As Beijing, China prepares to host the world next summer for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, it is also planning an imitation of a popular tourist attraction. Copying a page from the tradition of introducing giant engineering feats for such events (think Eiffel Tower, Seattle Space Needle), the Chinese announced the commencement of work on the Beijing Great Wheel – a larger version of existing tourist attractions such as the London Eye and the nearly completed Singapore Flyer.

Construction on the Beijing Great Wheel started yesterday and strangely, according to China Daily, it is not expected to be completed until 2009 – about a year late for the Olympics. However, the Great Wheel Corporation web site takes this stand on the completion of what it calls “the Great Observation Wheel, Beijing”

“The project is set to open in time for the Olympics in August 2008.” 

I assume that since the project is a more than just a giant wheel but is “one of China’s most prestigious government supported tourist projects” and will also “support commercial facilities,” the park will open but the wheel will not be completed until 2009. Beijing Great Wheel will be located in Beijing’s Chaoyang Park.

Unlike the Great Wall of China, which is the world's longest human-made structure and was built to protect the Chinese Empire, the Beijing Great Wheel is all about tourism. According to  the China National Tourism Administration as reported in People Daily,

"China's inbound visitors will grow by eight percent in next five years and foreign currency income will increase at an annual rate of 12 percent....China will receive some 137 million inbound travelers by 2019."

Like a giant ferris wheel, The Beijing Great Wheel provides 48 air conditioned observation capsules, each of which can carry up to 40 passengers and on a good day even the Great Wall is expected to be visible in the mountains to Beijing's north.

Apparently, to the Chinese, size does matter. The Beijing Great Wheel will stand 208 meters (680ft) – a height chosen to celebrate the 2008 Olympics. That height is nearly double the London Eye (135 meters) and will make it the highest and largest in the world. But it cannot match the Great Wall of China which is nearly 4,000 miles and is the largest human-made structure ever built in terms of surface area and mass.

On the Great Wheel Corporation website is a quote by Confucious, “Seeing it once is better than being told 100 times.” I agree. So take a look.