This Day, That Year: Aug 8

Editor's note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

On Aug 8, 2008, at 8:08 pm, the Beijing National Stadium hosted the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, choreographed by director Zhang Yimou, as seen in the item from China Daily.

China was the third Asian country to host the Olympic Games, after Japan in 1964 and South Korea in 1988.

In 2015, Beijing, with co-host city Zhangjiakou in Hebei province, won the bid to hold the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

With the success of the 2008 Olympics under its belt, that means the capital will be the only city in the world to stage both the Summer and Winter Games.

Beijing's proposed budget for the Winter Olympic villages, sporting venues and other related infrastructure totals $1.5 billion-significantly less than previous Games, according to the International Olympic Committee.

The National Speed Skating Oval, dubbed the "Ice Ribbon", is being built in Beijing. With its 12,000-square-meter ice-covered area, it will be the largest skating facility in Asia.

The Water Cube, or the National Aquatics Center, a key legacy of the Beijing Olympics, will be turned into a competition arena for curling during the 2022 Games.

Track laying for the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway, an essential mode of transportation for the Games, was completed in June.

The 174-kilometer railway, which is scheduled to go into operation by the end of the year, will shorten the travel time from the current three hours between the two cities to less than one hour.

The excitement generated by the run-up to the 2022 Olympics is also fueling a boom in winter sports in North China.