China has decreed that it will not rain on the main stadium during the Beijing Olympics next year. This iron-clad assurance comes from Zhang Qiang, the head of Beijing's Weather Manipulation Office, who says "we will provide a guarantee" the stadium will not be rained on through the use of anti-aircraft guns to seed silver iodide sticks into clouds that dare drift towards the arena, thus causing any rain to fall well short.

The two big issues are combating pollution and creating an open-minded, user-friendly army of 100,000 volunteers capable of meeting the demands of a half-million foreigners in a stranger world than some may have imagined.  Read article

Beijing, China: The United Nations and China agreed to promote a training project on strengthening volunteerism through the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games yesterday. the 1.4 million US dollars initiative is designed to enhance the capacity of Olympic volunteers and demonstrate volunteerism as an effective tool to achieve China's development.  Read article

Xiao Dong, 31, who heads up the Chaoyang Chinese AIDS Volunteer Group, has been working for more than two years to improve AIDS education in China's capital. The organization's work is targeted at groups that are deemed a high risk to contract the deadly virus, such as intravenous drug users, sex workers and the city's gay population.  Read article

To encourage Chinese-speaking people to help save the environment, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme in China has translated Climate Crisis Solutions into Mandarin, a practical guide on helping avert environmental crisis at home, on the job, and in local communities.

The guide is part of Live Earth, a monumental music event across seven continent to "trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis". It encourages people to change their lifestyles and behaviour -- drive smaller cars, recycle newspapers, plant trees, use solar energy among others.

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Beijing, China: Beijing municipal officials on Monday announced a target of 400,000 city volunteers to staff urban areas outside the Olympic venues. Volunteers roughly equal the number of foreign visitors expected for the Olympics, with estimates ranging from 500,000 to 800,000.  Read article

Beijing, China: China sent more than 400 volunteers to teach Mandarin in Thailand, the largest number of volunteers since China launched its program to send volunteers abroad to teach the Chinese language, the overseas edition of People's Daily reported on Monday.   Read article

Beijing, China: Most of the Olympic Games volunteers are university students. While they are keen to help out during the international event, they are also concerned about finding a paying job and choose the latter instead. Recent survey shows that majority of the interviewees are worried about employment. They are not only busy with their schoolwork, but also with job-hunting and becoming Olympic volunteers at the same time.  Read article

Beijing, China: More than 320,000 people have volunteered to work at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The large number means many Olympic fans will be disappointed, since Beijing organizers will need only 70,000 volunteers for the Summer Games with 30,000 more for the Paralympics.  Read article

Beijing, China: China is drafting a law to clearly define the rights and obligations of volunteers in a move to encourage more people to donate their time and skills, said an official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Tuesday, International Volunteer Day.  Read article

Efforts of thousands of university graduates in helping China's poorest are being recognized on IVD.  Read article