China's National Games has budget cut by 78%

SHENYANG - The total funding for the pending 12th National Games will be reduced to no more than 800 million yuan ($130 million), which is a huge drop of 78 percent than previous budget, said the Games' organizing committee.

"For the opening and closing ceremonies, stadium construction, the torch relay and all other segments of the National Games, we strive to create, hopefully, a fresh fashion of organizing big events in a thrift manner and reaping practical achievement at the same time," said He Min, deputy director of the organizing committee of the Games, which will run from Aug 31 to Sept 12 in Northeast China's Liaoning province.

According to the committee, the number of competition and training venues is reduced from 129 to 117. And only 10 stadiums are newly constructed for the Games, accounting for 8.5 percent of the total venues.

The opening and closing ceremonies will also be delivered in a "frugal" manner. Since its inauguration in 1987, the Games will feature its opening ceremony for the first time during the daytime, which will result in a clean cut of the expense for lighting and fireworks.

The total cost for the opening and closing ceremonies is 9 million yuan, about 10 percent of the original budget.

In addition, the organizers pledge to get rid of redundant arrangement of the Games, namely the cancellation of a series of conferences and exhibitions, and the combination of awarding ceremonies for contributory institutions and outstanding individuals.

Furthermore, the number of foreign guests to be invited for the Games will be reduced by half, with neither welcome banquets nor souvenirs for them.