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=media type="custom" key="1437893" = = = = + Research = =__Question answers are in bold.__= =  = =  Beijing was celebrating its **award of the 2008 Olympics on July 13, 2001**, winning the games for the world’s most populous country for the first time. The International Olympic  Committee picked China over rival bids from Toronto; Paris; Istanbul, Turkey; and Osaka, Japan. Beijing won on the second round of a secret ballot by receiving 56 votes, three more than a majority. = =   = = Beijing was the front-runner throughout the race, even with criticism about its human rights record. **IOC members clearly believed the Olympics will open China to the world, improve the human rights situation and speed social and economic reforms.** = = = =  “We are totally aware at the IOC there is one issue on the table ... and that is human rights,” IOC director general Francois Carrard said. “Human rights is a very serious issue in the entire world ... It is not up to the IOC to interfere in this issue, but we are taking the bet that seven years from now, we sincerely and dearly hope we will see many changes.”   But many IOC members — as well as some politicians — embraced the position that the Olympics would promote positive change in the country of 1.3 billion people. Henry Kissinger, the former U.S. secretary of state who helped open China to the West in the 1970s and is now a ceremonial member of the IOC, agreed the victory “will have a positive impact.”   IOC officials said China deserves to host the games because it is a rising sports power which has been a force in the Olympics since returning to the games in 1984 after a 32-year absence. = =  = =~ http://asianweek.com/2001_07_20/news5_beijing_olympics.html= = = =The number of criminal cases in the country dropped slightly last year after rising for two consecutive years, pushing up the public's sense of security. **Police handled about 4.64 million criminal cases last year, down 1.5 per cent over the previous year**, according to figures released by the Ministry of Public Security yesterday. It is the first drop since 2002, when 4.33 million criminal cases were recorded, a fall from 4.45 million for the previous year, ministry spokesman Wu Heping told a press conference. There were 4.39 million cases in 2003 and 4.71 million in 2004. Violent crimes including explosions, arson, murder, rape and kidnapping saw **a sharp drop of 14.8 per cent** because of a series of police crackdowns.= = = =~ http://chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/20/content_513862.htm (2006)= = = =More than 40,000 people have been arrested for organising protests at the way lives in China’s capital have been destroyed. Many have been treated brutally by police. And more than 200,000 have had to live on the streets while they seek a new home - in towns and cities miles from their old ones. But Prime Minister Gordon Brown saw no sign of them on his visit to Beijing last month. Before he arrived police swept them from the streets.= = = =~ http://preciousmetal.wordpress.com/2008/02/17/2-million-displaced-by-beijing-olympics-40000-jailed/= = = = Beijing vows to have nine tasks as its priority for preparing for a successful 2008 Olympic Games, according to a senior government official here. Liu Jingmin, vice-mayor of Beijing, said at the Fifth Beijing- Hong Kong Economic Cooperation Symposium, which was opened here Tuesday, that the municipal government of Beijing is working on an action plan highlighting nine working priorities, including environmental protection, traffic, restructuring of energy, communication and networks, the high-tech industry, construction of gymnasiums, the cultural sector, security and safeguards, as well as raising funds. The drafts on the nine issues are almost finished and the framework of the general action plan is expected to come out by the end of the month, said Liu. Sources from the conference revealed that Beijing will build 22 new gymnasiums and 30 museums featuring movies, automobiles and industries in the coming years. = = = =~ http://english.people.com.cn/200110/24/eng20011024_83045.html (2001) =

Hoping to embrace the world with more involvements by the sports feast, China is honoring its commitment with last-minute checks by the Beijing Organizing Committee of the 29th Olympic Games (BOCOG). ** ~ http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/2008-07/29/content_6884998.htm
 * BEIJING - The host city of the 29th Summer Olympic Games is going through every details of its seven-year-long preparation amid 10-day's countdown hastens the venues, staffs and even weather controllers. **
 * **    Sniffer dogs search for explosives at the Beijing Olympic Village, July 27, 2008. A total of 204 trained dogs will be deployed to detect suspicious materials at competition venues, training areas and designated hospitals and hotels in order to ensure safety during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. [Xinhua]     ** ||
 * Despite suffering overseas torch-relay disruptions, deadly earthquake and soaring inflation, China never stops marching steadily toward the nation's century Olympic dream as the President Hu Jintao has ordered to desperately secure the success of the Games.

