Shanghai - In the coming week, China will present itself to the world in a way that is different from what news headlines usually report about the country - with humanity. For the first time ever in Asia, the Special Olympic Games for people with intellectual disabilities will be held in the eastern port city of Shanghai, and China wants to prove that it cares about these weaker members ofits society.
Almost 7,500 athletes from more than 160 nations will compete against each other in a variety of sports from October 2 until October 11.
It will be only the second time that the Special Olympics will be held outside of the United States - Ireland hosted the event in 2003 - while it will be the largest everinternational sports competition in China and serves as an important preparatory event ahead of the much larger Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing.
"The central government has declared the Special Olympics in Shanghai and the Olympic Games in Beijing as the most important sports events of the next two years," said Tang Xiaoquan, vice president of China's Association for the Physically and Mentally Impaired.
China's international reputation has recently suffered considerably because of a lack of press freedom, reports of hacker attacks originating from the country and hazardous products.
Furthermore, China has been heavily criticised about its treatment of citizens with intellectual disabilities, who are often confined in psychiatric facilities and sedated with medication.
Pictures of labourers, some of them mentally impaired, being practically enslaved in Chinese brick factories were distributed around the globe.
Now China is apparently striving to correct this gruesome impression.
In the run-up to the Shanghai games, the city administration recently invited a group of journalists to inspect facilities for people with intellectual disabilities in Xuhui district.
Since 2005, Shanghai has established a total of 240 so-called "Sunshine Homes" in which 11,000 mentally challenged adults and teenagers receive simple job training designed to enable them to successfully join the city's work force.
"We believe that Shanghai has accomplished a lot in this respect in the past few years," said a member of the city administration.
At Jixun school of Xihui district, programme participants between the ages of 18 and 35 train how to re-stock supermarket shelves, how to make beds and how to cook.
Around the corner, in a special supermarket store called "Buddies", some of them can put their newly acquired abilities into action and earn some money.
On the school's sports ground, some youths are playing basketball and mini golf while in one of the classrooms two young men play a song on the piano.
The activities tie in with the spirit the "Special Olympics" want to confer worldwide and the event's motto "I know I can".
The competitions in 23 sports categories are intended to "showcase the abilities and achievements of mentally challenged people", according to Special Olympics chairman, Timothy Shriver.
The organisation was founded in 1968 by members of America's most famous politician family, the Kennedys, and provides sports training or organizes sports competitions for some 2.25 million children and adults with intellectual disabilities around the world.
At the Shanghai games, China will present itself under a light of hospitality, openness and concerned about each single member of society, an atmosphere that many hope will also prevail during the Olympic Games 2008.
