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Beijing able to honor Olympic commitments: city Party chief
Author: Anonymous
Publication info: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS ; Woodside [Woodside]21 July 2008.
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Abstract (Abstract): "As I said in my presentation to the IOC in 2001, the three concepts for the Beijing Olympic
Games are Green Olympics, High-tech Olympics and People's Olympics. Our objective is to spread the Olympic
spirit among people, especially the 400 million young people in China."
"For example, we had Shougang Steel Group relocate most operations to outside Beijing and reduce steel
output at its Beijing plant. Also shut down was the Beijing Coking Factory and a chemical plant of Beijing
Yanshan Petrochemical Group. As a result, more than 64 percent of the days in 2007 was of Grade II or better
air quality."
He added Beijing's afforested land increased significantly. "We have so far fulfilled all the objectives of 'Green
Olympics.'"
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Full text: Beijing able to honor Olympic commitments: city Party chief
BEIJING, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Following seven years of preparation, Beijing is able to honor its Olympic
commitment to the international community, according to the city's Communist Party chief.
Liu Qi, also the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG) president, made the
remark in an interview with the People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party official newspaper.
He attributed the confidence to the strong leadership of the Party and the State Council, the support of Chinese
both at home and abroad, and the aid from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the international
community.
"As I said in my presentation to the IOC in 2001, the three concepts for the Beijing Olympic Games are Green
Olympics, High-tech Olympics and People's Olympics. Our objective is to spread the Olympic spirit among
people, especially the 400 million young people in China."
Liu said the city had put an emphasis on controlling air pollution and promoting landscape greening to fulfil the
Green Olympics concept.
"For example, we had Shougang Steel Group relocate most operations to outside Beijing and reduce steel
output at its Beijing plant. Also shut down was the Beijing Coking Factory and a chemical plant of Beijing
Yanshan Petrochemical Group. As a result, more than 64 percent of the days in 2007 was of Grade II or better
air quality."
He added Beijing's afforested land increased significantly. "We have so far fulfilled all the objectives of 'Green
Olympics.'"
Liu said engineers and technicians had made a lot of innovations in the construction of Olympic venues such as
the National Stadium and the Aquatic Center and that was an manifestation of "High-tech Olympics."
"To carry out the People's Olympics, we were people-oriented in designing and building venues, laying security
facilities and arranging media services. We also advocated civilized behavior among citizens, organized
Olympic-related cultural activities in schools and to absorb volunteers from all walks of life.
"Letting the people share the fruit of the Games has long been one of our objectives. In effort to ease traffic, we
opened new metro lines to extend the total length of track to 200 kilometers from the current 142 kilometers. At
the same time, we kept the prices of public transport low."
Liu also referred to the renovation of more than 600 ancient city alleyways, 400 old residential areas and 100-
plus main streets in Beijing which improved living conditions for citizens, especially those low-income people
who lived in old alleyways, or hutong.
"We will do our utmost to deal with every detail of the preparation work at this critical stage to make sure the
2008 Olympic Games will be a great success."
Publication title: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS; Woodside
Publication year: 2008
Publication date: Jul 21, 2008
Publisher: Xinhua News Agency
Place of publication: Woodside
Country of publication: United States
Publication subject: General Interest Periodicals--China
Source type: Wire Feeds
Language of publication: English
Document type: b-p
ProQuest document ID: 452076720
Document URL: https://search.proquest.com/docview/452076720?accountid=35812
Copyright: Copyright Xinhua News Agency Jul 21, 2008
Last updated: 2010-07-01
Database: ProQuest Central
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Citation style: APA 6th - American Psychological Association, 6th Edition
Beijing able to honor olympic commitments: City party chief. (2008, Jul 21). Xinhua News Agency - CEIS
Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/452076720?accountid=35812
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Document 1 of 1
China Can't Fully Fix Air Quality Problem For Olympics
Author: Staff Writers
1 1
Staff Writers
Publication info: UPI Space Daily ; Washington [Washington]16 July 2008.
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Full text: Narragansett RI (SPX) Jul 16, 2008
The outlook for air quality in Beijing during the Olympics is borderline, and there's little that the Chinese
government can do to improve it. That's the conclusion drawn by a University of Rhode Island atmospheric
chemist who analyzed pollution data collected regularly for the last five years by Chinese scientists.
"There is both a local component and a regional component to the pollutants that cause unhealthy air in Beijing,
and the severity of their effects are driven by weather fronts and winds," said Kenneth Rahn, a retired URI
professor who travels to China several times a year to help scientists at Tsinghua University interpret their data.
"Since it's controlled by the weather, it will be a matter of luck whether the bad air periods correspond with days
of outdoor Olympic events."
Locally generated pollutants in Beijing consist primarily of organic matter from transportation, factories and
cooking, while regional sources of pollution include ammonium sulfates and ammonium nitrates from coalburning power plants, industry and transportation sources, which are easily transported long distances in the
atmosphere, according to Rahn.
"The air pollution pattern in Beijing is unusual, with high and low concentrations that can differ by a factor of 50
to 100," Rahn said.
"When the winds shift to the north and bring in clear air from Mongolia, the air can be relatively clean, though
that's not the norm during the summer. But when winds are from the south, where there is a large population
and lots of industrial activity, the air can be particularly hazardous."
When air quality in Beijing is at its worst, Rahn says, most of the pollutants come from distant sources, making it
virtually impossible for local efforts to lead to the kind of improvements that the government would like.
"It's one thing to take steps to try to clean up a big city, but unless they also clean up the surrounding provinces,
it's going to have a minor effect," said Rahn. "They've tried to relocate some of the polluting industries over time,
and Beijing has gotten a little cleaner each year because of it, but the background pollutants still blow in just the
same."
The government's plan to reduce pollution during the Olympics focuses on cutting automobile use in half while
also temporarily shutting down factories and other large polluters. Rahn said that it is an expensive plan, since
the government must reimburse the factories for their economic losses, and the plan will remain in place
through the conclusion of the Paralympic Games in late September.
A test run of the transportation component of the pollution reduction plan conducted last summer resulted in
undetectable air quality improvements.
"I sympathize with them. They're doing all the right things, but unfortunately the right things may not be good
enough," Rahn said.
"There will surely be some good days and some bad days. But the meteorological uncertainties mean that you
can't predict how bad it will be more than two or three days ahead, and that may not be enough time for them to
reschedule the marathon or the long-distance bike races.
"My advice to them at this point is to keep up the good work and then pray to the Mongolian Weather Gods to
send cold fronts. That's their best hope for clean air."
Publication title: UPI Space Daily; Washington
Publication year: 2008
Publication date: Jul 16, 2008
Dateline: Narragansett RI (SPX) Jul 16, 2008
Publisher: United Press International
Place of publication: Washington
Country of publication: United States
Publication subject: Aeronautics And Space Flight
Source type: Wire Feeds
Language of publication: English
Document type: News
ProQuest document ID: 454564298
Document URL: https://search.proquest.com/docview/454564298?accountid=35812
Copyright: Copyright (c) by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
Last updated: 2011-07-23
Database: ProQuest Central
Bibliography
Citation style: APA 6th - American Psychological Association, 6th Edition
Writers, S. (2008, Jul 16). China can't fully fix air quality problem for olympics. UPI Space Daily Retrieved from
https://search.proquest.com/docview/454564298?accountid=35812
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