"I hope next year's Beijing Paralympics will promote Beijing all over the world as a city accessible to the physically challenged," said Zhao Chunluan, President of the Beijing Disabled Persons' Federation. China's capital is fast becoming accessible to the disabled, and the Paralympics have played a large part in that. The Games have provided a catalyst for the city to build facilities and introduce regulations for future construction, which will allow disabled people to more fully participate in Beijing's social life.

The Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games will be held between September 6 and 17 next year. The elite sports event will include athletes from six different disability categories, including spinal cord injury, amputee, visually impaired, cerebral palsy, les autres, and mentally handicapped. The host cities of the Games are obliged to provide facilities, services and premises accessible to these athletes at the competition stadiums and around the city.

It has been estimated that the Paralympics in Beijing will attract over 4,000 athletes, 2,500 coaches and officials and more than 4,000 journalists from over 150 countries. Athletes and their families will also become tourists during the Paralympics, which will put the accessibility of the city's facilities and its services to the disabled under test.

Accessible environment

Deng Pufang, Chairman of China Disabled Persons' Federation and Executive President of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games, was also the winner of the 2003 United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights. Suffering from paralysis from the waist down, Deng firmly believes in society's responsibility to empower every citizen, including disabled people. "Physically challenged people need equal opportunities and equal access as well as some aid to eliminate barriers. To create a physically and mentally accessible environment is an important task for the 2008 Beijing Paralympics," he said.

Beijing has already been speedily improving disability access. On May 16, 2004, the National Day for Helping the Disabled, Beijing led all of China in releasing a regional regulation on the construction and management of disability access to public facilities. The regulation stipulates that newly built, expanded and rebuilt public premises, residential premises and roads must include disability access.

In Olympic history, Beijing is the first host city to have only one organizing committee preparing for both the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games at the same time. There is one Paralympic Games Department under the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) in charge of coordinating the preparations for Paralympics of all other departments of BOCOG.

Zhang Qiuping, head of BOCOG's Paralympic Games Department, said one special challenge for the preparations is that some tailored reconstruction for Paralympic sports within the Olympic venues could only be finished in the 10-day gap between the closing of the Olympic Games and the opening of the Paralympic Games.

Zhang said that the work of compiling a guide of all disability accessible traffic facilities for disabled people coming to Beijing during the Olympics and Paralymics has also been put off. The reason is that Beijing has embarked on a citywide campaign to improve disability access.

Since August, the Beijing Municipal Government has designated the 16th day of every month as the Day of Disability Access Promotion. All the five Days of Disability Access Promotion in the second half of 2007 have been respectively given a theme. August was devoted to promoting disability access at hotels and restaurants; September at hospitals; October for traffic facilities; November for tourism spots; and December for shopping malls.

Beijing has set up 18 inspection teams looking at disability access, which include 5,000 inspectors made up of handicapped people, senior citizens and social volunteers. Team members have been through a strict training and appraisal process. Their inspection responsibilities include determining whether disability access symbols in public venues meet international norms, whether disabled access facilities operate normally and whether facilities are repaired when damaged. Once a problem is found, the inspectors can require related organizations to redress it according to municipal regulations on the construction and management of disability access at public facilities.

"We look forward to the day that Beijing can proudly announce itself an accessible city after the Paralympics," said Tang Xiaoquan, BOCOG Executive Vice President and Secretary General of the China Disabled Persons' Federation. She recalled when she attended the Athens Paralympics three years ago, organizers proudly told her that one important result of the event was that Athens would become an accessible city for disabled people. "I hope that China's renowned tourism spots will be fully accessible to the disabled and that one day physically handicapped people can climb the Great Wall," she said.

Massive participation

"The most profound achievement in hosting the Paralympics is to inspire people's massive participation, which is more important than the Paralympics themselves," said Deng. He said although public awareness about the Paralylmpics has been raised in China, many people remain ignorant of the event. "That means there is still a lot of work to do," Deng said. He added that people without disabilities could participate in the Paralympics as cheerleaders, volunteers or spectators.

The Beijing 2008 Paralympic marketing program was officially launched on June 5, 2006, consisting of a sponsorship and licensing program. The launch event provided an interactive forum for BOCOG to outline the benefits of Paralympic sponsorship and to explain the opportunities that exist to support the Paralympic Games. Since then, many companies have taken part in supporting the preparations for the Paralympics and many have made donations to the welfare of the disabled with money, technology and services.

In order to better promote fundraising activities, the China Disabled Persons' Federation has set up a new office to accept donations for the Chinese delegation to the Beijing 2008 Paralympics.

Two-year-old Paralympic Mascot

Fu Niu Lele, the Official Mascot of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, was unveiled on September 6, 2005, to mark the two-year countdown to the opening of the Games.

According to the official website of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, the image of a happy cow was chosen for the following reasons.

First, a cow, symbolic of a down-to-earth, diligent, staunch and never-say-die spirit, was adopted to show the unremitting spirit of athletes with disabilities to be the best they can be. It dovetails with the upbeat spirit of Paralympians and the concept of "transcendence, equality and integration" of the Beijing Paralympic Games.

The determined, optimistic and diligent spirit of cows reflects a positive attitude to life. The Paralympic Games calls for people with disabilities to enjoy the same rights to compete in sports as anyone else, and to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world, and thus develop their strength to add vigor and vitality to social progress.

Second, as one of the animals closest to human beings, cows are well-known for their friendliness and their affinity with the humans who care for them. Throughout the history of the development of world civilization, poetry and songs have clearly expressed the aspiration of humankind for a harmonious life. Cows have often found their way into the natural, cozy and poetic country life reflected in literary and art works, showing public expectation for harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

In Chinese traditional culture, cows are also considered auspicious in inviting good weather and bumper harvests.

Third, the mascot's design reflects rich national style and cultural features. It absorbs the modeling and design styles unique to China's folk engraved prints, New Year drawings, and toys. This, plus features unique to the modeling of modern cartoons, shows an integration of traditional folk style and public interest with that of modern times.

Fourth, cows are widely accepted internationally. Cows were one of the first animals depicted in literary and art works. Cases in point include the Lascaux mural in France and Altamira rock paintings in Spain, which all contain drawings of cows. Therefore, adopting a cow as the mascot of the Paralympic Games, instead of a traditional rare animal, is a creative act to a certain extent.