Little ray of sunshine in shape of a girl

In a small village, north of Beijing, I joined a local family and celebrated the birth of their baby girl. Little Zheng Meng'ao looked like a bundle of joy. After a month of witnessing so much death and devastation in Sichuan, it was refreshing to see such a little ray of sunshine come into the world. In English, the girl's name is Olympic Dream. Locals have quickly nicknamed her Meng Yi or One Dream.

The village has about 2,700 people and is located in the Shunyi district. It rests next to the Olympic rowing-canoeing venue and local villagers have seen the Games venue develop over the past few years. They are really excited.

Village elder Huang Zhendong was my tour guide and was born and bred in the village. The 66-year-old lives with his wife, who was also born in the village. His son and daughter are both married and live in Beijing city and Shunyi town. The whole family comes visiting on weekends and holidays.