Work has begun in Beijing to build the world’s biggest Ferris wheel, in another sign of China’s ambitions before the 2008 Olympics. The Great Wheel of China will tower over the London Eye click to enlarge When completed in 2009, the Great Wheel of China will be 682ft high, towering over the London Eye by 239ft. Ferris wheels were regarded as something of a curio until the London Eye opened to mark the Millennium in 2000. Since then, it has had more than 30 million passengers. The Beijing wheel will carry 1,920 passengers, 40 to each of 48 18-ton pods. Florian Bollen, the chairman of the Great Wheel Corporation which is building the wheel, said: “They are the perfect way to get an overview of a city when you arrive.” But while the wheel is cheaper than London’s, probably costing 100 yuan (£6.50) per person, compared with the Eye’s £13, visibility in Beijing’s notorious smog may not be so good. In another sign of Olympic fever, nearly 3,500 of the country’s younger residents are named “Olympics”, according to The Beijing Daily. It said the children, nearly all male, had been named “Ao Yun”, the first two characters of the Chinese for Olympic Games, since 2000.

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