Airlines are prohibited from carrying explosives for civil use, guns and ammunition to the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Qinhuangdao and Qingdao from July 1 to Sep. 30, according to the administration.

Flights carrying high-risk chemicals, such as poisonous gas and radioactive substances, to other cities must be inspected and authorized by the administration. Those with dangerous goods that are urgently needed by the state or in disaster relief work must go through the same process and be recorded.

Beijing now has a 150,000-strong security guard contingent plus 290,000 volunteers doing patrols.

During the event, security guards who are directly assigned to the Games would number at least 80,000, according to Ma Zhenchuan, director of the Olympic security command.

The security around the Tian'anmen Square in the heart of the national capital has been tightened as a set of revised rules allow unannounced searches of people and vehicles by police for banned items in the vast square, a political symbol as well as a popular tourist destination in the country.

Meanwhile, service stations for migrant workers have been set up, covering more than 7,000 communities and villages in Beijing, to strengthen management of migrant population in the city and to lower public security risks.

Security concerns have also been applied to foreigners. The BOCOG posted a legal guide for foreigners on its official website in June.

It prohibits overseas visitors from taking ammunition, explosives, counterfeit currency notes, narcotics and poisons, among others, into China, warns overseas visitors against shouting insulting slogans or displaying them on banners, and forbids the display of religious, political or racial banners at sports venues.

"Security work is the basis and key to a successful Olympics... and it has come to a critical point as the Games approach," said China's top security official Zhou Yongkang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau, on an inspection tour of the safety work for the Olympics.

(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2008)