A 52-episode television documentary on architecture connected with the Olympic Games in host cities around the world is being jointly presented by the China Educational Television Station and the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the 29th Olympiad.

The producers of the series are drawing on embassies in Beijing for help in gathering information about the host cities.

The documentary series will be broadcast as part of a program titled Architectural Arts on the educational television station and provincial television stations.

The program, launched a year ago by the Jinxiu Xinhua Cultural Co attached to the educational television station, has recently been purchased by NHK of Japan and the Scala Network of the United States.

Supported by leading Chinese experts in architecture and cultural heritage protection, it has become the most appreciated program on the educational television station.

The documentary episodes will be broadcast during the program twice a week starting early this May. About 10 episodes of the series have been shot on Chinese venues to be used during the 2008 Olympic Games, including those still under construction.

In a recently made episode, the producers interviewed the Swedish architects who designed the main stadium in Beijing, which has been nicknamed "the bird's nest."

The producers expect to make part of the documentary in Greece during the upcoming Games in Athens.

"We want to do more than just introduce the Olympic buildings in the host cities. We also want to explore how these cities have tied the new architecture into their urban planning, and how they have utilized the Olympic venues after the Games," said Zhang Hong, executive producer of the program.

(China Daily April 7, 2004)