Scene of the delivery ceremony

(BEIJING, January 28) -- The blue-colored National Aquatics Center (NAC), nicknamed the "Water Cube" and located by Beijing's North Fourth Ring Road, was inaugurated and delivered for use on the morning of January 28, 2008.

It took over four years to construct the Olympic venue, which is a new landmark in Beijing.

The project's ETFE air cushion structures are the first of their kind to be used in China and the largest and most complicated membrane system in any single project in the world.

With the efforts of various participants, many scientific and technical difficulties were overcome. Among the achievements, nine important self-dependent innovations resolved world-class difficult topics related to the project's steel structures, membrane structures and inner layout, formulated related work procedures and technical regulations, and filled in the gap in China's field of architecture.

Also, the NAC is the only Olympic venue to be funded by donations from compatriots. It reflects the great unity of the Chinese at home and abroad to stage the Olympic Games through joint efforts.