CHINA: Beijng gets ready for the Olympics opening ceremony while people queue to buy special stamps

Record ID: 329503

  • Title: CHINA: Beijng gets ready for the Olympics opening ceremony while people queue to buy special stamps
  • Date: 8th August 2008
  • Summary: (BN03) BEIJING, CHINA (AUGUST 8, 2008) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF "BIRD'S NEST" NATIONAL STADIUM OLYMPIC AND CHINESE FLAGS HAZE AND SMOG BEHIND "BEIJING 2008" SIGN OLYMPIC TOWER IN HAZE WORKERS PREPARING FOR OPENING CEREMONY IN SMOG ATHLETES ARRIVING PEOPLE GATHERING OUTSIDE RESTRICTED AREA STREET PEOPLE TAKING PICTURES NEAR OLYMPIC VENUES (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) ZHANG WENZHU, BEIJING RESIDENT, SAYING: "I feel very happy. This is the pride of China and I'm proud, too." VARIOUS OF LOCAL PEOPLE ON STREET IN FRONT OF NATIONAL STADIUM CAR ENTERING SECURITY CHECK GATE CAR BEING SEARCHED JOURNALISTS PASSING SECURITY CHECK JOURNALISTS FLASHING ID CARDS TIANANMEN ROSTUM AND CHAIRMAN MAO ZEDONG'S PORTRAIT FOUNTAIN IN FRONT OF TIANANMEN ROSTRUM AND CARS ON STREET COUNTDOWN CLOCK AT THE CHINESE NATIONAL MUSEUM COUNTDOWN CLOCK READING 10 HOURS LEFT UNTIL THE OPENING CEREMONY OF BEIJING OLYMPIC GAMES POLICEMAN LOOKING ON GROUP OF PEOPLE IN YELLOW COSTUMES CHEERING FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES POLICEMEN PATROLLING POLICE VAN DRIVING BY
  • Embargoed: 23rd August 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA43KHPXZ55EW22CP1KC6GE1LHH
  • Story Text: Hundreds of people in Beijing queued on Friday (Aug 8) to buy Olympic stamps to mark the day, when the 2008 Games opens.
    The opening ceremony is the culmination of China's seven years of hard work that reshaped the capital. It also sets the seal on a sustained economic boom that has seen the country emerge as a new superpower.
    China issued a special stamp featuring the Beijing Games' main venue the Bird's Nest stadium to mark the opening day, Aug 8.
    Hundreds of people, including international tourists and journalists, are eager to get one as a souvenir.

    "This is a special day, it is eight, eight, 2008, it is not very often to see, so I take this," said Jonann Fauchunsteiner, a German journalist, at a post office inside the Main Press Centre.
    The ceremony starts at 8 p.m. on the eighth day of the eighth month -- the number appropriately symbolising fortune -- before an estimated global audience of one billion.
    Advertising its new economic clout, China has invested $43 billion on the Games. Some $100 million, twice the 2004 Athens bill, has gone on "big bang" opening and closing ceremonies.
    Authorities have closed factories and pulled millions of cars off the road, but smog and haze enveloped the capital on Friday morning -- obscuring views of the futuristic skyline.
    There was also a chance of showers in the evening, despite talk Beijing would use experimental technology to ward off rain.
    Executive vice president and secretary-general of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the 29th Olympic Games, Wang Wei, said they are ready for any urgent weather situation.

    "So I can tell you roughly, we have contingency plans for three kinds of scenarios, so we are ready, whatever happens, the opening ceremony will continue," said Wang in fluent English.
    Sporting action will hit top gear the day after the ceremony.
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