Well, according to Beijing Vice-Mayor Chen Gang, the total cost of the venues will be about 13 billion RMB (1.22 billion Euros). Of this 3.5 billion RMB will have been spent on the Bird’s Nest. In contrast, the London 2012 Olympics have been set a target of 9.3 billion Pounds (12.52 billion [...]
Archive for January, 2008
How much do Olympics cost these days?
Posted in Beijing, Preparation, tagged Beijing Olympics, bird's nest, construction, cost of olympics on 29 January 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Water cube is unveiled
Posted in Architecture, Beijing, Legacy, Preparation, tagged Beijing, national aquatic center, olympics, water cube on 28 January 2008 | 6 Comments »
The Water Cube, less commonly known as the National Aquatic Centre, was officially unveiled today in Beijing. The building will undergo its first test by hosting the China Open swimming championships from Jan 31 to Feb 5.
Things you might like to know:
The building boasts an LED system with 16.7 million color tones
It has cost the [...]
Heading off-road in search of blue skies
Posted in Air pollution, Beijing, Environment, Preparation, tagged Air pollution, beijing air pollution, Beijing Olympics, beijing traffic, car ban, Environment on 24 January 2008 | 1 Comment »
News reports this week about the Olympics have been dominated by the publication of the plan to keep half of Beijing’s cars off the road for the duration of the Games this summer. The objectives being to reduce congestion and improve air quality.
The NYT has picked up on this with an interesting interview with ‘the [...]
Deng Yaping – the pressures Chinese Olympic athletes face, from one who knows
Posted in Athletes, The Games, tagged Beijing Olympics, Deng Yaping, Liu Xiang, Nottingham University, Table Tennis on 23 January 2008 | 4 Comments »
Deng Yaping is not a household name outside China. (In fact if you Google her name the intuitive search engine asks if you mean Deng Xiaoping.) But Yaping is one of China’s greatest Olympians having won four gold medals, despite her diminutive height. In contrast her public stature could not be much larger, illustrated by [...]
Ceremony rehearsal plans announced
Posted in Environment, Preparation, The Games, Tickets, tagged artificial mitigation of rains, Beijing Olympics, opening ceremony, steven spielberg, zhang yimou on 10 January 2008 | 1 Comment »
Where will you be on 10th July? If you are in Beijing and you call by the National Olympic Stadium you may catch the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games. Only the rehearsal mind, the dates of which have been announced today.
The announcements do not reveal whether creative director Zhang Yimou or collaborator Steven [...]
Beijing’s environmental steps forward (and back)
Posted in Air pollution, Beijing, Environment, tagged Air pollution, air quality, Beijing Olympics, Environment, green games, plastic bags, pollution on 9 January 2008 | 3 Comments »
Two articles appeared today that in their conflicting messages seem to epitomise the environmental situation in Beijing leading up the the ‘Green Games‘.
‘Beijing Residents in Environmental Protection‘ reads the headline of an article containing the results of a survey overseen by the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA). “The results showed that Beijing had the most [...]
Nest of dissatisfaction
Posted in Architecture, Legacy, Preparation, Public expectation on 9 January 2008 | 5 Comments »
Ai Weiwei is one of the most prominent artists and architectural designers in China, and colaborated with Swiss firm Herzog de Meuron on design of the structural icon of the 2008 Olympics, the Birds Nest, the Beijing National Stadium.
Given this connection with the Games, it may be a little surprising to head him speaking openly [...]
Anxiety about the Olympic Games
Posted in Media, Public expectation, The Games on 7 January 2008 | 3 Comments »
As with any Olympic year, the greeting the New Year in 2008 will set a lot of butterflies flapping in a lot of people’s stomachs. The athletes for example (particularly those of the host nation), and of course the organisers. However, the Beijing Olympics will not be like most Olympics (for both reasons within, and [...]
What’s the Olympic plot for the Chinese film industry?
Posted in Media on 6 January 2008 | 1 Comment »
Clearly the Olympics are having knock-on impacts across many areas of society (that’s partly what makes them so interesting!). In a thorough article Liz Shackleton and Sen-lun Yu at Screen Daily look at the impacts the Games are likely to have on both domestic and international film industries.
“Within the film industry, there is more [...]
The People’s Olympic wish list
Posted in Public expectation, The Games, tagged Beijing Olympics, Gold medal, Liu Xiang on 4 January 2008 | 5 Comments »
China Daily has published the results of a survey asking people what they most wished for from the Olympics (as picked up by China Digital Times). Top of the pile was to be there to see Liu Xiang retain his gold medal in the 110m hurdles final. It seems Mr Liu may have more pressure [...]
