Song for the Herd

Gary's random little facts about China:

Will there be enough hotels?
As the Chinese Government prepares Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games, here are some related facts:
More than 200 new hotels are being built in Beijing.
Almost 100 miles of new subway and local transit rail lines are being laid.
Hundreds of miles of new and improved highways are being built.
Almost 100,000 billboard signs have been put up to encourage Chinese people to be friendly to foreigners (and to stop spitting in public).
Beijing taxi drivers have been ordered to learn basic landmark and navigational English.

The greater effect:
From the construction associated with the 2008 Olympics, The Three-Gorges Dam project, and other construction in China, there is a worldwide shortage of concrete and steel.
Because of the Para-Olympics, all new subway lines in Beijing are incorporating elevators making Beijing more accessible to disabled people than ever before.
Beijing's skies are usually gray by nature. In years past, on the days when the clouds clear, the sky was brown with pollution.
But in preparations for the Olympics along with a new public enthusiasm for environmental issues, gross-polluting vehicles have been banned by the Chinese Government.
So for the last few years, when the clouds clear over Beijing, blue sky can be seen for the first time in decades.