August 8, 2007

The Olympic Games in 2008 will be in Beijing.  They will arrive exactly in 365 days on August 8, 2008.  There might be great Chinese symbolism of opening the Olympic games on the 8th day of the 8th month of the 8th year of the Millenium.  There are clocks around Beijing heralding the arrival of the games.  There is excitement in every shop and little concern among the people of Beijing for the games.  They've had 5 or 6 years to plan for them.  It might just mean more people in the subway and at McDonald's.

Beijing has done a good job developing the feel of the games.  There are plans to cut down on the amount of air pollution through various means.  One of them is supplying the Olympic village with wind power.  They'll set up a wind farm north of the city to handle increased electrical demand. They have emergency translation stations to help with anyone who requires medical assistance already throughout the city.  I don't live too far from the Olympic Stadium and village so I've already seen signs for various Olympic events.

Mascots...
The mascots for the Beijing Olympics are Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan,  Yingying, Nini.   Their names are the  Chinese romanized letters for the translation of "Beijing welcomes you" or "Beijing Huanying Ni."  It is kind of clever.  In China the repetition of sounds is an affection used mostly with young children.  The mascots represent traditional animals and symbols within China.