2008 Olympic Games.

Qingdao, also known as Tsingdao, is a coast city 550-kilometer southeast of Beijing with an urban population of 2.7 million. Possessing China’s fifth largest port, Qingdao hosts an array of China’s big brands like Hair and Qingdao Beer.      Qingdao was declared Beijing’s partner city to bid for the 2008 Olympic Games in July of 2000, a year before Beijing’s overwhelming victory in Moscow on July 13, 2001.     In 2008, eleven of the Games’ all together 302 golds will be decided from the sailing competitions in Qingdao.     Local government of Qingdao moved a shipyard out from downtown seaside and started the counstruction of the Qingdao International Sailing Centre in April, 2004.

   The Centre covers a total area of 45 hectares (450,000 sq.m.), two thirds of which will be utilised for the competitions.

    The whole project is comprised of the Land Area, and the Harbor and the Off-shore Section. The projects on land will provide the administration and competition management centre, the athletes’ centre, the press centre, the logistic and functional centre, and other affiliated facilities as well.

    The Harbor and Off-Shore parts will focus on the engineering of the major and secondary breakwater, an embankment, a quay featuring the Olympic Memorial Wall, and the renovation of the shore wall.

   The quay, the secondary breakwater, and the embankment will enclose an area of 15.5 hectares (155,000 sq.m.) while the major breakwater, together with the embankment, will occupy 7.5 hectares (75,000 sq.m.).

    Additional overlay and facilities will also be placed for temporary use of the Games. A removable surveying shed and a pontoon, for instance, will be set up separately on the embankment and the western quay to facilitate observations and transportation.

Construction workers labor in front of the National Stadium nicknamed the “Bird’s Nest” under construction for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing, China, in this Jan. 12, 2007 file photo.

The construction of the venues for the 2008 Olympic Games cost less than 13 billion yuan (about 1.8 billion U.S. dollars), Beijing vice mayor Chen Gang said on Monday.

    ”We always encouraged frugality in the build-up to the Games,” Chen told a press briefing.

    The cost of the National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest, was no more than 3.5 billion yuan (486 million dollars), he added. The central and local governments have contributed half of the cost with the remainder coming from other investors and donations.

    With the National Aquatic Center being delivered for use, all venues in Beijing except for the National Stadium have been completed, Chen said.

    Responding to media reports about the death of 10 workers at the construction site of the Bird’s Nest, officials said the number is not accurate.

    ”During the construction of the Bird’s Nest, there were two deaths, one in 2006 and one last year,” said Ding Zhenkuan, deputy-chief of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Work Safety.

    ”We investigated the accidents and properly compensated the families with the guidance of national standards. People who were responsible for the accidents have been punished.

    ”All the accidents have been reported to relative departments,” he added.

    Last week, British newspaper Sunday Times reported that since the construction of the Bird’s Nest started in 2003, at least 10 workers had died.

    According to officials, construction of the 91,000-seat showpiece venue, which will host the opening and closing ceremonies, is going smoothly and is scheduled to be completed in April.

    For the Beijing Games, 31 venues are needed for competitions and 45 for training. Up to now, 22 have been tried in test events.

    ”Through the test events, all the venues have met the requirements of respective international sports federations,” said Xu Bo, director of Beijing 2008 Project Construction Headquarters Office.

Visitors walk past a tourism booth promoting China at Madrid’s 28th International Tourism Fair (Fitur) in Madrid, Spain, on Jan. 30, 2008. The 28th annual FITUR gathering 13,300 enterprises from 170 countries opened here on Wednesday with an expectation of some 200,000 visitors. This five-day fair becomes a great business center, creating the ideal framework to generate trade relations, increase its contacts and present all the novelties.

A girl from Mexico poses with “fuwa” at a tourism booth promoting China at Madrid’s 28th International Tourism Fair (Fitur) in Madrid, Spain, on Jan. 30, 2008. The 28th annual FITUR gathering 13,300 enterprises from 170 countries opened here on Wednesday with an expectation of some 200,000 visitors. This five-day fair becomes a great business center, creating the ideal framework to generate trade relations, increase its contacts and present all the novelties

A volunteer talks to his co-worker, dressed as a Beijing 2008 Olympic Games mascot, during the Good Luck Beijing 2008 Swimming China Open at the National Aquatics Centre, nicknamed the “Water Cube,” in Beijing Jan. 31, 2008. The Olympic venue for swimming, diving and synchronised swimming at the Beijing Games opened with a test event on Thursday allowing the Chinese capital’s residents to ponder the ethereal cuboid structure at close range for the first time. 

Children play with an Olympic mascot outside the National Aquatics Centre during the Good Luck Beijing 2008 Swimming China Open, in Beijing Feb. 1, 2008. 

A volunteer dressed as a Beijing 2008 Olympic Games mascot stands outside the National Aquatics Centre, nicknamed the “Water Cube,” during the Good Luck Beijing 2008 Swimming China Open in Beijing Jan. 31, 2008. 

A South Korean athlete competes in the men’s 200m freestyle heats during the “Good Luck Beijing” Swimming China Open at the National Aquatics Centre, also known as the Water Cube, in Beijing Jan. 31,2008.

Athletes compete in the men’s 200m freestyle heats during the “Good Luck Beijing” Swimming China Open at the National Aquatics Centre, also known as the Water Cube, in Beijing Jan. 31, 2008.