BEIJING - Curious locals are intrigued by the sand - 1,400 tons carried in 59 trucks - which has been offloaded at a construction site in Beijing's Chaoyang Park.

It appears white from a distance, but a closer look shows yellow granules too.

"It feels good, very thin and clean - not sticky - and it runs quickly through your fingers," a passer-by said after feeling the sand.

It is the first batch of 17,000 tons - specially approved by the International Volleyball Federation (IVF) - to arrive at the park where the venue for the 2008 Olympics beach volleyball competition is under construction.

At a total cost of 10 million yuan (1.28 million U.S. dollars), each shipment will spend 12 days aboard a boat from the south China island of Hainan to Tianjin Port and then a further two hours at least being trucked to Beijing.

However, one truck driver said the convoy was caught for hours in a traffic jam. "We spent almost the whole night on road, but it's for the Olympics, so I don't mind."

The shipments are expected to be completed by mid-July, according to the Beijing Chaoyang Park Development Company, which is building the venue.

The sand from Dongfang City, Hainan, was carefully selected by the organizing committee of the Games after considering several options.

The IVF sent the Hainan sand, together with three other samples taken elsewhere, to a laboratory in Canada. The Hainan sand beat others with its "high-quality", Canadian experts said.

"Olympic sand", which must conform to a set shape, size and color, usually comes from Finland, Sweden and Denmark, but the price would be three times that of domestic sand.

"Collected from local mines, the sand must undergo processing, including selection, washing and polishing," said Guo Shaoxian, an engineer with the development company.

A test volleyball competition is scheduled in August to solicit athletes' opinions about the sand, according to the company.

Wen Yuan, vice director of Dongfang City's land and resources bureau, said they have taken measures to ensure that the mine will rehabilitate the land after the mining of sand for the protection of the local ecosystem.

The mine has been asked to deposit the first payment they received into a bank account controlled by the land and resources bureau, so that if they fail to do the rehabilitation, the authority will use the money to hire others for the job.

The Chaoyang Park beach volleyball venue, the first in mainland China, will be able to hold 12,000 spectators and will feature a picturesque man-made beach, offering local people a taste of the seaside after the Game next year.