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Beijing's volunteer stations to remain

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-19 07:42

The 550 volunteer service stations will remain in Beijing as an important legacy of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, an official said on Wednesday.

The stations will continue to provide information to the public during holidays, Liu Jian, director of the volunteer department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the 29th Olympiad (BOCOG), said.

The Capital Museum, Beijing Zoo, Beijing Planetarium and the Xinhua Department Store have already approached the China Communist Youth League Beijing Committee, which is in charge of management of the stations, to offer volunteers in the future, Beijing News reported.

The stations will also be moved to other areas such as school campuses, communities and tourist attractions to provide help and advice, the newspaper quoted the committee as saying.

Statistics show 100,000 volunteers were stationed at the various venues of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, 400,000 in the city, and more than 1 million were designated social volunteers.

The city volunteers were stationed at 12 sq m "blue cubes" decorated with the Olympic and Paralympic Games logos.

The sites were open from 9 am to 5 pm each day.

Some were also assigned to subway entrances and bus stations across the city to help overseas visitors.

The social volunteers mainly offered services to the local communities.

More than 920,000 people had applied for the 400,000 Games' volunteer positions.

Volunteers have become a standard feature of the Olympics over the past few decades. Working for no pay, travel or accommodation expenses, they have helped keep costs down.

Xinhua