The China Daily had a great article about the 30 reasons why you should be excited about the Olympics. Enjoy! Here is 11-20.
11. Torch relay the
longest, highest
The Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay was scheduled to travel
the longest distance and include the largest number of people over 130 days.
It reached the highest peak of Mount
Qomolangma on May 8.
Following the Sichuan
earthquake, the torch relay route was curtailed in each city and special
mourning sessions were added.
The leg in earthquake-hit Sichuan
province has been rescheduled to August, just before the Games begins.
12. English, English
A 170-page Chinese Menu in English Version is seen as
exemplary of one success of the English-speaking campaign throughout the city.
Pop stars teaching audiences correct English pronunciation and cab drivers
toting language books all are part of Beijing's
multilingual pre-Olympic effort.
"It's not just about the language, it's about how open
and confident we are," said Li Yang, founder of Crazy English.
13. Babies named
after Olympics
A total of 4,104 Chinese have been named Aoyun (Chinese for
"the Olympics") in homage to the Beijing Olympic Games, according to
the figures released by the National
Citizen Identity Information Center
under the Ministry of Public Security in June.
Nearly 700 of the names were registered in 1992, when Beijing first applied to host the Games and
another 553 were registered in 2001, when the city officially won the bid.
About 92 percent of those named Aoyun are male.
14. Weddings during
the year and on opening day
Aug 8, 2008, or 08-08-08, is more than just a date: it marks
both the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games and is considered a lucky day for
marriage with so many eights. It is estimated that 15,000 couples will marry in
Beijing on the
day and 130,000-140,000 this year.
15. Highest number of
cultural festivals
Games organizers have held an annual Olympic cultural
festival since 2003, with the sixth beginning two weeks ago and running for the
next three months.
China's
ancient culture and civilization are now being showcased to promote the Olympic
spirit and publicize a green, hi-tech and people's Olympics.
16. Massive Olympic
education campaign
Educating young people through sports is one of the primary
goals of the Olympic Movement.
About 400 million young people in more than 500,000 schools
across the country have received Olympic lessons ahead of the Beijing Games.
More than 500 model schools have been named and a series of Olympic readers
compiled and presented to students.
17. Highest number of
doping tests
The anti-doping effort at the Beijing Games will be more
extensive than ever, with as many as 4,500 doping tests, 25 percent more than
in Athens four years ago and 90 percent more
than in Sydney
in 2000.
Tests will be carried out from July 27 at 41 test stations at the Olympic
Village and all Olympic match venues.
18. Highest spending
The cost of the Beijing Games will dwarf the previous
Olympics in Greece
with total investment likely to reach $43 billion.
Venues, estimated to have cost about $1.8 billion to build, will be utilized as
public sport and entertainment complexes afterwards.
Beijing
also spent $16 billion in the past decade reducing smog, while additional
infrastructure, such as the world's largest airport terminal, T3, an advanced
railway station and new subway systems required vast expenditure.
19. Largest transport
expansion
Beijing's
first subway linking Fuxingmen and Beijing Railway Station was initially built
for military use, but today, 1.5 million passengers ride the 2-yuan subway each
day.
The existing subway network spans 155 km and has 93
stations. Three new lines will open shortly before the Games, to transport
visitors to and from the new airport terminal and between the Bird's Nest and
downtown, and construction of more lines will continue following them.
At least six others are already under construction, with an aim to stretch the
network to more than 561 km and 420 stations.
20. Highest number of
mascots - five
Multiple Olympic mascots are not uncommon, but for the first
time more than three figures will share Summer Olympic mascot duty when the
five Fuwa take center stage.
Featuring four of China's most popular animals - the fish,
the panda, the Tibetan antelope and the swallow - and the Olympic flame, the
mascots' names are "Beibei," "Jingjing,"
"Huanhuan," "Yingying" and "Nini," which together
reads in Chinese as "Beijing welcomes you".