The 2008 Beijing Olympics
and Paralympics
on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ
A selection of China and Olympics-related programmes from across the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ
Learn Mandarin!
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Languages
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Going to Beijing? If you're pushed for time,
download (MP3) or print out the Quick Fix:
absolutely essential words and phrases.
Ranging from "Where's the stadium?" to
"I don't speak Chinese", they're ideal for
taking with you to Beijing this summer.
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Or learn Real Chinese; this lively
introduction to Mandarin Chinese in 10 short
parts will help you learn the basics with the
help of videos, useful phrases and tips on
pronunciation and grammar.
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Chinese Word For Today:
For entertainment mixed with learning, play
the Chinese tone and character games. See if
you can rise to the challenge set by Mandarin
Chinese with its unique pronunciation and
writing systems.
Visit bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese.
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Contact: CD2
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China Topics Website
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Or visit the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's special /topics website which brings together all its
rich programming and content around China
from News, Sport, Nations & Regions, Audio
& Music and ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Vision to support the
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's year-long Focus On China. Visit: bbc.co.uk/topics/china.
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Contact: KR
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Olympic Dreams
July, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One
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As the London 2012 Olympics draw ever
closer, many British athletes will embark on the
long journey towards fulfilling their ultimate
goal of securing a place on Team GB and
winning gold in front of a home crowd. This
observational documentary series, filmed in
partnership with The Open University, follows
the fortunes of rising British stars as they
endure the hopes and heartaches, troubles and
triumphs on the road to London 2012.
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Building on the success of the first series,
aired in 2007, the second, four-part series of
Olympic Dreams offers an intimate insight
into the British athletes' gruelling training
schedules, daily sacrifices, highs of victory,
lows of defeat, and the pressure of coping
under the weight of growing expectation.
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The British hopefuls who are followed in the
series include diver Tom Daley; Team GB judo
team; Team GB gymnastics team; Team GB
Paralympic wheelchair rugby team; heptathlete
Jessica Ennis; table tennis players Paul Drinkhall
and Darius Knight; BMX champion Shanaze
Reade; Paralympic dressage champion Lee
Pearson; Team GB women's rowing team and
the elite Team GB men's rowing coxless four.
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During the series the unique relationship
between coach and athlete is explored, as well
as the role family and friends play in supporting
the athletes through their preparation and
training, the nerve-wracking rounds of selection
and competition and the sacrifices and
opportunities they experience in order to earn
their place on the 2012 British Olympic Team.
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Contact: ST2
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Olympics – Black Power Salute
Wednesday 9 July, 9.00pm, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Four
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A film about one of the most iconic images of
the 20th century, the moment in which the
radical spirit of the Sixties upstaged the greatest
sporting event in the world. Two men made a
courageous gesture that reverberated around
the world and changed their lives for ever.
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1968 was a revolutionary year. In Paris students
revolted on the street, while in Prague Russian
tanks rolled into the city to stop the peaceful
revolution. The assassinations of Bobby
Kennedy and Martin Luther King shocked the
world. In the United States, the struggle for civil rights
had led to a series of bitter and violent
confrontations on the streets. There were a
number of unforgettable performances at the
Mexico City Olympic Games, where many
world records were broken. But the enduring
image from the 1968 Games didn't take place
during a race. African American athletes
Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their
gloved, clenched fists in support of the Black
Panther movement during the Star Spangled
Banner, after receiving gold and bronze medals
for their triumph in the 200m sprint.
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They were subsequently banned from the Games for life. What inspired them to make
their protest? Why did it carry such a
powerful message? And what happened to the
unlikely revolutionaries following the Games?
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Contact: EDA
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Chinese Food Made Easy
6 x 30-minute series, Summer 2008, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two
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One of the brightest young stars in modern
Chinese cooking in the UK today, Ching-He
Huang, 28, travels the length and breadth of
the country to show viewers the modern
way of cooking the nation's favourite Chinese
dishes. Ching-He Huang's contemporary,
youthful and fun attitude is reflected in the
new series as we see her journey across
Britain – literally with wok in hand – taking
our favourite Chinese takeaway dishes, and
giving them a contemporary twist with easy-to-buy ingredients and simple practical tips.
