A participant makes preparations before flying his hot-air balloon in Guyang County of Baotou City, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on Aug. 12, 2009. About a hundred hot-air balloons from 8 countries and regions are supposed to rise during the first China-Baotou-The Great Wall in the Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.) Hot-air Balloon Festival which opened here on Wednesday. [Xinhua/Zheng Huansong]