edition HK$20 Olympic banknotes more than a day before their official release.

 Residents including young children and pensioners flocked to the city’s main Bank of China branch in the financial hub of Central at the crack of dawn, some hunkering down inside tents for a lengthy wait behind metal barricades.

 ”I came with my friends because the Olympic banknotes have commemorative value,” said Ken Yip, a 15-year-old who was playing with a Rubik’s cube inside a blue tent stacked with snacks and comics.

 Four million of the HK$20 ($2.56) Olympic banknotes will be issued, depicting a Greek pillar on the front and Beijing’s Olympic “Bird’s Nest” stadium on the other side. 

China’s central bank also issued six million new 10 yuan ($1.46) notes to mark next month’s Olympic Games. 

Long queues had begun forming early on Monday, more than 48 hours before the banknotes were due to be issued on Wednesday.

 But a severe thunderstorm on Monday night drenched thousands, with Hong Kong’s Cable Television showing footage of crowds cowering under umbrellas.

 The Bank of China was forced to issue banknote purchase vouchers late Monday night to disperse the crowds, given what it said in a statement “the overwhelming response from the public and the continuous unstable weather conditions.”

SHANGHAI, July 24 (Xinhua) — Shanghai police have been put on a “crisis” footing as part of a campaign to ensure public security during Olympic football matches in the city next month.

 ”We have made adequate preparations for the football, and are confident of ensuring safety during the Games,” said Cheng Jiulong, deputy director of the Shanghai Police Department and head of the Shanghai security office for the Olympics.

 Cheng stressed that security personnel must work with a “sense of crisis,” and spare no effort to maintain law and order in the city.

 Shanghai will host 12 Olympic football matches during the Aug. 8 to 24 Beijing Games.

 Shanghai Stadium, the soccer venue, had been closed for security checks since July 20, with police and armed police conducting round-the-clock patrols.

 Fire fighters, engineers, and medical staff would be deployed at the venue to guard against explosive, nuclear and biochemical attacks.

 Random identity checks would also be conducted near the stadium and in heavily-congested commercial areas such as Xujiahui, he said.

 Hu Shunkang, also of the Shanghai Police Department, said surveillance cameras had been installed on 1,500 buses passing the stadium and extra security checkpoints were set up at airports, and subway and rail stations.

 Sales of explosives, and toxic and radioactive materials were suspended from July 20 to Aug. 25, and civilian air traffic over the city would be halted during the football matches, Hu said.

 The police also announced rewards ranging from 10,000 to 500,000 yuan (1,449 to 72,463 U.S. dollars) for information on serious crimes.

 ”With our successful security maintenance experience in the meetings of APEC and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, we are confident of ensuring a safe Olympics in Shanghai,” Cheng said.

 His statement came as the funerals of six police officers killed in a stabbing attack on July 1 were held on Wednesday.

 Fang Fuxin, Zhang Yijie, Ni Jingrong, Li Ke, Zhang Jianping andXu Weiya were allegedly killed by 28-year-old Beijing man Yang Jia at a police branch in the Zhabei district of Shanghai.

 The security guard of the branch and three other policemen were still in hospital being treated for injuries.