Chinese Sports Fans Go Online for Olympics
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E-commerce gets a gold medal from Chinese seeking tickets to the Bejing games through a Web lottery.
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China&#39;s online game market is seen  growing 35 percent to hit $1.3 billion this year, according to  Credit Suisse, amid strong growth in Internet users, launches  of high-quality games and appreciation of the yuan currency.
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Athletes who won China its highest-ever Olympics gold medal tally were greeted like heroes when they returned Tuesday, with flag-waving fans cheering wildly at the airport.
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Any day now China will have more web users than the US, but the net has been tamed by Beijing's iron grip
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While Chinese athletics were striving for gold at the Athens Olympics, Chinese companies and international firms are competing for the business chances offered by the Games.
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BEIJING, Jan. 8 -- China's media and Internet users erupted in criticism Tuesday against some small-town officials and police officers who traveled nearly 500 miles to Beijing seeking to arrest a magazine reporter who wrote critically about their local Communist Party leader.
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(InfoWorld) - When Beijing won the right to host theÂ 2008 Summer Olympic Games, officials promised to use it as a showcase for new technology and China's economic development. But the reality is that while the games will display the world's top athletic talent, it will be using old, mature technologies. A lot of new technologies, and even some mature ones, have already beenÂ cut from the roster. Microsoft Windows Vista, for example, won't be the OS used on any of the PCs responsible for vital functions at the Olympics; its predecessor Windows XP will. WLAN (wireless LAN) didn't make the grade either. All networking for the games will be done by wireline. Officials have even prepared a mobile Web site for the Olympics based on WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), instead of GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) or 3G (third generation). The site is designed to provide up-to-the-minute scoring information, and it's already online. "We're only using proven technologies at the games," said Hou Xinyi, deputy director of the technology department at the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, which has taken the acronym, BOCOG. If China's 3G system is up and running by the end of this year, the official Web site for mobile users will be more useful to people, he added. So far,Â China hasn't said when it will start issuing 3G licenses. The nice thing about WAP is its reliability and usability. Most wireless networks can be used with it, including CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), PHS (Personal Handy-phone System), TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access), and most OSes allow people to read information from WAP sites. It's just not as fast as 3G, not by a long shot. But while the technology may be lacking, attendees to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games will be treated to some spectacular design work. Not only are some of the stadiums being built for the games unique -- and unusual for Beijing -- the torch to be used in the round-the-world relay is also easy on the eyes. And it was developed by a PC vendor, China's own Lenovo Group. Lenovo won the design contest for the 2008 Olympic torch. The company's PC designers came up with a 72 centimeter tall, 985 gram aluminum torch in the shape of an ancient Chinese scroll. The torch is two colors, split in half in the same manner as the Yin-Yang symbol, said Y.J. Yao, a vice president at Lenovo and head of the design teams. The upper half of the torch is silver with cloud designs outlined in red, while the lower half is red, covered by a special paint with a rubbery feel, a no-slip safeguard so runners won't drop it if they're sweating during their 400-meter portion of the global torch run. Originally, the company thought about using a dragon design on the top of the torch, but "the dragon is a symbol for the emperor, not for everyone, so we can't accept the dragon," Yao said. The cloud is for everyone, and represents the coming together of heaven and earth, he added. The name of the torch is the Cloud of Promise. The form of the torch -- the scroll design -- denotes paper, a useful item and a Chinese invention, Yao said. The color was chosen via a survey. "We asked, what color is China? Over 99 percent of respondents said red," Yao said. The color represents fire and warmth, friendliness and luck. People who like pictures of the torch might be interested in buying one of the laptop PCs Lenovo designed using the torch colors and styles. The company plans to auction off 2008 of them online and donate the proceeds to charity. EbayÂ is helping with the auction, but it won't be an eBay URL (uniform resource locator), said Yao. "We have a passion for the Olympic Games," Yao said. "You know, when it's happening in your city, you have a passion for this." The other top Olympic-related design work has gone into the new National Stadium, referred to by many as the Bird's Nest due to its unorthodox construction. The opening and closing ceremonies of the Summer Olympic Games will take place in the stadium. The exterior of the 91,000 seat stadium resembles a bird's nest, a steel exoskeleton wrapped around the outside of the site. The design is bold, and striking. It's hard to tell how it's going over with local Beijing residents, though. Many complain that there's nothing Chinese about it and one of the best comments this reporter heard on a recent trip to the city was "I guess it will take some getting used to." Beside the Bird's Nest is the National Aquatics Center, where all swimming and water sports events will take place. Based on the geometry of water bubbles and crystals, the center was nicknamed the Water Cube because of the design of its light blue and white outer membrane. The Cloud of Promise, Bird's Nest and Water Cube are all attempts at innovative design. Unfortunately, the technology used at the games won't be quite so bold. Â
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The eyes of the world are looking towards Beijing for the Olympic Games that will be held here fewer than 11 months from now. But for real China watchers, an event next month will draw much greater attention and have a much greater impact on the country than 16 days of athletics.
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Blog: NBA increase its online presence
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While celebrating unprecedented success at the Athens Olympics, China has its sights firmly set on the Beijing Games in four years when they hope to present the country&#39;s new face to the world.
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Hometown fans of Chinese basketball star Yao Ming will see their hero in action for no more than 28 minutes when the NBA's first ever tip-off in China takes place this week.
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Crowds of well wishers greet the Chinese Olympic team, returning home with a record number of medals.
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The phenomenon of &quot;death by success&quot; -- in which a website is brought down by strong user interest -- is well known online but has taken a new twist in China.
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Yao Ming and his Houston Rockets entertained Chinese basketball fans with two real NBA games this weekend, though they were just two pre-season games against the Sacramento Kings.
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Chinese fans packed out Beijing&#39;s 17,903-seat Capital Stadium for the capital&#39;s first taste of live NBA action Sunday night.
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The crowd chanted Yao Ming's name all game, soaking up the novelty of the NBA in another tribute to a player who is fast becoming a one-man basketball marketing force in China.
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China&#39;s victorious Olympic athletes have arrived in Hong Kong for a celebration of their record-breaking achievements. China picked up 32 gold medals at the Athens games, and came second only to the USA in the overall medals table.