2008 Beijing Olympic Games (8th-24th August)
 Travel Places are the official Olympics team travel agent to the British Olympic Association. Our remit for the 29th Olympiad is to provide a seamless service for the BOA, our national team and media clients to travel to Beijing, ready to participate in what promises to be an exciting Olympic Games.
We will be able to provide flights to China (follow this link to see a table of the latest flight availability and prices) and accommodation for the Olympics, but we are not appointed to sell event tickets and spectator packages for the games.
Visit our destination guide for everything you need to know about Beijing, Chinese culture and customs.
Flights:
Air China and British Airways fly directly from London to Beijing. Virgin Atlantic and Cathay Pacific operate via Hong Kong with a change of aircraft. The other major gateway into China is Shanghai. Most airline reservation systems work up to a year in advance, and as soon as we have your preference of airline, date, class and budget we can make bookings when the time frame permits.
Advance booking will be critical in the run up to the games, as many airlines will be operating at full capacity due to high demand for seats.
Please call Dave Freeman or Debbie Street on 01903 832888 for further information, or send an email via the contact page.
Visas:
Citizens of the UK and all other countries except Singapore, Brunei and Japan need visas to enter into China.
A Chinese visa is a permit issued by the Chinese visa authorities to those foreigners who want to enter into, exit from or transit through the Chinese territory.
According to the applicants' identity, visiting purpose and passport type, the Chinese visa falls into four categories, namely, diplomatic, courtesy, service and ordinary visas. The ordinary visa consists of nine sub-categories, which are respectively marked with Chinese phonetic letters F, L, Z, X, C, J-1, J-2, G, and D.
- Visit / Business Visa (F): Issued to those foreigners who are invited to China for visit, research, lecture, business, scientific-technological and cultural exchanges or short-term advanced studies or intern practice for a period of less than six months.
- Tourism Visa (L): Issued to those who enter China temporarily for touring, family visiting or other personal affairs (multiple-entry is not granted for this category).
- Working Visa (Z): Issued to foreigners who are to take up a post or employment in China, and their accompanying family members.
- Study / Student Visa (X): Issued to those who come to China for study or intern practice for a period of six months or above.
- Crewmember Visa (C): Issued to crewmembers on international aviation, navigation and land transportation missions and their accompanying family members.
- Journalist Visa (J-1): This visa is for journalists who are posted to China for at least one year.
- Journalist Visa (J-2): Issued to foreign correspondents on temporary interview mission in China.
- Transit Visa (G): Issued to those who transit through China.
- Residence Visa (D): Issued to people who are going to live in China permanently.
General Requirements for Applying for a Chinese Visa:
- A completed Visa Application Form.
- Two passport size photos showing applicant's full front face. Current Passport that is valid for a minimum of six months from the date of travel. The passport must also have a more than two blank visa pages.
- Submitting documents which explain one's reasons to enter China.
How to apply for your Visa:
Overview:
With over one-fifth of the world's population, the majority of China exists today as a state known as the People's Republic of China (PRC), but it also refers to a long-standing civilization comprising successive states and cultures dating back more than four thousand years.
 With one of the world's longest periods of mostly uninterrupted civilization and the world's longest continuously used written language system, China's history has been largely characterized by repeated divisions and reunifications amid alternating periods of peace and war, and violent imperial dynastic change. The country's territorial extent expanded outwards from a core area in the North China Plain, and varied according to its changing fortunes to include multiple regions of East, Northeast, and Central Asia. (The term "China proper" is used by some observers and historians to describe the core territory historically home to the majority Han Chinese, as opposed to lands associated later with China such as what is now Xinjiang.) For centuries, Imperial China was also one of the world's most technologically advanced civilizations, and East Asia's dominant cultural influence, with an impact lasting to the present day.
The government of the People's Republic of China now officially recognises a total of 56 ethnic groups, of which the largest is the Han Chinese. China's overall population is 1.3 billion. With the global human population currently estimated at about 6.8 billion, China is home to
approximately one-fifth of the world's population.
Profile:
- Population: 1.3 billion
- Capital: Beijing
- Government: Communist Republic
- People: Han Chinese & ethnic minorities
- Language: Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Hakka, Turkic
- Religions: Confucianist, Buddhist, Taoist, Islam, Christianity
- Head of State: President Hu Jintao
- Visas: All visitors apart from citizens of Japan, Singapore and Brunei,
require visas, which we can obtain for you.
- Currency: Yuan, Renminibi (RMB)
- Time Zone: GMT +8
- Dialling Code: 00 86
- Electricity: 220V, 50Hz
- Weights & Measures: Metric
- Health Risks: Rabies, Dengue fever, Malaria, Cholera, Bilharzia
Geography:
Historically, most Chinese dynasties were based in the traditional heartlands of China, known as China proper. Various dynasties also exhibited expansionism by engaging in incursions into peripheral territories like Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Xinjiang, and Tibet. The Manchu-established Qing Dynasty and its successors, the Republic of China and the People's
Republic of China cemented the incorporation of these territories into China. These territories are separated by borders that are vague at best, and do not correspond well to contemporary political divisions.
Map.
 China proper is generally thought to be bounded by the Great Wall and the edge of the Tibetan Plateau; Manchuria and Inner Mongolia are found to the north of the Great Wall of China, and the boundary between them can either be taken as the present border between Inner Mongolia and the northeast Chinese provinces, or the more historic border of the World War II-era puppet state of Manchukuo; Xinjiang's borders correspond to today's administrative Xinjiang; and historic Tibet is conceived as occupying all of the Tibetan Plateau.
China is also traditionally thought of as comprising Northern China and Southern China, the geographic boundary between which north and south is largely generalized as Huai River and Qinling Mountains. China is two-thirds mountain and desert, and yet one in five of the world's population lives in this country.
Climate:
The climate of China varies greatly. The northern zone (within which lies Beijing) has a climate with winters of Arctic severity. The central zone (within which Shanghai is situated) has a generally temperate climate. The southern zone (within which lies Guangzhou and other southern provinces) has a generally subtropical climate.
Beijing's climate is harsh, characterized by hot, humid summers due to the East Asian monsoon, and cold, windy, dry winters that reflect the influence of the vast Siberian anticyclone. Average temperatures in January are at around minus 7 degrees to minus 4 degrees celcius, while average temperatures in July are at 25 to 26 degrees. Annual precipitation is over 600 mm, with 75 percent of that in summer.
 Beijing also suffers from heavy pollution and poor air quality from industry and traffic.
Dust from erosion of deserts in northern and northwestern China result in seasonal dust storms that plague the city. In the first four months of 2006 alone, there were no fewer than eight such storms.
Efforts have been made of late to clean up Beijing in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
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