With a population of 1.3 billion, China doesn’t worry about amassing enough people to get things done. And when Beijing was awarded the 2008 Olympics, the government mobilized a good many of those citizens. Only four years ago, Olympic officials sweated through the runup to the Summer Games as Athens dawdled its way to a just-in-time finish. China already was pouring concrete and pounding nails. Of all the concerns hovering over these Olympics — crackdowns on protesters, smog, censorship, human rights issues — China’s enthusiasm to welcome the world never wavered, ensuring the country will be ready when the red curtain rises tonight. “Everything is as good as you will ever see,’’ said Peter Ueberroth, chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee. “If I was to issue a gold medal, I’d issue the first one to the people of Beijing. “The people you meet in the streets are kind and friendly,” Ueberroth added. “They have planted enough flowers to cover six cities. The volunteers are working at every stop along the way. The only pay they will get will be to make their country proud, and I think they’ll achieve that.” First cranes, now a Bird’s Nest In its rush to be accepted as a modern nation, China devoted unprecedented human and financial resources to these Games. Olympic visitors have flown into a new airport terminal and gaped at the Bird’s Nest national stadium — where the Opening Ceremony will take place — and the Water Cube, two of the world’s most distinctive sports arenas. They were part of a $40 billion building boom in which construction cranes were considered part of China’s urban landscape. But the Olympics do not thrive by capital investment alone. While the sparkling Olympic villages, sleek venues and modern roadways were being constructed, more than a million volunteers were learning English and polishing their manners in order to impress the world. “I don’t even know the city,” said Jun Gao, a U.S. table tennis player who won a silver medal in the 1992 Olympics for her native China. “There are so many places I don’t recognize. It is modern, clean, very good. It’s a big difference.” Unlike Athens — where dusty, unlandscaped areas surrounded the venues because there wasn’t time to plant anything — Beijing has been lovingly groomed by people bursting with national pride. The citizens appear to be obeying the anti-smog rules that allow only half of the city’s 3.3 million vehicles on the road each day, despite the fact that chronically high humidity and opaque air seem to render that a moot point. Minding their manners Already known for the hospitality of its people, China has placed a premium on decorum. Signs posted in buildings and on streets remind people not to spit and to stand in line. Wednesday night, when China’s women’s soccer team upset Sweden, volunteers in the Main Press Center let out a collective shout — only to quickly shush each other so as not to seem impolite. Their friendliness, though, is irrepressible. At one Olympic village, every door is staffed around the clock with smartly dressed young people who open it with a hearty greeting in English. Volunteers insist on leading visitors to destinations, offer to photograph them with Olympic mascots and wipe tables before the seats get cold. “The people have been so nice,” said Lisa Leslie, captain of the U.S. women’s basketball team. “When I arrived at the hotel, they already had a crib for my baby in the room, with a teddy bear in it. They have gone above and beyond.” Expect to see China’s readiness on the playing fields, too. After the 2001 vote that named Beijing the host city, the country embarked on Project 119. Named for the number of medals up for grabs in sports such as swimming, track and field and rowing, the program poured millions of dollars into developing elite athletes that could help China win the gold-medal race. The country will field its largest delegation ever with 639 athletes. China won 32 gold medals in Athens, second only to the United States, and is predicted to stand atop the overall medal count for the first time — and maybe not the last. “These will be perhaps the most competitive Games in history,” Jim Scherr, chief executive of the U.S. Olympic Committee, said. "The majority of pollsters are picking China to win the gold-medal count. They have created a formidable system we will have to contend with for a very, very long time. We know they are here to stay.” Being mindful guests While athletes and officials from around the world laud the people and the city, the uneasy undercurrent of politics continues to flow beneath the high-gloss veneer of these Games. U.S. Olympic officials have been walking a very thin diplomatic line this week as they try not to offend their hosts or upset their own athletes. U.S. cyclists who exited the airport wearing breathing masks issued a hasty apology. USOC executives avoided expressing any opinion on China’s revocation of the travel visa for Olympic gold medalist and pro-Darfur activist Joey Cheek, and Ueberroth even downplayed the smog by noting the poor air quality in Los Angeles when it hosted the 1984 Olympics. “We’re not here as politicians, but sportsmen,” Scherr said. “This is not a political movement. Our job is to put [athletes] on the field of play.” Tonight’s Opening Ceremony will be staged by Zhang Yimou, the internationally acclaimed film director, and will feature 15,000 performers and nearly 30,000 fireworks. The 205 teams — the most ever to participate in an Olympics — will march in uniquely Chinese fashion. The order in which they enter the National Stadium will be determined by the number of strokes in the first Chinese-language character that makes up their names. China, as the host, will enter last with international basketball star Yao Ming hoisting its flag. If the Olympics pay off as the nation hopes, it could be the last time China lags behind. “I think this will change the perception of China throughout the world,” Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, said. “The spotlight put by the Olympic Games on China will help the world understand China better, and maybe for China to understand the world better.” ~ http://www.startribune.com/sports/olympics/26379554.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUnciaec8O7EyUsX
 * China’s people, and the work they have done over the past seven years, shined through the smog Thursday as Beijing prepared for tonight’s Opening Ceremony. Landscapers have blanketed the city in flowers and banners. Workers keep every street, sidewalk, hallway and bus spotless. The 1.7 million volunteers speak English cheerfully and practically step on each other in their rush to open doors and answer questions.**

BEIJING - Beijing's Olympic shutdown begins Sunday, a drastic plan to lift the Chinese capital's gray shroud of pollution just three weeks ahead of the games.