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Born in Taiwan and brought up first in South
Africa and then in London from the age of
11, Ching draws on the experiences of her
family and friends as well as top chefs to
introduce healthy Chinese food to the
traditional Chinese-takeaway-reliant Brits.
With characteristic energy and enthusiasm
her distinctive take on cooking our takeaway
favourites – sweet and sour pork through to
authentic fried rice and chop suey – will
emphasise how quick, easy to make and
healthy Chinese food really is and how it
should actually be eaten.
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Contact: Knowledge Publicity
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Blue Peter – Olympic Special
Wednesday 7 August, 4.35pm, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One
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The Blue Peter team take an in-depth look at
the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games,
uncovering all you need to know about the
big events. They highlight which medal
hopefuls to watch out for with interviews of
top athletes, past and present. They also
look ahead to the London 2012 games and
visit UK projects already up and running to
get everyday kids involved in sport.
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Contact: Front Desk Publicity
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³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 4
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The Ping Pong Diplomats
Saturday 21 June, 10.30am, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 4
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As the 2008 Beijing Olympics gets under
way, Garry Richardson casts a wry eye back
to the early Seventies and an unusual
sporting exchange which marked the
beginning of the end of Chinese isolation.
In 1971, table tennis players set out on a
sporting adventure and succeeded in relaxing
tensions between Beijing and the West.
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Contact: TE
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The Medal Makers
Saturday 4 July, 11.00am, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 4
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Allison Curbishley meets the people whose
eagle eyesight and instant decision-making will determine the medal places in Beijing.
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Contact: TE
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Olympic Arts
Saturday 21 July, 11.00am, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 4
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Mark Whitaker discusses how, for the
founder of the Modern Olympics, Pierre de
Couberton, sport was meaningless without
the arts, and at each of the Games between
1912 and 1948 medals were awarded for
painting, sculpture, music and literature.
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Contact: TE
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The Dirtiest Race In History
Saturday 2 August, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 4
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Steve Cram looks back at the 1988 Olympic
men's 100m final, a race which was forever
tainted by bannings, disqualifications and allegations of drug taking.
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³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3 Focus On China
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Music Matters
Saturday 21 June, 12.15pm, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3
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Petroc Trelawny travels to Beijing for Music
Matters to examine the state of classical
music in modern China. Western classical
music has had a chequered history in China.
Recently there has been an unprecedented
growth in classical music, which has now
become a symbol of the burgeoning middle
classes. Music Matters looks at the attitudes to classical music, both in the home and the
concert hall, talking to musicians, publishers
and journalists in Beijing.
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Contact: DL
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World Routes
Saturday 21 June, 3.00pm, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3
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Lucy Duran explores the music and culture of
one of China's most remote regions, Xinjiang,
to meet the Uyghur people. She heads to the
ancient Silk Road town of Kashgar to record
the region's most famous music, Mugam, and
onwards into the desert where the music and
weather become wilder and wilder.
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Contact: DL
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Hear And Now
Saturday 21 June, 10.30pm, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3
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In Shanghai Robert Worby explores the
growth of electronic music in both the
academic confines of the conservatory and the
underground "noise" scene. Robert talks to
key movers, discovering how the music has
developed since the "thaw" after the Cultural
Revolution and how composers are combining
traditional instruments with electronic sounds.
He also experiences the music first-hand at an
unofficial underground club.
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Contact: DL
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Sunday Feature –
Flowers In The Back Yard
Sunday 22 June, 9.40pm, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3
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Isabel Hilton reports from China's capital,
Beijing, on the country's uneasy relationship
with its minority cultures. Isabel talks to
writers and academics who have broadened
their own understanding of China through
ethnic cultures, and meets cultural figures
from a variety of ethnic minorities who
describe their experiences of living within
such a massive majority.
