China officially unveiled its National Aquatics Centre, nicknamed the Water Cube, on Jan 28.

The National Aquatics Centre (Images from early January, courtesy of Xinhuanet)

The Water Cube is one of two iconic venues for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games; the other is the Bird Nest, which is the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the track and field events.

The Aquatics Centre has a capacity of 17,000 and will host the swimming, diving and synchronized swimming events during the Olympics.

A man in Lanzhou, China, has planted some football shaped calabashes to pay his tribute to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Football shaped calabash (Image courtesy of Lanzhou Daily) vs a normal calabash

Known as Mr Cha, the Lanzhou citizen wants to present the special shaped calabashes to the organising committee of the Beijing Olympic as a show of appreciation.

Cha took six years of experiments to find a method to grow these calabashes, and has obtained six national patents for his research.

The method of growing these calabashes is simple though… by putting young calabashes into moulds. The difficult part is the extra care needed to prevent the fruits from dying off while inside the mould.

The clothing designs of volunteers, staff and technical officials for the Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympic Games were unveiled on Jan 20 by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games (BOCOG), as part of China’s celebration of the 200-day countdown to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. [Beijing2008]

BOCOG unveils uniforms for Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympic Games 2008

Uniforms for BOCOG staff are red while those for volunteers are blue and those for technical officials are grey. The uniforms feature “lucky clouds” – the same pattern used in the design of the Olympic torch… a delicate blend of Olympic concepts with Chinese characteristics.

Looks pretty cool to me.

These girls, mostly 16-18 of age, are among thousands of candidates vowing for the 380 places as Olympic hostesses responsible for carrying the medals during the prize-giving ceremonies at this summer’s Beijing Olympics.

Training like flight attendance, probably tougher though

“You need to be like a super woman…”

Smile smile… it is said that the best smile is by showing eight teeth
(All images courtesy of Xinhuanet)

Besides the stewardess-like-training, the girls have to meet the specific requirements of height, weight and body proportions to begin with. They also need to learn about Olympic history, foreign languages and other mannerisms etc.

Thousands of people had took part in a tug-of-war in Changsha of central China’s Hunan province on Sunday (Jan 7), which was staged in conjunction with the arrival of 2008 Beijing Olympic torchbearers.

Thousands of people in tug-of-war (Image courtesy of Xiaoxiang Morning Post)

2008 of the participants were drafted from Hunan University to symbolise the Beijing Olympic in summer 2008; a few thousands of other participants also took part in the competition. Chinese Olympic champions and local celebrities had attended to event to show their support as well.

A cable-like-rope more than a kilometre in length and 3 tonnes in weight was specially made by a steamship maker for this event.

Tug-of-war was one of the programs in Summer Olympic; it was almost a century ago since it was last held though (1900-1920).

These pictures have been circulated online for a while… on how Beijing Olympic got its logo…

The ‘dark side’ of Beijing Olympic logo…

Beijing Olympic emblem

Set the humour aside, the Beijing Olympic 2008 logo (or emblem) has some deeper meanings…

“Chinese Seal, Dancing Beijing” is the name of this logo; it symbolises Beijing’s hospitality and hopes for the event, and carries the city’s commitment to the world.

As titled, the image is mimicking a dancer, and it’s drawn like a sculpture on a traditional Chinese seal. The red colour is used as it’s seen as luck and happiness among the Chinese.

[Details on Beijing Olympic official website]

The next Summer Olympic will held in Beijing, China next year (2008). Mr Meng has plan to travel a few places with his modified bicycle to spread the Olympic love.

Bicycle with the emblem of Olympic Games (Image courtesy of Xinhuanet)

The 100-episodes animation series is titled “The Fuwa Olympic Cruise” (or “Olympic Adventures of Fuwa”; 福娃奥运漫游记) and features Fuwa, the 5 mascots of Beijing Olympic 2008. The series introduces the history and trivia of Olympic, as well as Chinese cultures and the preparation for Beijing Olympic.

The Beijing Olympic will be held from August 8-24 in 2008.

Footage from the cartoon featuring Beijing Olympic mascot, Fuwa

The 5 Fuwa (More details on Beijing Olympic official website)

Beijing Olympic 2008 countdown at Beijing’s Tian’anmen Square

Hundred of singers performing the countdown theme song, “We are Ready”

Hong Kong star Andy Lau was one of the performers in Beijing
(All images courtesy of Xinhuanet)

The Summer Olympic will be held from August 8-24 in 2008 in Beijing, the capital city of China.