While it has not received extensive media coverage, the below announcement via Xinhua is an important one. Please keep checking AmCham Daily for other relevant Olympics transportation and logistical updates.

Beijing subways will try to run round-the-clock on the opening and closing days of the Olympic Games.

The move was aimed at relieving heavy traffic on the two days, Aug. 8 and Aug. 24, while the operating hours would be extended on other days of the Games, Tuesday’s Beijing Daily quoted an official with the Beijing metro operation company as saying, without giving further details.

The subway is expected to carry the bulk of passengers to the National Stadium, also known as the “bird’s nest”, on the opening day when about 100,000 people are expected to attend the ceremony, he said.

The No. 10 route linking the stadium with the downtown area was expected to have intervals between trains shortened from four minutes to three minutes during the ceremonies, said the official.

Subway stations would have “green channels” for ticket holders, Games staff and volunteers, who will be exempted from paying the 2-yuan fare during the Olympics.

On Wednesday, March 26, Dr. Desai, president of the Asia Society, spoke at a luncheon sponsored by AmCham–China about renewing the role of Chinese culture in today’s world. She stressed that putting more focus on culture is an important part of continuing to develop the economy. It is certainly a challenge for

China, an established player in the global economy, to also maintain the focus on its culture—the biggest aspect in keeping the economy unique amongst its peers.
Bizcult.com sums up some of Dr. Desai’s ideas for steps that companies can take:

Find a way to support the humanities. China focuses plenty of attention of math and science, but not on the liberal arts. If kids grow up respecting culture, they won’t tear it down.

Consider public/private partnerships on preservation endeavors even outside of the big cities.

Work with internationally minded Western institutions that already are doing this kind of non-profit work, like Asia Society.

Visit CRIEnglishfor clips of Dr. Desai’s speech.

According to an article just released by AmCham-China’s news service SinoFile, the first phase of the “wireless city” plan for Beijing will be finished at the end of this month. This project, based on Wi-Fi and WiMAX technology, is for the Olympic Games. Beijing-based CECT-ChinaComm is building the network.  Here’s the original story in Chinese.

Earlier this month the US Chamber of Commerce hosted an event with Congressmen Rick Larsen (D-WA), Mark Kirk (R-IL), and Steve Israel (D-NY) on the “US-China Competitiveness Agenda”, a series of bills they have introduced, along with Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA), aimed at bolstering US competitiveness with China, and expanding resources for bilateral engagement.

The bills would:

• Increase resources for American SMEs exporting to China
• Expand America’s diplomatic infrastructure in China
• Make more funds available for Chinese language teaching in the US
• Create new cooperative energy ties between the US and China.

The US Chamber expressed its strong support for Congressmen Larsen, Kirk, Israel, and Davis’ efforts in a press release, which can be found on the US Chamber’s website along with a webcast of the event.

Do these bills go far enough? What needs to be added or subtracted?

What do AmCham-China’s Chair James Zimmerman and China’s top action star Jet Li have in common?

It might not be instantly apparent, but the two share a love of baseball. Chair Zimmerman poses here with Jet Li, the star of such Chinese movie classics as “The Shaolin Temple”, “Hero” and the soon-to-be released movie “The Forbidden Kingdom,” which also features Jackie Chan. They met at last week’s reception for Major League Baseball.  Jet Li threw out the first baseball at Sunday’s game between the LA Dodgers and the San Diego Padres.

From most reports, the games went well after sports fans finally got into the stadium; the security was quite tight and many people  had to wait in long lines to get into Wukesong stadium. And then there was the issue of running out of refreshments.
Any other incidents?

There are no more free ride for liquids on Chinese domestic planes. According to an article in today’s AmCham’s China Wire:

China will enact more stringent safety measures to secure flight safety ahead of and during the Olympic Games period, the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) said on Thursday (March 13). “Passengers flying domestically are forbidden to carry liquids. Staff members of airports will open more bags and cases for security check,” said the CAAC in a statement.

The folks at the International Center for Veterinary Services are offering informational meetings about the Chinese regulations governing pets.  Their “New Pet Owner Orientation” sessions in April are FREE and open to all members of  the community.

Come learn about:
·     Legal shelters in Beijing where you can adopt pets

·     Latest dog registration regulations

·     Registering dogs in Beijing

·     FREE rabies vaccinations for legally registered dogs

·     Protecting pets from heartworm, fleas and ticks

·     Safe and legally registered pet foods in China

·     Boarding and kenneling pets when traveling

·     How to take your pet out of China

Dates for April  “New Pet Owners Orientation” sessions:

- Thursday, April 10th and 24th, 2008 - 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM
- Saturday, April 12th and 26th, 2008 - 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Contact the center at Tel: 8610-8456-1939/1940/1941
for more information.

US Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) is headed to Beijing next week. She’ll be in town meeting with her Chinese counterparts to  strategize ways the two countries might work together toward reducing CO2 emissions while creating business opportunities in the process (Read about her initative in the Seattle Times).

While she’s in town, Senator Cantwell will be the keynote speaker at AmCham’s March 17th symposium on clean energy, which is open to chamber members and non-members alike.  The half-day symposium will bring together China and US experts to examine the issues surrounding energy consumption and will address ways to eliminate these barriers to improve efficiency reduce carbon emissions. 

In the first session panelists will consider whether or not China and the US are actually rivals in the battle over energy resources.  During the second session energy experts will put forth recommendations about how, given the potential for competition, the two nations can translate their good intention to clean up the environment into concrete action.

Presentations will be in both Chinese and English. Simultaneous translation will be available.

After re-evaluating China’s one-child policy, Zhang Weiqing, minister of the State Population and Family Planning Commission, has decided to uphold the regulation for at least another 10 years, until the population’s next birth peak. In an article on People’s Daily Online, Mr. Zhang addresses the rumors of the government eliminating this policy. He is quoted as saying:

Given such a large population base, there would be major fluctuations in population growth if we abandoned the one-child rule now. It would cause serious problems and add extra pressure on social and economic development.

Zhang Weiqing also addresses the growing concerns that the one-child policy has created a population imbalance in both gender and age (with more males than females), and a society aging rapidly. Rather than only focusing on removing the one-child rule, he believes in a better understanding of the family planning policy as a whole:

Zhang stressed that the emerging problems should not be blamed solely on the one-child rule and ‘it will be simplistic’ to try to find a solution with a one-cut approach. He said that the immediate scrapping of the one-child rule at this time would cause more problems than it would solve.

Despite all the changes going on in China in anticipation of this year’s Olympics, they are really sticking to their guns on this issue. It is official: any radical changes regarding the child-limit will just have to wait.

College kids in Beijing can thank (or blame) the Games for a shortened semester. According to an article in the People’s Daily, Beijing municipal education authorities have required all colleges in the capital city to let their students out a month earlier than usual.