Beijing has raised the curtain for a series of activities in April to mark the 100th-day countdown to the moment when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will name the host for the 2008 Olympic Games in Moscow.

On April 4, exactly 100 days ahead of IOC's July 13 vote, there will be a painting and calligraphy exhibition by which millions of children in Beijing will show their expectations of the Olympics.

On the same day, a 1,000-meter scroll of painting and calligraphy will be displayed in the Great Wall, one of the icons of China, and the renowned singers of the Peking Opera, one of the traditional Chinese arts, will endorse the Olympic bid with autographs on opera masks for the public.

It will also be the Women's Physical Fitness Day when participants will play shadow boxing martial arts and other China's traditional ways of body exercises.

Around the countdown day in the month, Beijing will launch a nationwide effort to disseminate the Olympic ideals in an exhibition called "The Olympics Around China".

"We have published many pamphlets or books dedicated to promoting awareness of the Olympic movements. On January 1st we also held activities to mark the 138th anniversary of the birth of Mr. Pierre de Coubertin. Now we want to further the education of the Olympic movement across the country," said Jiang Xiaoyu, spokesman of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Bidding Committee.

Children have played a major part in the series of Olympic bid-related activities including the 1000-meter painting scroll by the millions of children, "Hello Olympics"-titled English competition and a painting presentation ceremony involving 500 kindergarten kids.

Also on the agenda of the month are a China/South Korea Singing Concert, presentation ceremony of "Chinese Porcelain" and dual engine airplane donation presentation ceremony.

Beijing, along with Paris, Osaka, Toronto and Istanbul, has been short listed as the official candidates for the 2008 Olympiad.

(People's Daily 04/02)