Counting down to the Olympics

Here's a look at some of the venues and preparations under way in Beijing for next summer's Olympics.

• The Games: The Beijing Olympics begin Aug. 8, 2008.

• Tickets: An initial phase of ticket sales is over, but ticket sales are expected to resume this month through www.cosport.com or (877) 457-4647. CoSport is an official U.S. Olympics sponsor. The company also sells packages that include accommodations, meals and more.

• People: Organizers expect 550,000 foreign visitors and 22,000 journalists, with 550,000 local volunteers lined up to help -- one for every guest.

• Infrastructure: Beijing is spending $40 billion to remake its subways, roads and image. The hubbub is driving up hotel prices.

• Etiquette: Government-sponsored etiquette campaigns are working to stamp out bad manners, such as jumping ahead in line, spitting, littering and reckless driving.

• English: Cab drivers are under pressure to learn some English. A program called "Crazy English" draws 10,000 volunteers to gung-ho assemblies. Officials are trying to wipe out "Chinglish," the unintelligible English that abounds on billboards, menus and storefronts.

• Pollution: The city's choking pollution and snarled traffic will be controlled during the 17-day Olympics when at least one-third of 3.3 million vehicles will be banned and dust-spewing building sites and sooty factories shuttered. Billions have already been spent moving industry out of town.

• Venues: Beijing is the site for 31 Olympic venues: 12 new, 11 under renovation and eight built as temporary structures. Most are located in four clusters in the north of the city. For soccer and sailing, five more venues are located outside Beijing in mainland China. A venue for equestrian events is in Hong Kong.

The Olympic Green area -- site of half the competition venues -- is about 10 times larger than it was in Athens and four times what it was in Sydney.

The Olympic Village is at the far northern end of the Olympic Green, a high-rise compound for 10,500 athletes.

The two centerpiece venues -- buildings that will be talked about for years to come -- are the Bird's Nest National Stadium, a gargantuan bowl that seats 91,000, and the Watercube National Aquatics Center, a simple box design considered the Games' "cool" building, with a translucent, blue-toned outside skin that makes the structure look like a cube of foam or bubbles.