Beijing Readies for 100 Days to Olympic Games

The countdown clock at Tiananmen Square gets a polish. (Getty)(ATR) Beijing is poised to mark the 100-day countdown to the Olympics.

A three-hour gala event in the Tai Miao, at Forbidden City, is the key event marking April29.

The event will include the debut of the Olympic theme spng“Beijing Huan Ying Ni”, which translates to “Beijing Welcomes You”.

Hong Kong-based martial arts film star Jackie Chan is among the lineup of high profile Chinese stars who will perform the song, especially written to mark the 100-day countdown.

Production of the song began in March and took a month and a half to complete.

According to BOCOG cultural activities director, Zhao Dongming, about 100 singers and 200 people from the music industry will attend the event, which is being broadcast live via CCTV and BTV as well as BJ Radio.

He says the program includes an awards ceremony to give recognition to organizations and individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the Beijing 2008 Olympic song search, a competition to find a theme song.

In other events marking 100 days-to-go, thousands took part in a Beijing walkathon on the weekend. In Hong Kong, a sports carnival was held at Tin Shui Wai Sports Ground, in advance celebrations of the milestone.

A Sport for All Marathon and the Samsung Cup 2008 Long Distance Running event, are also taking place in Beijing as part of the celebrations.

Almost a thousand people in 200 teams will enter the marathon, which will start from the Olympic Park and cover a 31.5-kilometer route to ‘Birds Nest’ national stadium.

With reporting from Anthony Stavrinos in Sydney.

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