"New Beijing, Great Olympics." This has become the official slogan for Beijing's bid for the 2008 Olympics.

At a ceremony on Tuesday in Beijing, the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Bid Committee approved the official emblem, designed jointly by experts from Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

The emblem resembles in a five-pointed star in the same colors as the Olympic rings. It is modeled after the "Chinese knot", a traditional Chinese handicraft, and symbolizes unity, co-operation, exchange and development by peoples of the five continents working in unison to build a better future in the new millennium.

The star is in the shape of a person practicing traditional Chinese Wushu routine Taijiquan (shadow boxing). It is also meant to bring out the essence of China's long-standing traditional sports culture.

"Smoothness, harmony, vitality and mobility characterize the design, a symbol of the Olympic spirit -- Faster, Higher and Stronger," explained a Committee statement.

The Committee also launches its Internet website www.beijing-olympic.org.cn, to promote the image of Beijing and provide up-to-date information of its Olympic bid.

Since its founding on September 6 last year, the Committee has received more than 2,000 design proposals for the emblem and over 30,000 proposed slogans from across the country, including Hong Kong, Macao and Chinese Taipei.

Committee officials said that the slogan "New Beijing, Great Olympics" fully signifies that Beijing, a city with a history of over three thousand years, has stridden into the new millennium with a new outlook resulting from the policies of reforms and opening to the outside world.

"If the 2008 Olympics is held in China, a country with one fifth of the world's population, it would be a further boost to spread the Olympic spirit and a new chapter will be opened in the Olympic movement," said Liu Qi, president of the Committee.