Designated retail shops will begin selling franchised Olympic items in Beijing starting next month.
Products available include clothing, stationery, handicrafts and other souvenirs in a range to meet the taste of ordinary consumers and collectors. In the future the number of items being sold will rise to 10,000.
Beijing 2008 will ensure that identical products will be sold for the same prices at all the franchised stores. To prevent fraud, all the commodities will be identified by state-of-the-art anti-counterfeiting technology.
By 2005 the International Olympic Organizing Committee (IOC) will authorize the sale of Olympic products at franchised stores internationally.
Meanwhile, the Chinese version of the Beijing 2008 official Web site will be re-launched starting August 1. Of note is the change in the Press Center section of the site, which will be divided into three parts, consisting of BOCOG News, IOC news and Olympic news.
Also, three more links included “Lottery-attached Question and Answer”, “Audio-Visual Olympics” and “Photo Gallery” will be launched under the original links on the left side of the home page.
The Web site will provide daily Beijing weather information above the “Log In” area on the right side. Several other aspects of the site will undergo slight modification.
Breaking news and highlights will be given more prominence, and registration and log in will be simpler and more convenient to use.
