'We Are Ready'

It's interesting to take a look occasionally at how the organizers of the Beijing Olympics are stirring up the emotions for these Games. Already at least three "theme songs" have emerged to promote anticipation for the Aug. 4-24 Olympics. They're candy-pop tunes hard to get out of your head, but it's also interesting to see the video montages Chinese TV and others come up with. Here's a live performance in front of a dripping-with-lights-and-decor Gate of Heavenly Peace of "We Are Ready," a song that's been recorded, re-recorded and covered multiple times, as has "Forever Friends" posted here earlier. Organizers (and composers and choreographers) are really pulling out all the stops.

Surprise -- Hotels Still Available

Good news for travelers who want to go to Beijing during the Olympics in August but who don’t have reservations – there are still plenty of hotel rooms, all the way down to two-star hotels. Five-star hotels still have a 23% vacancy rate, and 56% of four-star hotels remain unbooked, according to Tourism Bureau Director Zhang Huigang (whom some might remember as the Chinese capital’s anti-spitting czar when he headed Beijing’s ethics office). The occupancy rates of two- and three-star hotels are even lower, possibly because of China’s stricter visa policies, as noted in previous posts.

TMI (Too Much Info) In Some Oly Tickets

In an effort to thwart any terrorist attacks or embarrassing public protests, tickets to the Beijing Olympics opening and closing ceremonies will have unrivaled security elements built right into them – including photos of the ticketholders, their passport numbers and contact details, Canadian Press reports.

Such measures at the 91,000-seat National Stadium, nicknamed “The Nest” for obvious reasons (photo), could cause long delays, according to Canpress, and that will not easily be tolerated by many of the VIPs holding tickets to the Aug. 8 opening ceremonies and Aug. 24 closing fête. The top tickets to those events list at $720 … so how are authorities going to keep track of tickets that are assigned at the last minute to important guests, or that are given or resold to others, or scalped for five times the price?

Stopping scalpers is part of the idea of course. But if a national delegation or company or simply a wealthy person impressing friends brings in a group of 10 people, how can everyone be sure they have the right high-tech entry pass? This measure is meant to stop opportunistic resellers, activists from obtaining tickets so they can unfurl pro-Tibet or other banners, and to try and keep genuine terrorist out of the opening and closing festivities. But its actual effect may be to create gads of irate rich people who hate standing in lines.

Olympic Visa Rules Bring Decrease in Visitors

Beijing is getting fewer foreign visitors these days, and it may be because it’s more of a pain to get a visa thanks to Olympic security concerns. The number of foreigners visiting the Chinese capital fell 5.3% to 385,000 in April, compared with a year before, according to government estimates. Earlier in the month authorities imposed tighter visa controls in the lead-up to, and during the Olympic Games in August. Visitors won’t be able to get multiple-entry visas, and in many cases are being required to prove they have hotel accommodations and return air tickets. Some travelers are also told they must return to their home countries to get a visa – no more jetting to Hong Kong and getting a quick permit there to head into China. At least not until after the Games.

Helping China Quake Victims

Victims of the Sichuan earthquake, some who have lost their only children as well as their only homes -- virtually all for which they have to live -- urgently need shelter and support. These organizations are providing needed assistance to families, especially those who have next to nothing left.

AMERICARES
88 Hamilton Avenue
Stamford, Conn. 06902
(800) 486-4357

GIVE2ASIA
China Earthquake Relief
P.O. Box 193223
San Francisco, CA 94119-3223
(415) 743-3336

HALF THE SKY FOUNDATION
Room 2703, 27/F, Shun Feng International Centre
182 Queen’s Road East

SAVE THE CHILDREN
China Earthquake Relief
54 Wilton Road
Westport, Conn. 06880
(800) 728-3843

WORLD VISION
P.O. Box 9716
Federal Way, Wash. 98063-9716
(888) 56-CHILD (562-4453)

Could China Quake Shake Olympics?

China reported a big earthquake of magnitude 7+ today near Chengdu, Sichuan province. Initial reports of hundreds possibly dead is almost certainly vastly below the actual number, which will trickle upward. Rural Chinese construction is shoddy at best, and populated areas near a quake of that magnitude will be flattened. Godspeed to the rescuers attempting to reach those buried and trapped.

At only some 1,000 miles from Beijing, will this affect the Olympics, scheduled to open in less than three months? Unlikely -- Beijing's buildings, especially those built in the last 30 years, have earthquake safeguards designed in. But if a temblor of the size of the 7.8-magnitude quake that hit Tangshan in 1976 comes during the Olympcs, that could bring the Games to a standstill. Tangshan is only about 130 miles east of Beijing, and the Chinese capital was still digging out from the rubble of collapsed homes and rickety buildings. I saw that myself, as the Tangshan earthquake was in July, 1976 and I was in Beijing that September.

If You're in China and Want Olympic Tickets ...

... you're out of luck. At least if you want to buy them retail. The last wave of tickets to Olympic events in Beijing this August was sold out in a rush today, a month ahead of schedule, according to an AFP report. Tens of millions of people went online and lined up at banks like the woman in the AFP photo here for the final 1.38 million tickets for competition in Beijing and equestrian events in Hong Kong. There are, however, some seats available for qualifying soccer matches in Shanghai, Shenyang, Tianjin and Qinhuangdao.

So, what is the scalping scene going to be? With so many more wealthy entrepreneurs and other Chinese in recent years, and Chinese companies such as Lenovo and Haier rising to international prominence, those prices are likely to tower like Yao Ming over their face value. And what could be more prestigious for Chinese than to offer (or receive) tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies, or to diving, gymnastics, table tennis and shooting events, where Chinese competitors traditionally excel?