Over half a million people have registered to become Games-time volunteers for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, according to a source attending the just-opened Beijing municipal congress of the Communist Youth League of China.

 

As of May 25, the number of applicants has reached 509,112, including 302,569 from the Beijing area, 188.447 from other provinces and municipalities in the Chinese mainland, and 18,096 from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and overseas, said the head of the Volunteer Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), who is also a member of the league's municipal committee.

 

In the Beijing area, campus applicants amount to 200,055, or 66.1 percent of the total. The number of face-to-face inquires reached 874,207 including 551,374 from colleges and universities.

 

Preparation for volunteer training and interaction with applicants are also underway. The Reader on Beijing Olympic Games Volunteers and a number of other textbooks have been elaborated, some 20 model training bases have been found, a team of 168 experts has been established and a remote training and test system has been opened to all applicants. Part of the applicants will be involved in this year's "Good Luck Beijing" sport events to gain experience for services in the next year's Olympics.

 

BOCOG started to recruit Games-time volunteers on August 28, 2006. According to the organizers, the volunteer program includes six working projects and one theme campaign -- "Smiling Beijing". The projects are: the "Towards the Olympics" Voluntary Service Project, the BOCOG Pre-Games Volunteer Project, the Games-time Volunteer Project, the City Volunteer Project, the Social Volunteer Project and the Olympic Volunteer Work Legacy Transformation Project.

 

A total of 100,000 Games-time volunteers will be needed for the Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympics. During the Games, hundreds of thousands city volunteers will be assigned to major traffic hubs, commercial networks, scenic spots, hospitals, hotels, and cultural centers, and their recruitment will begin next month. The number of volunteers in the communities is expected to exceed one million, while that of the participants in the "Smiling Beijing" campaign will be much higher.

 

(BOCOG May 31, 2007)