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Spotlight on Shandong Province for the National Games

By Gao Qihui (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-08-22 16:12

A ceremony was held Friday in Jinan, East China's Shandong Province to kick-start a tour of reporters from more than 40 major domestic news websites in the province to report its preparations for the upcoming 11th National Games.

The reporters will also see the achievements Shandong, a powerhouse in the country's east, has made in the past 60 years, from social life to economy, from culture to rural and urban construction.

The 8-day tour will start from Jinan, then to Tai'an where the famous Mount Tai is located, Linyi, Rizhao and end in Qingdao, where the sailing games were held during last year's Beijing Olympics.

The 11th National Games, the biggest sports event held in the country after the Beijing Olympics starts on Oct 16th and ends on Oct 28th.

Shandong government will not only focus on the game itself, but also emphasize the participation of the ordinary folks, as can be seen from the theme of the Games -- Harmonious China, Everyone's Games, said Si Anmin, executive secretary-general of the Games' organizing committee during the ceremony to launch the media tour.

Si saw the Games as an opportunity to promote the fit-keeping program across Shandong province. Governments at all levels in the province have spend about 5 billion yuan on fitness equipment, according to him.