2006, of course, is the year of the dog in China and the first group of seeing eye dogs in the mainland are now two years old. Since 2005, the dogs have been training in China's northern city of Dalian. They are expected to become the mainland's first professional seeing eye dogs in one or two years, where they will serve in the Paralymic Games - assisting blind athletes on and off the court.

Song Ya'nan works with the dog-training base.

"We now have this project and through it, we hope to serve blind people and provide conveniences for them."

The training of seeing eye dogs is only part of the preparatory work for the 2008 Paralymic Games.

To ensure safety for handicapped people, Beijing has established amenities for them along roads, in public as well as residential buildings. In 2005, the city established more than 77.5 kilometers of elevated sidewalks and has modified 30,000 square meters of them.

Most of the city's cross-street bridges and big shopping malls have set up special tunnels for the handicapped and many public toilets are becoming more accessible.

Apart from amenities, Beijing is planning to train at least 1,000 sign language translators for the city's business and service industries. That way, each small to mid-sized shopping mall will have one translator and big malls will have one on each floor.
Zhang Nianhong is from the training staff.

"We will conduct sign language training throughout the whole business circle, so that front line employees can communicate directly with people that have hearing impairments. The training covers the customer hospitality, demonstration and recommendation of goods, explaining prices and discounts, apologizing and dealing with complaints."

To hold a successful Paralympic Games in 2008, Beijing has begun recruiting volunteers for the games since last year with active response from the public. The planned 30,000 volunteers are expected to receive training on physical and mental conditions of the handicapped, sign language and recovery skills.