The construction of the Asian Games City has just started, including an athletes village, a technical officers village, media village, international broadcast centre and main press centre, and Asian Games Park.

The Games will also be held in three other cities besides Guangzhou – Dongguan, Foshan and Shunde in Guangdong.

Guangdong Provincial Government is responsible for building four venues and the related facilities of Guangdong Olympic Centre and renovating 13 venues. Guangzhou’s government will construct four new sites, Asian Games City and renovate 24 existing facilities, while the governments of Dongguan, Foshan and Shunde will reconstruct four venues.

‘Many of the 14 non-Olympic events – including kabaddi, cricket, sepak takraw, dragon boat and wei qi – are immensely popular and reflect the unique character of Asia’


The construction of Guangzhou Asian Games City, the largest civil engineering project for the event, began on November 26, 2007.

Games officials reported: "As planned, the main buildings of all the new venues will be completed in the first half of 2009. Civil engineering work of all projects will be finished by December 2009. All of the venues and related establishments, except the Asian Games City, will complete acceptance, inspection, and will be put into trial operation during the time period between December 2009 and March 2010.

“Test matches will be held at some of the venues from May to September 2009. As for the Asian Games City, the civil engineering work will be finished in December 2009 – the whole construction will be completed in June 2010. Furniture and equipments will be in place and the whole city will be ready for operation by the end of August 2010.”

Guangzhou was the first port to be developed in China and many foreign visitors have influenced the city. It was a gateway to China for Europeans, Persians and Arabs as early as the Tang and Song dynasties.

And the city associates its rapid growth and prosperity to intriguing legends – the Five Immortals who descended from the heavens, each one riding on a ram that was holding rice ears in its mouth. The farmlands in Guangzhou ran dry, food could not be grown and the people experienced a famine. That was when the legends came to alleviate the woes of the residents some 1,000 years back.

The organisers have been inspired to incorporate the Five Rams legend in the official emblem and mascots of the Games. The emblem features stylised lines that rise upwards, forming both a silhouette of a ram and a flaming torch that symbolizes the eternal flame of the Asian Games.

The mascots are five dynamic and lively rams, affectionately and collectively known as Le Yangyang, and who reflect the city’s dynamism and vibrancy and its people’s aspirations for a thrilling and peaceful Asian Games that uphold the values and spirit of the Olympics.

“Thrilling Games, Harmonious Asia” is the motto of the 16th Asian Games. A thrilling and exciting Asian Games is certainly in store for all those who travel to Guangzhou to catch the action from close quarters.