The Green Olympics

The authorities in Beijing are working hard to ensure that the 2008 Olympics will be seen to be green.

In July and August Beijing suffers from very high temperatures, and is short of flowers. That is not deterring the Beijing Municipal Gardening and Forestation Bureau, who are aiming to transform Beijing into a city "shrouded in green and wreathed with flowers".

The Bureau claim that they have developed ways to enable thousands of flowers, such as chrysanthemums, Chinese roses and other homegrown flowers, to prolong their fluorescence throughout summer.

They are also studying ways of transplanting green trees from forests in the suburbs to the downtown venues for the Olympic Games, including spraying powder to protect their roots and planting them in special containers.

The bureau is also taking to concept of green quite literally, by carrying out a "green roof" project; which involves planting green plants on the top of buildings, less than 12 storeys high, along the main roads of Beijing and beside the Olympic venues.

It is expected that 80,000 to 100,000 square metres of roofs will have plants by the end of this year; by 2008, it will be 300,000 square metres