>WITH less than one month to go before the Olympic Games, China is busy putting the finishing touches to its cities, event venues and tourist attractions.
At the 680ha Beijing Olympic Forest Park, more than 80 sculptures picked from all over the world, are adding to the buzz in the city as China counts down to the sporting extravaganza, which runs from 8 to 24 Aug.
The sculptures portray different dimensions of the Olympic motto "Faster, Higher, Stronger" and Beijing Olympics' concepts of "Green Olympics, High-tech Olympics and People's Olympics".
Built along the north-south axis of Beijing, the Olympic Forest Park is the largest city park in the country and is
designed to accommodate tennis, archery and hockey events.
It serves as a "backyard garden" for domestic and international athletes and coaches during the Games. But it is only open to group tours, not to individuals yet. After the Olympics, the park will be renovated and will start receiving visitors next May.
Elsewhere, thousands of workers are busy planting, repotting and watering floral displays in public places.
So impressed was the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with the preparations, it praised Beijing on Tuesday for setting a "gold standard for the future".
'READY'
While conceding that concerns remained about air pollution and broadcasting issues, chief IOC inspector Hein Verbruggen said Beijing "looked ready".
China has reportedly spent US$40 billion ($54.5b) to upgrade the capital's infrastructure.
Most of Beijing's 16 million citizens are ready to pitch in to show off their country to the rest of the world, albeit with some hassles.
Said graduate student Jiang Yueming, 28: "Bags must be checked when you take a subway, batteries cannot be sent by express mail.
"We are excited and extremely happy for the holding of Olympic Games, but it dwindles day by day."
This article was first published in The New Paper on July 10, 2008.