In a highly stage-managed Olympics aimed at showing off the rising power of the 21st century, no challenge is greater than producing crystalline air for 10,500 of the world's greatest athletes.** "Pea-soup air at the opening ceremony would be their worst nightmare," said Victor Cha, director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University. Striking venues and $40 billion spent to improve infrastructure cannot mask Beijing's dirty air. A World Bank study found China is home to 16 of the 20 worst cities for air quality. Three-quarters of the water flowing through urban areas is unsuitable for drinking or fishing. International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge has repeatedly warned that outdoor endurance events lasting more than an hour will be postponed if the air quality is poor. Under the two-month plan, vehicles will be allowed on the roads every other day depending on even-odd registration numbers. In addition, 300,000 heavy polluting vehicles — aging industrial trucks, many of which operate only at night — were banned beginning July 1. Five days after Sunday's traffic ban goes into effect, special Olympic traffic lanes will begin operating until Sept. 25, a plan that has been used in previous games. Beijing is setting aside 165 miles of roadway on which certified Olympic vehicles will be allowed to move from hotels, Olympic venues and Athletes Village. To further ease congestion, employers are being asked to stagger work schedules. Public institutions will open an hour later than normal and two new subway lines scheduled to open Sunday should also bring relief. The plan to clean the gray air seems to match the high-security tone of the games, which will be policed by 100,000 officials. Razor-wire barriers and soldiers standing at attention guard the outskirts of the Olympic Green area and the Chinese have even installed ground-to-air missiles near one Olympic venue to protect it from possible attacks. Security, tight visa rules and inflated hotel prices seem to be keeping foreigners away. Many nightspots near Olympic venue are being closed by security officials, who say the games are under threat from Muslim extremists in China's western Xinjiang region. Beijing organizers are also in a protracted showdown with TV broadcasters, who are seeking free movement and reporting during the games. China's communist government seems to fear being embarrassed during the games by pro- Tibet activists, local dissidents or critics of China 's human rights policies. The gigantic experiment to curb pollution could still go wrong. Veerabhadran Ramanathan, an atmospheric scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, said unpredictable winds could blow pollution into Beijing despite factory shutdowns in the city and five surrounding provinces. Ramanathan is leading a multinational research project in tracking Beijing's pollution before, during and after the Olympics. "Reducing the local emissions is going to reduce the local pollution, but is that sufficient to help the athletes breath cleaner air? This is going to depend on the winds," he said. ~ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080719/ap_on_re_as/china_the_shutdown
 * Half of Beijing 's 3.3 million vehicles will be pulled off the roads and many polluting factories will be shuttered. Chemical plants, power stations and foundries left open have to cut emissions by 30 percent — and dust-spewing construction in the capital will be halted.

Human Rights Watch research has documented how China’s rapid urban development, fueled in Beijing by preparations for the 2008 Olympics, is leading to the eviction of homeowners and tenants in violation of Chinese law and international standards on the right to housing. The construction of facilities for the Olympics in Beijing has directly resulted in the forced eviction of thousands of citizens in and around Beijing, often without due process or compensation to ensure access to new housing. In a December 2007 report, the Center on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) estimated that as many as 1.5 million Beijing residents will be forced from their homes in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games. COHRE reported that more than 1.2 million people have already been uprooted in Beijing as a result of infrastructure projects linked to the summer Games. The Geneva-based organization estimates that 15,000 people are evicted every month in Beijing, often in poor neighborhoods, in a brutal and arbitrary manner with inadequate compensation. The pre-Olympic “clean-up” of Beijing also has forced the closure of dozens of schools for children of migrant laborers, threatening to leave tens of thousands of children without access to education, a violation of the Chinese government’s obligations under international law. In mid-September 2006, Beijing municipal officials suggested expelling up to one million migrant workers before the opening of Games. Beijing as well as other major cities regularly engage in “clean up” operations before international events or important domestic events, rounding up petitioners, protesters, beggars and undocumented migrant workers. Human Rights Watch is calling on the Chinese government to cease forcible evictions, provide due process in eviction cases, fairly compensate those individuals and families who have already been moved, and make a commitment to ending the pre-Olympic “clean-up” of residents including migrant workers and their children**.**

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