Changping Vocational School in the suburbs of Beijing is an ideal place for many pretty women. It is the training base of the Beijing Olympic etiquette volunteers, and its graduates hope to become Miss Olympic Etiquette, serving at Olympic awards ceremonies.

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) began selecting volunteers to serve at Olympic awards ceremonies from schools around Beijing last June. The selection process followed the principle of "pick the best from the better."

Candidates should be 1.65-1.78 meters in height, have regular features and a good figure and their physical conditions should conform to the position's requirements. More than 1,400 women have already taken the 20-day intensive training course, but only 380 will be on the final list and serve at the awards ceremonies. Fortunately, the women who fail this will still have a lot of possibilities to serve in other Olympic ceremonies.

"It is definitely our dream to face our idols," said candidate Hao Jingyu. Her idol is world-record hurdler Liu Xiang. "As long as I can get the qualifications to be on the final list, all the hard work will be worthwhile," she added.

The women revealed that before the intense training the teacher told them jokingly, "Only after you are trained as heroines can you get the qualifications to serve at the Olympic awards ceremonies."

The closed intense training, which lasts for almost three weeks, includes figure training, etiquette training, awards ceremony practice drills, Olympic and cultural knowledge study, as well as communication skills. Every day, the women must get up at 5 a.m. and go to bed at 10 p.m. "Every action in the awards ceremonies must be practiced repeatedly for hundreds even thousands of times," said Hao.

"I am very graceful now and through the training my overall temperament has changed a lot," she said. "The teacher said we must be careful of every detail. Specifically, we have very strict standards for every detail of standing, walking and even smiling."