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Contact: DL
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The Essay
Monday 23 to Thursday 26 June, 11.00pm, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3
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The Essay continues two weeks of China-themed
talks,with Nature In China. Nature
and travel writer Robert Macfarlane takes
four journeys in Beijing and beyond to find
what remains of wild China as the country
industrialises at an astonishing pace, and its
nature is changed for ever.
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Contact: DL
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Performance On 3
Monday 23 & Tuesday 24 June, 7.00pm, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3
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A concert recorded in Beijing by the China
Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yu
Long and two concerts by the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Scottish
Symphony Orchestra conducted by
Christoph König with Nicola Benedetti on
violin, recorded in Beijing and Hangzhou on
their 2008 tour of China.
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Contact: DL
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Afternoon On 3
Monday 23 & Tuesday 24 June, 2.00pm, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3
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Monday's concert is from the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Muhai Tang with
music by Bright Sheng, Tan Dun, Qigang and
Musheng Chen, plus a performance by the
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Singers with songs by Chen Yi. Tuesday
features a concert by the Gu Feng Ensemble conducted by Jason Lai with pianist Jin Ju.
Music performed by the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Symphony
Orchestra on their tour of China in 2006.
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Contact: DL
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Night Waves
Tuesday 24 & Wednesday 25 June, 9.45pm, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3
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Philip Dodd speaks to the movers and
shakers of the Chinese intelligentsia, and
there's a special Night Waves landmark on
Chinese literature.
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Contact: DL
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The John Akii-Bua Story
August, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two
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John Akii-Bua was a Ugandan athlete who won the gold medal in the 400m hurdles at
the 1972 Olympics. He beat the favourite,
Britain's David Hemery, and broke the world
record. A spectator handed him a Ugandan
flag, and Akii-Bua accepted it and ran around
the track with it unfurled, beginning the now accepted tradition of the victory lap. The
government of Uganda did not appreciate the
attention the athlete received, however, and, bizarrely, placed him under house arrest.
After missing the 1976 Olympics because of the African boycott, police officer Akii-Bua
was even arrested. This film tells his story.
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Contact: Front Desk Publicity
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Sprint
August, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two
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It turns out that the best young 100-metre
sprinters in the world right now are mainly
British. From around 17 to 19 years old, all
these athletes have the potential to be the
100m champion in London 2012. The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ
follows these hopefuls on their 2012 journey.
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Contact: Front Desk Publicity
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Olympic Concert Live
Sunday 24 August, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One
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Sunday 24 August 2008 marks a significant
day in Britain's sporting history – the day
that, officially, London becomes the new host
city for the next Olympic Games.
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To
celebrate this important occasion, the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ
and the organisers of London 2012 are
working together to stage a major live event
in central London.
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A landmark live concert, on a specially
constructed stage by Buckingham Palace, will
air on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One and will feature a line-up of
national and international performers – a
combination of heritage names and
contemporary acts. Also taking part will be
the cream of British sport and high-profile
special guests.
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The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's Olympic coverage on 24 August
will culminate with the closing ceremony of
the Beijing Games. Once the China Games
have finished, London becomes the new host
Olympic City for the next four years – and
following a live link from China to London,
the celebrations here will kick off in style.
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Great music is at the heart of this special
concert, featuring hits and some
contemporary sports themes, anthems and
songs used in a sporting context, which have
had a huge unifying impact on the national
consciousness.
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This 90-minute live show on
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One will feature around 16
performances, including bands, solo artists
and a live orchestra.
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Sport and music are a strong combination.
One in three people globally watch the
opening of an Olympic Games,
demonstrating the interest and appetite for
sporting/entertainment events.
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The Olympic
Torch Concert in 2004 attracted a great
audience and images of the concert were
featured in news bulletins around the world.
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On 24 August, the anticipated attendance at
this new live event, in front of Buckingham
Palace, is 70,000 people.
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This spectacular concert is being produced by
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Events (Concert For Diana - peaked at
12.2 million/48% share, Children's Party At
The Palace - peaked at 7.63 million/40% share).
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Olympic Concert Live – a headline-grabbing
event at the start of the country's run-up to
the London 2012 Games.
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Contact: NA
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Please note all programme dates and
times are subject to change.
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