Ceremony at Great Wall to mark Olympic countdown
Beijing
1. Wide of Tiananmen Square
2. People looking at square from behind fence
3. Mid shot of soldier manning fence
4. Police car drives by fence
5. Wide of stages set up for performances
6. Chinese flag held by soldier
7. Wide shot of tree planting ceremony beginning with officials in front of big rock
8. International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge digging
9. Rogge touching pine tree needles
10. IOC card attached to tree
11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Jacques Rogge, International Olympic Committee President:
The implementation of activities such as tree planting days, water treatment, creation of green areas, an initiative to raise air quality and reduce pollution, are very important.
12. Close up of a shovel, tilt up to Afghan official digging
13. Afghan card a on tree
14. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sayed Mahmood Zia Dashti, Vice-President Afghanistan National Olympic Committee:
Really, China is a very green country, especially Beijing. Also about planting here. The National Olympic Committee of Afghanistan also one tree. I hope all of China will be green, all the years.
15. Pan across trees
New Beijing airport
16. Plane landing, pull out to entrance to new airport terminal
17. Shot through window of new terminal, planes on tarmac
18. Pan across terminal
19. Suitcases inside terminal for a test run
20. Rows of suitcases in front of the check-in counters
21. Inside of entrance to terminal
Juyongguan, 50 Kilometres northwest of Beijing
22. Pan down musicians on Great Wall
23. Girls playing zithers (musical instrument)
24. Close up of girl playing the zither
25. Wide shot of musicians on Great Wall
26. Tilt down from Red flags down to musicians
27. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Sun Zixia, zither player:
China has a history of 5000 years and the traditional zither is also part of Chinese history. I think the traditional music will add colour to the Olympics.
28. Wide shot showing musicians on the great wall
29. Wide shot of woman playing zither
30. Mid shot playing zither
31. Twins playing zithers
32. Close of one of twin girls
33. Another set of twins playing with wall rising up in background
STORYLINE:
Beijing began celebrating the official countdown to its hosting of the 2008 Olympics on Wednesday with festivities across the city.
Sprawling Tiananmen Square will be the centre of the celebrations marking a year before the games begin.
Security was tight around the Square, as preparations got underway for the gala event.
Eight is a lucky number in China, so the magic moment was to come at 8:08 p.m., and 8 seconds, marking one year until next year's opening ceremony on August 8, 2008.
Everything seems on schedule for Beijing to host the most awaited and expensive Olympics in history.
International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge will hand out invitations to the various Olympic delegations during the programme.
Rogge started his day on Wednesday, with a tree planting ceremony.
The past few days have seen attention focused on Beijing's choking pollution.
Despite (b) billions spent to move refineries and steel mills out of town, Beijing has been blanketed for weeks by choking industrial smog, limiting visibility to a few hundred yards.
The implementation of activities such as tree planting day, water treatment, creation of green areas, an initiative to raise air quality and reduce pollution, are very important, Rogge said.
Beijing's filthy air and clogged traffic have worried Beijing organisers and the IOC.
Beijing officials have spent (b) billions of dollars closing factories and moving others out of town, but nonstop construction and booming car sales have made air quality even worse.
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