Beijing Hotels Rise to Greet 2008 Olympians
China is one of the world’s emerging superpowers and has lately made her presence felt in the international arena as she was chosen to host the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. Held every four years, the Olympics is participated in by about 120 countries, with groups battling it out in several sports, from swimming to diving, from track-and-field to javelin throwing, from basketball to soccer, you name it.
After being selected to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing did not waste time in selecting the site where future participants will stay and where most of the events will be played. Both the city and the national government gathered the best team of engineers, architects and landscape designers to jumpstart this magnanimous project which would definitely pour in big investments to the country. Aside from this, international hospitality industries started to set up their branches of Beijing hotels in anticipation of the visitor surge to be brought by the event.
The government planned to use a site wide enough to put the various stadiums and complexes in one place. By doing such, travel time will be significantly reduced, thereby increasing the players’ productivity. The Olympic Green was the name chosen for the site. In there, thirty-one sporting venues can be seen. It is situated at the north end of the central axis of Beijing.
The Olympic Green is accessible to most of the hotels in Beijing since it is well within the city’s cultural and business districts, where thousands of tourists and businessmen flock to. Many significant sporting venues are located within the green. The biggest of these is the Beijing National Stadium. The building’s design was inspired by Chinese ceramics, which depicted intricacy and beauty rolled into one. Also called the ‘Bird’s Nest,’ it hosted 91,000 spectators during the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as in the football and athletics finals.
Another exceptional edifice is the Beijing National Aquatics Center, famously known as the ‘Water Cube. Based on the structure of soap bubbles, it consisted of air-filled pockets made with translucent plastic which illuminate with different colors at night. This was the venue for synchronized swimming, diving and swimming competitions.
Nicknamed ‘The Fan’ due to its design resembling a traditional Chinese holding fan, The Beijing National Indoor Stadium, hosted Artistic Gymnastics, Tramp lining and Handball events. Another structure within the Green is the Convention Center, a 270,000 square-meter structure which was used for the Modern Pentathlon and Fencing. It also served as the International Broadcast Center where the press covered the entire games.
The Beijing Olympic Village was the temporary home of the athletes. It resembles some of the hotels in Beijing since it is made up of twenty-two six-storey buildings and twenty nine-storey buildings.
During this time, Beijing hotels were at sky-high, having good occupancy rates continuing for months. The city and the country were the stars of the show. Indeed, the 2008 Summer Olympics was a coming-out-party for China and its people. For a nation once dubbed the Sleeping Dragon, she has now finally awakened!
Tags: Olympics