With the Beijing Olympics just around the corner, the brand-new Olympic venues, which will witness every sensational moment of the games, have increasingly gained the worlds attention. A common and interesting question posed by foreigners regards the mysterious distribution of the Olympic venues. Are all the venues constructed in line with Feng Shui?

“We respect Science rather than Feng Shui,” says Jin Yan, director of the Beijing 2008 Project Construction Office.. “All Olympic projects had meticulous geological exploration and a general survey of the layout.”

Feng Shui, which constitutes an important paradigm regarding where something is built, is an ancient Chinese practice believed to utilize the Laws of both heaven (astronomy) and earth (geography) to arrange objects; helping people achieve their goals. With Jin Yans words ringing in our ears, we can still trace something meaningful in the distribution of the Olympic projects.

As the landmark project of the Beijing Olympics, the Olympic Green is located exactly at the north end of the metropolis’ axis, marking the finishing line of the central axis. Multiple sports venues for the Olympic Games are situated on it, including the National Stadium and the National Aquatic Center.

The axis, the most important cultural vein of the city, masterfully presents a blend of urban artificial sights with natural scenery. The central axis of the ancient city, 7.8 kilometers long, begins in the south at Yongdingmen Gate, which no longer exists, in the former outer city wall; further north, it passes through Zhengyangmen Gate (South Facing gate, popularly known as Qianmen or Front Gate), Tian'anmen Gate and Duanmen Gate (which stand before the Imperial Palace), and Wumen Gate, the southernmost entrance to the palace proper. From there, it continues north through its northernmost gate, Shenwumen (Gate of Giving Prowess). It then passes through Longevity Pavilion (Wanshouting) atop Prospect Hill (Jingshan) and ends at the Drum and Bell Towers.

It takes the Forbidden City as the axle center and passes through the whole ancient city south to north. The buildings and space along the axis are invariably symmetrical, mapping the fluctuant contour of the city. It is the cream of urban architectural construction and the town planning of Beijing in the history of architectural art.

The Olympic Green is an enlarging of an extension from the axis to the north, which was done during the 11th Asian Games in 1990. It plays an important role in completing the construction of the northern part of the axis. Being at an end of the axis, it forms an imposing sight, with the World Trade Center projected to be the centerpiece of the architecture gracing the area.

To build the Olympic Green on the cities axis with the most cultural characteristics is a bow to the history of the city. Some events such as the marathon, Iron man and beach volleyball,will be held in the inner city to be more accessible to a large audience. Especially the marathon, which will start at the Forbidden City and end at the National Stadium in the Olympic Park. One is Oriental and dating from antiquity, the other Occidental, Western and wholly modern. It is another integration of ancient oriental culture with modern Olympics Games and a spectacular scene of the harmony of Chinese and Western cultures. "An axis of human civilization", the construction plan jointly worked on by the US company Sasaki and Chinese design company Tianjin Huahui -which won the top prize in the design competition for the Beijing Olympic Games- is the blueprint of the Olympic Green. The biggest single construction in Beijing for the 2008 Games.

Based on the plan a "thousand-year path", the Olympic Green is 2.3km long following the top of theextended north line of Beijing's central axis and ends with mountains and water, flanked by sports facilitates on both sides. Symbols of all the Chinese historical periods are placed along the path. The lake at the northern tip forms a giant water dragon together with the Olympic canal east of the axis, and corresponds with Zhongnanhai and Shishahai, waters west of the central axis of ancient Beijing city.

Beijing positioned the Olympic Green on its Olympic plan for a specific reason: to carry forward the traditional axial style of Beijing, all-the-while, showing the urban features and styles of "New Beijing". With this ambitious aim the Beijing Olympics is sure to be a tremendous success.