As the Chinese government continues to grapple with the devastation caused by last week's massive earthquake, the focus -- at least temporarily -- will move to trade this week, when British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell visits Beijing.
On Thursday, Campbell will officially launch the British Columbia-Canada Pavilion, which will be open until the end of September to promote the 2010 Winter Olympic Games a well as trade between China and B.C.
"We have to tell people about what the situation is in B.C.,'' said Campbell in an interview with CTV.
"We can't expect them to know. We're a small province with 4.2 million people. We're a small country and I think out of all the countries of the world, this will give us a competitive advantage a communications advantage," he said.
The pavilion is situated between the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square in Beijing and aims to promote trade by helping Canadian firms make connections in China and keep them up to date with developments in their sector.
When a CTV reporter visited Beijing ahead of Thursday's launch, he found that while mourning for the earthquake victims continues, China is having to deal with another enormous challenge - last minute preparations for this summer's Olympic games.
The opening ceremonies for the games are less than 12 weeks away, and there is still a lot of work to do, CTV has learned
It is why, after pausing to mourn the earthquake victims, construction crews were back at work Monday near the Olympic Stadium or the Bird's Nest as it is called.
with a report by CTV British Columbia's Mike Killeen.
