Beijing is to hold the first Olympic Cultural Festival this month, which will become an annual activity up to 2008.

This was disclosed by Liu Jingmin, vice mayor of Beijing and vice president of the organizing committee of Beijing Olympics, in Beijing on Wednesday.

Liu said the festival features cultural and artistic performances, songs for Olympics and an Olympic forum.

The activities of Olympic songs collection are underway, and a design contest for the mascot of the 2008 Beijing Olympiad will beheld by the organizing committee in the second half of next year, Liu added.

On July 13, together with the Beijing municipal government, the organizing committee held the second anniversary to mark the successful bidding in 2001.

"About one million Beijing residents took active part in a string of activities, which showed their great enthusiasm in hosting the Games," Liu noted.

Beijing is capable of holding any large-scale cultural and sports events, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 11, 2003)