Beijing starts 100-day countdown

BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) - China began counting down 100days to the Beijing Olympics on Wednesday with songs, a massrun and prayers, as the torch arrived back on Chinese soilafter a tumultuous world tour.

Unlike run-ups to recent Olympics, Beijing's preparationshave kept to plan and some stadiums and infrastructure haveeven been completed ahead of schedule.

The city has spent $35-$40 billion (18 billion pounds-20billion pounds) on improved infrastructure, including a newairport terminal and subway lines, as well as $2.1 billion tocover the cost of running the Games.

"The 100 days ahead will bring mounting excitement andenergy to Beijing," the International Olympic Committee said."Citizens and visitors will see the city continue to transformitself, as it welcomes athletes, the media and spectators forthe final test events, as well as for the Games themselves."

But over the past few months the city's smooth preparationshave been overshadowed by the torch relay's troubled journeyaround the globe, with protesters, especially in London, Parisand San Francisco, targeting China's human rights record, inparticular its policies on Tibet.

Dozens of Philippine activists held a mock torch relayoutside the Chinese consulate in Manila on Wednesday,protesting against what they called political repression inChina.

Wednesday's festivities in Beijing started off under a hazysky with a run around the Olympic Green by 10,000 Beijingresidents, part of China's promise to make the Games a"People's Olympics".

And in officially atheist China, Catholic churches prayedfor a successful Games. One nun told Reuters they forgavepeople who had disrupted the torch relay.

"Of course we forgive the things that those who don'tunderstand politics have done," Angela Teresa Ying said afterattending a Mass for the Games at a Beijing cathedral.

Security in Beijing has been noticeably stepped-upfollowing last month's anti-Chinese protests in Tibet, thetroubled torch relay and China's assertion that it has brokenup terrorist plots to attack the Games.

TORCH REACHES CHINA

The red carpet was rolled out in Hong Kong for the torch'sreturn to Chinese soil with authorities under fire for barringactivists from entering the city.

Three Tibetan activists from the groups Free Tibet andStudents for a Free Tibet were denied entry by Hong Kongauthorities on Tuesday, while three Danish human rightsactivists including sculptor Jens Galschiot were barred overthe weekend.

Zhang Yu, general secretary of the writers' groupIndependent Chinese PEN Centre, arrived in Hong Kong fromStockholm late on Tuesday but was also refused entry, the HongKong Journalists' Association said.

Some political analysts said Hong Kong's high level ofsensitivity over the torch relay stemmed from Beijing, and wastesting the limits of freedoms granted to the city when itreverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

Three thousand police will guard the torch during itseight-hour relay in the city on Friday.

Beijing's promise to ensure complete media freedom has beencalled into question, especially following Chinese criticism offoreign reporters for perceived bias in their coverage of theTibet protests, with some reporters receiving death threats.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao denied theChinese public harboured anti-Western sentiment.

"What they want is only impartial and fair media coverage.That is legitimate," Liu said.

China has lashed out at human rights groups and someEuropean and U.S. politicians who have, in China's words, triedto politicise the Games and raised the prospect of an Olympicboycott.

Olympics chiefs have praised the city's preparations andits showpiece stadiums, the Bird's Nest and Water Cube, havedrawn wide acclaim.

"The Beijing Organising Committee has put a tremendousamount of effort into putting on a great Games for theathletes," the IOC said in a statement.

"It is currently fine-tuning its operations and we aresatisfied by the assurances that we have received across anumber of areas of Games preparations, ranging from mediaservice levels to environmental contingency plans for improvedair quality."

(Additional reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim, Chris Buckley,Guo Shipeng in Beijing and Reuters Television; Writing by NickMacfie; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

("Countdown to Beijing Olympics" blog athttp://blogs.reuters.com/china)