As one of Beijing’s landmarks, the National Stadium (or Bird’s Nest Stadium) is situated in the north part of Beijing’s mid-axis. As the main venue of the Olympic Games 2008, it was for the opening and closing ceremonies, track and field competitions, men’s soccer tournament finals and other events. It also served as one of the venues for the 2008 Paralympics Games.

Covering a floor area of 3,130,000 square meters and a total construction space of 258,000 square meters, the nest-shaped stadium is a sphere in radius of 300 meters, with a height of 69 meters. The steel roof is covered with a double-membrane structure, that is, fixed on the steel structure the upper transparent membrane, and fixed on the lower inner wall the translucent acoustic ceiling. This design on the one hand avoids the rain and other inclement weather; on the other, it ensures the effect of the live sound and isolates the outer noise.

The Walk of Fame is built in scenic area of the National Stadium, with fingerprints left on, in recognition of outstanding cultural and sports stars including Olympic champion at home and abroad, outstanding China’s sports coaches, athletes, also a small amount of sports-related literature and art stars. A super-luxury four-star standard hotel is located in the north side of the stadium, with separate restaurant, guest rooms mainly concentrated in the stadium 5, 6 floors, totally 80 sets. The restaurant is located in the third floor covering an area of about 10,000 square meters, of which a large French window is placed facing the venue covering the platform that extended to the outdoors. People can sit on the platform, enjoying food or taking a bottle of wine while watching the game or performance. Near the stadium, a swimming stadium –Water Cubic – is located to the east, the Olympic Forests Park is to the north, and there are several tourist bus terminals scattered in each direction; the subway No.10 also reaches here.

The stadium was built initially in Dec. 2003 and open to the public in Jun. 2008, with a sum cost of 3.1 billion RMB. The fantastically modern and slightly surreal construction is notable for being world’s longest spanning steel construction and a large-sized green building with high-tech geothermal and water-cycling systems. The project was a successful joint effort of Chinese and Swiss engineers and contractors.