Around 8,000 citizens will participate in the making of "Green Map of Beijing", China's first ever visual guide on environmental, ecological and cultural landscapes of the country's capital city.

On May 27, 2005, Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau (BJEPB) and the BOCOG Environmental Activity Department jointly launched the map-marking campaign.

Students, taxi drivers, government employees, tourists and Beijing residents from all walks of life are invited to mark environmental facilities, cultural relics and historical sites around the central area of Beijing on the map.

The map will use a whole set of unique visual marks to locate all natural and cultural sites of interest and social welfare facilities in Beijing city. Through the marking of natural, cultural, ecological and environmental landmarks of the city, the map will depict the latest progress that Beijing has made in pollution control, ecological conservancy, transport infrastructure development, Olympic venue construction and cultural facilities.

People who are interested may obtain a blank "base map", mark stickers and instruction book from authorized non-government environmental groups, local communities and volunteers. The participants will use different stickers to mark correspondent sites of interest on the map.

In early September, the participants will return the completed maps to the organizers, who will then sort out and put together the information to compose an official "Green Map of Beijing" by November. The "Green Map" is designed to show the general conditions of the progress that Beijing made in environmental protection, cultural development and Olympic construction projects.

Beijing authorities will then print and distribute 50,000 free copies of the "Green Map" to all participants and tourists by the end of this year. The organizers will also disseminate the map through other channels such as gifts, retails and the Internet.

An official from the BOCOG Environmental Activity Department said the map marking campaign will be held every year. The activity is aimed to draw broad participation of the general public and advance idea of "Green Olympics" and knowledge of environment protection, she said.

(BOCOG June 1, 2005)