Hangzhou in final stage of preparations for 19th Asian Games

The 19th Asian Games will kick off in less than a month in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang province. Over 12,000 athletes from 45 Asian countries and regions will gather in the Chinese city for this grand sports event.

All preparation works for the Games have entered the final stage, from venue operations to service support. In a vibrant atmosphere, Zhejiang is ready to present more spectacular experiences.

Crew members of a Fuxing bullet train specially designed for the Hangzhou Asian Games pose for a picture on the train in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang province, Aug. 4, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Zhou Wei)

To meet the massive network demands during the opening and closing ceremonies, the main venue of the Games has undergone communication upgrades, with a capacity to handle internet usage by 100,000 people.

To enable better venue operations, an intelligent management system is in place to precisely monitor various data from foot traffic to meteorological conditions.

Many intelligent robots are also in service, assisting with venue patrols and daily management.

More technological means will be applied to improve venue operations, striving to achieve the best performance during the competitions.

A traffic operations drill was recently conducted on the streets of Hangzhou. A motorcade was seen running smoothly along digital lanes designated for the 19th Asian Games, while regular traffic followed signals and police guidance orderly.

A medical emergency drill was conducted at the emergency department of the Qingchun Campus of the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine.

An actor, who was playing a spectator accidentally fell in the stands and fractured the leg, was sent to the emergency department. The whole process took less than 30 minutes between the arrival of the "patient" and the surgery, including examination and expert consultation.

Medical experts instruct volunteers for the Hangzhou Asian Games to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the Moganshan Campus of Zhejiang University of Technology, Aug. 23, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Xie Shangguo)

At present, the hospital has assembled a specialist team consisting of nearly 1,000 people of over 50 disciplines for the Asian Games medical support.

"We have selected outstanding medical personnel from multiple hospitals across the province, striving to complete medical support tasks for the Hangzhou Asian Games and the Hangzhou Asian Para Games with a high standard," said Jiang Huiquan, deputy head of the medical and health department of the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee.

Hu Chuan'gang, deputy head of the catering service center of the Asian Games Village, has been busy these days improving service quality, reviewing catering issues and optimizing food delivery routes and processes.

He and his team had spent nearly 4 months formulating the menu for athletes. According to Hu, food on the menu must be free of performance-enhancing substances and satisfy the dietary needs of athletes from different ethnicities, cultures and regions. The dishes should also reflect the features of Zhejiang and Hangzhou, Hu added.

The Asian Games Village has six restaurants in total, which are expected to open 20 hours a day from the opening to the closing day of the Asian Games.

All food ingredients entering the Asian Games Village must undergo relevant testing. It is estimated that about 1,000 batches will be tested every day, and more than 20,000 batches will be tested during the Asian Games.

Recently, 163 items of broadcast equipment totaling 1,235 kilograms arrived at Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport from Geneva, Switzerland. They were the first batch of air freighted goods with Admission Temporaire－Temporary Admission (ATA) Carnets for the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Photo shows a night view of the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium, the main venue of the Hangzhou Asian Games. (People's Daily Online/Ding Junhao)

ATA Carnet, known as "the passport of cargos," is an international customs and temporary export-import document.

"We opened special service windows for the Asian Games, operating 24/7 with dedicated staff to ensure the fastest clearance for this batch of equipment," said Liu Fengbo, customs staff at Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport.

Over the past month, Hangzhou customs has handled customs clearance procedures for 14 batches of 260 Asian Games items from Thailand, South Korea and other countries and regions.

To host a streamlined, safe and splendid Asian Games, Hangzhou is going all out to improve its services in every aspect, including transportation, medical care, catering and the import and export of goods.

At 7:00 a.m., Hangzhou citizen Yu Cuiying started patrolling along a road in Hangzhou's Gongshu district. These days, she has kept taking down matters needing attention in her work notes.

"I can now perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation and bandaging," she said, adding that she has also learned simple English vocabulary that enables her to make basic conversations with foreigners after training organized by her community.

The first batch of 220 municipal-level Asian Games service stations has debuted across streets in Hangzhou, providing comprehensive volunteer services for spectators, tourists, and athletes. So far, Hangzhou has carried out 237,000 volunteer service activities joined by over 1.3 million people.