There is a new wrinkle in China’s preparations for its annual athletics tournament: a full village in which athletes and members of the press will live during the contest. An opening ceremony for the village will be held on September 28, and on September 30, the village will welcome the first batch of athletes.

According to Executive Deputy Village Master Jin Lei, the National Games village is 210,000 square meters large, and has 530,000 square meters of space in its buildings. It has 64 apartment buildings, over 2,300 apartments and 11,000 beds.

Housing for the athletes is located in the north, spread between 28 medium height buildings, which contain over 1,500 apartments and 7,600 beds. Media housing will be in the South, with 36 multi-apartment buildings, over 800 apartments and 3,400 beds.

In a press conference held on Sep. 26, Jin Lei said “the village was composed of an Athletes Village and a Media Village, both of which are under closed management and operated independently.”

All apartments in the Village are decorated, equipped and served in reference to standard three-star hotels. An Athlete Canteen with an area of 15,000 square meters seats 4,000 people, and a Media Canteen with an area of 5,500 square meters seats 1,500 people.

Both canteens have developed eight sets of regular recipes and halal recipes. Once the village is opened, each set of foods in these recipes will be provided on a rotating schedule and in the form of a buffet. Both the Athletes Village and the Media Village have commercial streets too, which provide supermarkets, beauty salons, laundry services, healthcare, photography shops, florists, travel agencies, postal services, banks, telecom services, commercial and ticketing servicess, adm sp pm. Clinics in both villages offer general medical services and emergency services. There are a total of three parking lots with a total area of 74,000 square meters. Two bus loops are set inside the Athlete Village, while electric ferry cars are provided in the Media Village.

According to Jin Lei, in order to enrich the cultural life of the athletes living in the village, during the operating period of the village, up to 17 categories of cultural activities and entertainment will be provided.

By Li Jing