Covering all the Bases
Beijing’s big coming out party is just days away and with it comes a flood of new folks who will need to know their way around town. Here is a quick rundown of the preparations the capital has made to deal with the influx of foreign visitors.
Hotlines:
12308 – Multilingual Olympic Call Center
Want to know more details about the tickets, games, venues, security checks, and just about anything related to the Games? Over 1,500 volunteers are on-call to answer your questions, providing all kinds of information in 34 languages – even the southern Fujian dialect!
12345 – Public Service Hotline
This hotline is ready to receive non-emergency calls relating to all aspects of public service. Call here if you want to report problems or complain about traffics, electricity, heating and so on to related government departments.
110 – Police, Directions and More
If you need to call the police, ask for the directions and even want to know where to go shopping, dial this number, set up by the Beijing Public Security Bureau in conjunction with eight top universities who have provided multilingual university students to man the lines. You can also contact them at 8595 3670、8595 3671、8595 3672 and 8595 3673.
12358 – Price Supervision Reporting
Worried you just got ripped off? Want to double check on a price (or authenticity) of that plush Fuwa toy? This line can help you out in both English and Chinese.
96166 – Transportation Service Hotline
Find out about bus lines, subway info or the most convenient route you should take. English and Chinese service available.
62041111 - Lost and Found Hotline
Report any lost items at this number, which services the 1,020 lost property service spots all over the city (more will be added around the Olympic Village comlex). Lost items can also be listed on this website.
96103/ 961001 – Taxi hotline
Get a cab to pick you up by dialing these numbers.
More useful hotlines can be found here
To facilitate foreign guests seeking medical treatment, the Bilingual Manual of Beijing First Aid Guide (in eight languages, including a Chinese-English edition) is available free of charge at the Capital Airport, Olympic Hotels and many other public places.
The website for the Beijing Olympic Meteorology Service Center provides daily weather forecast of all the Olympic competition venues in seven areas: Beijing, Qingdao, Hong Kong, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Qinhuangdao, with hourly updates and real-time weather reports.
Tourists can go to any of the 617 information booths set up around town to check out information about transportation, e-maps, dining, tourist attractions and other aspects, including paying phone bills and booking Olympic tickets. There are also 30 “civil management officers” in the ten Bilingual Service Stations located in the most foreigner-frequented places ready to give help to any tourist.
Over 5,000 student-volunteers from different universities have started working in Beijing’s subway stations with other Language Guides in an effort to ensure that no passengers get lost in Beijing’s subways during the Olympics. Some local laowai have also gotten into the act by contributing to the ongoing effort to clean up the capital’s bilingual signs, and 20 foreigners have been volunteering at the Forbidden City to help lost visitors.
The capital’s museums now provide information and assistance in four languages –Chinese, English, Japanese and French – and during the Olympics, 30 major museums will add additional language services to facilitate more visitors from around the world.
