A quick check of the online bookstores already turns up many Chinese book titles covering virtually every aspect of the Olympics.

Titles on offer include On Safe Olympic Games: Calamity Protection for the City and the Comprehensive Crisis Management, or Research on Olympic Culture, or Strategies of Olympic Sponsoring, or a translation of an English book, Olympic Turnaround: How the Olympic Games Stepped Back from the Brink of Extinction to Become the World's Best Known Brand.

It may be too early for biographies and memoirs about the Beijing Olympics. But I Designed the Seoul Olympic Games, by Park Seh-jik, chief organizer of the 1988 Olympics, is a bestseller and a must-read for some Chinese Olympic officials.

For a light read, you could turn to I Sing Children's Songs to Welcome Olympics or Beijing 2008 Olympic Flowers.

It must be stressed that the aforementioned are not necessarily the editor's picks. China has published hundreds of Olympic-related books over the past few years. But many are not walking off the shelves fast and some could have been better prepared and thought out.

For example, the pocket-sized 100 Sentences of Olympic English starts with 10 sentences of handy basic Olympic English for business co-operation:

Nice to meet you / May I speak to / Just a minute / Excuse me / I am afraid / Thank you for / What about / Would you like (a cup of tea) / Cheers for our co-operation / Enjoy your time in Beijing.

In comparison, 300 Sentences of Olympic English teaches sporting and Games usage and has daily activities and city tours, while 1,000 Sentences of Olympic English covers subjects including accommodation, food and drink, transport, shopping and tourism. Apart from their specific information on sports and the Games it would be hard to differentiate them from the many tourist books on the market.

But Olympic Security English is an exception. The authors, from the China People's Public Security University, say in the preface their intention in writing the book was to make it interesting to learn, remember and use, although readers may not want to hear its dialogues and drills in real life. For example:

"Policeman: Order! Order! Please don't push! Line up and come in one by one!

"Foreigner: Oh! Officer! I've hurried here just for this match! But I'm too late to buy the ticket. Can you do me a favour and let me in?

"Policeman: I'm afraid you can't get in without a ticket.

"Foreigner: Here is the money for the ticket. Take it and do let me in.

"Policeman: We don't collect any cash. Please leave here, or I will have you removed.

"Foreigner: All right."

The book has a first copy run of 12,000 and sells for slightly more than US$2.

So if you still want to write a book about the Beijing Olympics, please write it quickly and make it both enlightening and entertaining.

(China Daily 11/10/2006 page5)