Poor air quality and traffic jams are the major concerns, although a lot of efforts have been made to tackle these problems.

"The air is not good enough yet," IOC vice president Gunilla Lindberg said last week during her visit to the Chinese capital. " And the traffic just now is terrible."

Liu Qi admitted that there is a gap between Beijing and some very clean and tidy cities, but he said he was confident that "during the time of the competition we can provide a good environment for all the athletes."

After China won the Olympic bid, it promised to make Beijing an "ecological city" with "green hills, clear water, grass-covered ground, and blue sky".

Since then the city has spent 100 billion yuan (12.5 billion US dollars) on planting trees and curbing polluting industries, according to the State Environmental Protection Administration of China.

Heavy polluters like the Capital Iron and Steel Group were moved out of the capital and 200 small and medium-sized firms had been shut down. The city has also phased out over 30,000 old taxies and 3,900 old diesel-powered buses that do not meet environmental standards.

Traffic will also be remedied by special Olympic lanes and advanced public transport, said Liu.

To the Chinese organizers, what may be more tricky than bad traffic and pollution is how to improve people's civility.

The Olympic Games has been widely regarded as an opportunity to showcase China to the world. However, worries have been building that uncivilized behavior like queue-jumping and spitting in public could take the gloss off that image.

"Bad manners were a significant threat to the success of the Olympics," said He Zhenliang, China's senior IOC member.

The city government has already launched a "smile" campaign and etiquette courses are being offered to teach shopkeepers and other service industry workers such as taxi drivers how to be more polite and welcoming to foreigners.

The authorities have also designated the 11th day of each month as "Queue-up Day", when residents are expected to pay special attention to not pushing in line.

"People's civility is improving and we hope to show that China is a country rich in history and civilization in 2008," said Liu Qi.