Beijing No. 101 Middle School has been ready to welcome 481 teenagers from all over the world with gardenesque scene, rich and colorful programs as well as personal services at the biggest ever Olympic Youth Camp (OYC) which is to open in Beijing on Wednesday.
"We have all been ready to welcome the youth guests from all over the world and host the camp with the best 'Name Card' of Beijing -- our smiles," said Liu Jingwei, who represented all the volunteers working for the quadrennial OYC to make a speech at the pre-camp on Thursday.
The Beijing 2008 Olympic Youth Camp, slated for August 6 to 17 with the theme "Youth Creates the Future", is an integral part of the Olympic Games and is of great significance in carrying forward the Olympic Movement.
A total of 481 campers aged between 16-18, including 407 recommended by all 205 IOC member associations from around the globe and 74 teenagers throughout the People's Republic of China, are expected to participate.
The camp, hosted by the Beijing No. 101 Middle School, a famous and one of the best in Beijing composed of both junior and high schools with a campus of natural beauty being once part of the Park of Yuanmingyuan Ruins, will thus be the most largest participation of all IOC member associations in OYC history, according to most updated registration.
Also it has invited 10 disabled boys and girls, all Chinese, to be part of the camp for the first time of the OYC history since it initiated in the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games.
"And the Beijing OYC will emphases the innovative spirit of youth, as its theme stresses the contribution that the innovative spirit of youth makes to the world," said Wang Yue, director of the Venue Department of the OYC who summerized three areas that make the Beijing camp unique from the previous ones.
The OYC, an educational and cultural exchange program under the Olympic banner, aims at fostering exchange and friendship between young people of various countries and educating them to understand and carry forward the Olympic spirit. It has been supported by all Olympic Games since the 1960s.
"To best serve the camp members, we've prepared a thorough and circumspect plan, taking it into consideration of personal habits, various religions as well as culture backgrounds," said Wang Tao, an operative team official and vice president of the Beijing No. 101 Middle School, which was designated as the camp venue by IOC in July 2007.
The No. 101 school, with a well-found campus, has further established a whole set of living facilities, such as post office, bank, laundry and medical station, which will operate round-the-clock during the camp with ambulance, doctors and nurses offering 24-hour service.
Camp members will have the opportunities to attend the 2008 Games' Opening Ceremonies, sports events, as 20 torch bearers from the OYC will be joining the torch relay activities in Hebei, Henan, Tianjin and Beijing.
Aside from sightseeing activities and visits, the campers will also have an opportunity to participate in workshops on traditional Chinese culture, including martial arts, calligraphy, folkarts and crafts and Chinese children's games.
The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games will accentuate the ideas of science and technology, offering a once in a lifetime experience through colorful activities among campers to actively encourage teenagers' innovative spirit.
First camper will arrive in Beijing Friday morning with all the Chinese boys and girls to sum up on the same day, while the foreign members to check in on Monday and Tuesday, right before the opening ceremony of the OYC in China.
(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2008)