In the evening of 8 August the American Chamber organized a party for the Olympic countdown in the Crowne Plaza Park View Wuzhou Beijing.

The large crowd was able to follow the countdown on a big screen. There was a raffle to give away Olympic souvenirs as well as promotional stays in Las Vegas. As usual, Gilbert was out of luck… but anyway was the only participant in a genuine 2008 Olympic shirt anyway!
Worse, I walked away with some of the Olympic posters and … forgot them in the taxi 🙁
I guess I had too much of the Pinot Noir distributed by ASC…

(edited 9 August)
Beijing is preparing for 2008. The rumor mill and the stories of the people who have received “notices” provide some interesting gossip.
When the US athletic delegation was in town a few weeks ago they were assured of a “clean Olympics”. Indeed, “All factories will be closed for 3 months”. I am not really sure if the journalist (Stephen Wade – ASSOCIATED PRESS) got that right:
“They’ve have told us the factories will be closed for three months in 2008 and that they will have a directive to encourage residents to stay off the roads with their cars”.
A lawyer with office in Jianwei SOHO apparently received a notice they will not be allowed to operate during 3 weeks at least. So, holidays for the staff. Just wondering if that will apply to all offices.
The entertainment sector? Curious what will remain open to the public in the now famous “Gongti Strip”. Also, some venues such as bars and restaurants might be taken over for big bucks by companies who will set up their hospitality center.
So, hopefully one will be able to have a good time after watching the Games, like in Sydney where visitors were very happy and had a good time.
Well, let’s hope the city will not be too much sanitized.

(edited 9 August)
Dongcheng District has informed the owners of the buildings on Gongti Bei Lu, in front of the Workers Indoor Gymnasium (where boxing events will take place) that all their façades will be changed and standardized. All in grey (the official color of Beijing), new windows, new doors, publicity panels changed etc.
The street has a wide range of restaurants.

The president of the IOC, Dr. Jacques Rogge as well as his son (leader of the Belgian Olympic Team), are all well known customers of the famous restaurant Morel’s might have a problem trying to locate their favorite café.

I was invited by Lenovo to be part of the arrival ceremony of the Olympic Torch that will remain in Hangzhou for two days so everybody can come to see it and make a picture with it. For normal citizens the torch is encased in a plastic enclosure.
Lenovo is the only Chinese sponsor for the Torch Relay. More important, it is Lenovo’s Innovation Design Center, with its dozens of creative designers who were awarded the winning design for the 2008 Torch. Details on the torch are on BOCOG’s website. What you will have some difficulty to figure out – who did the design.
I had the pleasure being with the main designer of the torch, Mr. Zhang Jun, a young and friendly guy who turned out to speak English fluently and to be modest despite his success.
As for me, it was a fun experience despite the heath (close to 40C at least). Lenovo had provided buckets of ice and a spray of cold water for the tent but still…
I never was such in demand to give out my autograph, on scraps of paper, diaries, anything. Even on T-shirts, usually of girls and ladies, so I had to be careful not to be accused of sexual harassment and I chose to sign the back rather than the front 😉
The young crowd was super enthusiastic and I had to be dragged away by the Lenovo staff as the autographs did not stop. People were genuinely nice, I really did not object myself…
Of course I had to make the usual speech, give interviews and cut a ribbon together with some VIPs.
The obvious darling of the crowd was Zhang Jun who patiently dealt with the army of journalists and interested Hangzhou citizens.

Simple design but sleek and very Chinese with its “Cloud of Promise” and other features.Lenovo is making a grand tour of 100 cities in China to show the Torch to Chinese citizens who are far away from Beijing.Lenovo is indeed taking its role as major sponsor of the Olympics very serious. They are a TOP, worldwide Sponsor after being also active in the Torino Winter Olympics. Their many marketing events underline the fact that becoming a sponsor is just the beginning of a long and costly campaign. Thumbs up.