One year before the real thing, 10 families will experience first-hand how Beijing and Qingdao are gearing up for the Olympic Games.
Under the campaign 'Olympic Families Tour Beijing', internet and mainland mobile-phone users will vote for the ten families - five from China, including Hong Kong, and five from around the world. Registration for the contest began yesterday, the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games said.
Families have to tackle quizzes and games on the Beijing 2008 website, and impress voters with slogans, photos and stories about their involvement in sport and how they live the Olympic spirit. The final 100 families, half of whom will be from China and half from overseas, will have to maintain a blog during June, tailored to themes Bocog requests. A chart on the website will track votes for the most popular families.
As the one-year clock starts ticking on August 8, the ten successful families will gather in Beijing, tour the capital, sail in Qingdao and watch the 'Good Luck Beijing Games', a series of events featuring international and domestic competitors and designed to test the Olympics facilities and city management.
Janusz Tatera, a counsellor at the Polish embassy in Beijing, and his wife, Bozena, and daughter, Beata, were among the first to register on the newly launched website. 'This is interesting and meaningful,' he said.
