With the theme of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the 3rd International Sand Sculpture Festival kicks off in Haiyang, a coastal city in east China's Shandong Province, on Thursday, June 26, 2008.

Haiyang, a popular summer resort in east China's Shandong Province, recently attracted more visitors with the international exhibition of nearly 100 amazing sand artworks.

With the theme of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the 3rd International Sand Sculpture Festival kicks off in Haiyang, a coastal city in east China's Shandong Province, on Thursday, June 26, 2008.

Spanning over 20,000 square meters, about 100 amazing sand artworks were displayed during the 3rd International Sand Sculpture Festival on the beach of the city's sand sculpture park, China's largest sand sculpture theme park.

With the theme of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, some of the sculptures that were shaped into "lucky clouds" and "bird's nest" became the highlights. All artworks featured China's ancient sports culture.

The Yantai Daily reported that the event, which started on Thursday, attracted a number of famous sand sculptors from Russia, Bengal, Australia, Slovenia and east China's Zhoushan city.

The city will host the 3rd Asian Beach Games in 2012. The city was awarded the host right in a working meeting of Olympic Council of Asia in Doha, the capital of Qatar on December 2, 2006.