Canteens, gyms, and kiosks operating round-the-clock at the Olympic Media Village are ready to cater to accredited journalists.

The village consists of two residential compounds - Green Homeland and Huiyuan.

"Nearly all of the 7,000 rooms were booked out before the start of the year," Jiang Lixin, deputy venue manager for media operations at Green Homeland, said.

"Five of the six biggest news agencies will house their journalists in the village," she told China Daily. The village officially opens on Friday.

The village is just 15 minutes away by bus to the Main Press Center and International Broadcast Center.

"We will host about 300 media organizations in the village, including 15 major ones like EBU from Europe and KBS from Korea," she said.

Yang Yue, a BOCOG media operations official said: "In fact, the Media Village will become a gathering place for all journalists who have become friends while covering previous Olympic Games."

Media organizations have also set up bases in hotels, such as the Beijing International Convention Center.

Two days before its official opening, Green Homeland was putting the final touches to its preparations. Workers were washing the floor of a small plaza near the entrance, which has 29 tube-shaped light poles dedicated to the 29 summer Olympics from 1896 to this year.

Gardeners were laying a lawn along a man-made stream. Staff from five-star hotels in Beijing have moved into the 16 buildings in the compounds. Multilingual road signs, press workrooms, canteens and supermarkets have been set up.

A temple dating back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) in the village has been well protected from damage, developers said.

Both media compounds will become residential buildings after the Games.

(China Daily July 24, 2008)