Beijing to get Great Wheel of China
Work has started on the world's biggest wheel, in a Beijing Park. The Great Wheel of China will dwarf the London Eye in London, which stands at 135 metres (443 ft) high and since its opening has had more than 30 million passengers pass in and out of its glass pods. The Beijing Great Wheel will stand an extra 73 metres taller at 208 metres (680ft). This height was chosen to celebrate the 2008 Olympics, which opens next August.
China is already holder of the "highest wheel" with an earlier effort in the southern city of Nanchang.
The Beijing Wheel, which is due to be completed by 2009, will carry 1920 passengers at t time, 40 to each of its 48 compartments, compared with the Eye, which can carry 25 in each pod. The circuit time will be 30 minutes, which is the same as the Eye, but given the visibility in Beijing from the effects of smog, which was reduced to 46 metres at one point last month.
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