Special Report: NPC, CPPCC Annual Sessions 2007

Special report:   2008 Olympic Games

    BEIJING, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- The disabled access to Beijing's most famous part of the Great Wall is to be improved in time for the Olympics.

    Kong Fanzhi, director of the Beijing Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau, said Tuesday that with the help of lifts, the disabled visitors can find no difficulty in reaching Badaling great wall, 80 km northwest of Beijing city.

    Other barrier-free facilities include special pathways built atthe Palace Museum, or the forbidden City, and the Ming Tombs, two well-known historic sites in Beijing, and a 400-meter-long wheelchair ramp to the top platform of east Badaling great wall, which will help persons with disabilities take a look of the scenery.

    Kong noted that all these facilities will be completed before the Olympics.

    Heritage experts said that the barrier-free transforming projects will not cause damage to the surrounding vegetation and cultural relics.

    The Cultural Relics Bureau has already compiled the Chinese-English bilingual "Beijing cultural heritage tourist map", and about 6 million will be distributed free to the airport, Olympics venues, Embassies, hotels, and restaurants in Beijing during the Olympics.