The folks at China Daily have come out with the unsurprising announcement that Chinese people are excited about the Olympics.

A survey released Monday revealed the intense anticipation held nationwide for the Beijing Olympics, with about three-quarters of respondents expressing their overwhelming excitement 150 days out from the opening ceremony.

The survey, conducted among 2,700 Chinese in 20 provinces and four major cities including Beijing, found 79 percent of residents in the capital were looking forward to the arrival of 16,000 athletes and coaches as well as some 30,000 journalists and dignitaries for the Aug 8-24 event.

More than 100 world leaders have expressed an interest in visiting Beijing in August, said Wu Dawei, vice-foreign minister.

“The figure is still on the rise everyday,” he said on the sidelines of the annual session of China’s parliament.

“The interesting thing is, the further people live away from Beijing and Shanghai, the more they anticipate the Games,” said Miles Young, chairman of Ogilvy Group Asia-Pacific, which co-produced the survey with Millward Brown ACSR.

Just going by how excited my Beijing neighbors are, I can’t imagine how much more excited rural Chinese residents could be.

Mike from Beijing Olympics Games Blog puts it best:

It is very seldom I have had a conversation with a Chinese person without the 鈥渁o-yuan-hui鈥� (Olympics) being mentioned.

Via China Daily and Beijing Olympics Games Blog