Chen Weiya

Chen Weiya gets home at 1:30 a.m., washes down his medicine with a cup of water and tiptoes to his daughter's room to kiss her good night.

He rarely sees the five-year-old during her waking hours these days.

In the run-up to the Beijing Olympic Games, Chen rarely gets home before midnight. When the girl gets up and sets out for kindergarten at 7 a.m., he's still struggling to get some last-minute sleep.

A skilled dancer since he was a preschooler, the professor and playwright with Beijing Dance Academy is best known today as choreographer of the Beijing Olympics opening and closing ceremonies.

He has been assisting chief director Zhang Yimou to produce the gala events, making sure every actor and actress are playing their roles properly and carefully keeping in secrecy the opening extravaganza, set to be unveiled at 8:08 p.m. next Friday.

After a quick supper of bread and milk, the team started a dress rehearsal of the opening on Wednesday. More than 70,000 avid spectators watched their performances despite a heavy rainfall that threatened to cut short the rehearsal.

When the crowd dispersed, Chen and his colleagues sat down again to discuss technical details and prepare for the dry runs of the next day. Chief Director Zhang Yimou was apparently happy with the rehearsal, so the meeting ended early, at around 1 a.m.

Chen was just one of a million people working for the Games. Many others, Chinese and foreigners, are working on the backstage and their names are rarely known to the public.

Old Xia

Old Xia is not really old, but the 46-year-old certainly stands out in a crowd of undergraduates.

The boys and girls jokingly call him a "star" because he was met by Vice President Xi Jinping at the Main Press Center (MPC) ten days ago. A photo released by Xinhua on July 21 shows the vice president and Old Xia smiling from the two sides of the volunteers' service counter.

"Please don't call me that, or I'll hide myself under the desk," he said in fluent Chinese.

Old Xia is one of about 1,000 foreign volunteers working for the Beijing Games. The Beninese's name is Oyinlola Celestin Chabi. He's been living in Beijing for 15 years and runs a trading company here.

To concentrate on his new job Old Xia has entrusted an employee to take care of his business. He also informed all customers and partners in advance that he would be busy this summer and it might take a week for him to reply their mails.

His work at the reporters' working area on the ground floor of the MPC starts at around 8 a.m. and he spends the day making sure everything is in order there and giving help to journalists.

"When there's nothing to do I just walk around to see if the power supply and Info systems are normal and no one has forgotten any personal belongings on the desk."

A former diplomat, Old Xia knows how to follow the rules without offending people -- by telling journalists politely that no printer had been installed in the area because flash disks could easily cause viral infections. "It's a norm at previous Olympic Games, too," he'd say.

Old Xia is also the right person to talk to journalists who had occupied the lockers in the public area for more than a maximum of two days.

"You need it for three days? Oh no, not even if you buy me a coffee," he said jokingly over the phone. "OK, you'll give back the key as soon as possible. But how long will that take?"

As Old Xia will be busy throughout the summer, his 11-year-old daughter, who studies in Beijing, has gone with his wife to Italy. "I've sent them photos and told them about my work," he said. "My daughter said I looked great in the volunteer's T-shirt."

Ailing student perseveres

Xing Jian, 21, works near the entrance to the Huiyuan media village, checking every passing vehicle for security considerations.

He smiles and thanks every driver for cooperation as he checks the cars, trunks and seats.

Few people know he has suffered from appendicitis just two weeks ago and has chosen to continue working as a volunteer without telling his parents.

"It was painful at the beginning, but the doctor said I could either have my appendix removed immediately or try antibiotic treatment first," he told Xinhua.

He chose the latter and got antibiotic doses for eight days: three days of intravenous injection in hospital and five days of oral dosing. The treatment turned out effective and eased his pains, so he stayed at his job. "I couldn't afford to lose the hard-won opportunity."

Xing admitted the job was boring sometimes. "But when I see the Bird's Nest just across the street, I keep reminding myself I'm doing something important."

Students like Xing make up the bulk of the 100,000 volunteers serving the Beijing Games. Some have taken up interpretation or media assistance jobs at the MPC or competition venues, while others simply check accreditation at entrances, divert vehicles on the road or work as janitors at media or athletes' villages.

An additional 400,000 "city volunteers" are stationed at more than 500 roadside information kiosks throughout the city.

Wen Xuechen, a freshman at China University of Geosciences, cleans 34 hotel rooms at the media village every day. Four weeks since his training completed, his excitement to be able to witness some historic moments and the Olympic idols has subsided.

Wen, whose ID doesn't allow him to enter any of the competition venues, could only admire the steel structure of the Bird's Nest from the distance.

"When I applied to become a volunteer I didn't know I'd end up as a cleaner," he said. "But now that it's my job, I have to do it well."

(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2008)