July 8 (Reuters) - Statistics about Beijing and the 2008 Olympic Games, which start on Aug. 8, 2008: THE GAMES 16 - days from opening to closing ceremony. 302 - sport events 21,600 - accredited journalists 100,000 - official Olympic and Paralympic volunteers 400,000 - city volunteers to provide tourist services, bolster security 1,000,000 - social volunteers at community level 16,000 - athletes and officials in the Olympic Village 91,000 - seats in the "Bird's Nest" National Olympic stadium 31 - venues in Beijing 6 - venues outside Beijing (Hong Kong, Qingdao, Tianjin, Shenyang, Shanghai, Qinhuangdao) 7,000,000 - tickets sold for the Games 5,000 yuan - cost of opening ceremony seat ($661.4) 30 yuan - general admission for softball preliminaries ($3.97) 24.9 Celsius - average temperature in Beijing in August 159.7 mm - average rainfall in Beijing in August 50 percent - forecast chance of rain on Aug. 8, day of opening ceremony 8 - number of thunderstorms forecast for Games period THE CITY 16,330,000 - permanent residents of the city (2007) $6,210 - GDP per capita (2006) 19,978 yuan - urban disposable income per capita ($2,641, 2006) 4,680,000 - Internet users (at end of 2006) 3,903,000 - visitors to Beijing (2006) 2,500,000 - expected visitors to Beijing during Games 120 bn yuan - investment in environmental improvement from 1998 to 2006 ($15.87 billion) 246 - "blue sky days" in 2007* 256 - "blue sky days" targeted for 2008* 123 - "blue sky days" in first six months of 2008* 65,000 - old buses and taxis to be taken off the road before the Games 5,850,000 - tonnes of garbage produced in the city in 2006 77,000 - cars in Beijing, 1978 3,300,000 - forecast number of cars in Beijing by Games 1,060 - extra cars hitting Beijing roads every day 198 km - subway track in Beijing by 2008 10,000,000 - bicycles in Beijing* "Blue sky days" denote satisfactory air quality according to official measures, which some experts have dismissed as unscientific and incomplete compared to other international standards. Sources: Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), Beijing Municipal Government, Xinhua News Agency, CCTV.
China's President Hu Jintao (L) shakes hands with a member of a Japanese earthquake rescue team in Sapporo, on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, July 8, 2008. Hu, who is in ...
