China to auction off 20 million items of Olympic memorabilia

CHINA plans to auction off 20 million items related to the Beijing Olympics, including the bed that basketball star Yao Ming slept in while taking part in the Games.

Also on the block will be electric appliances used by Liu Xiang, the celebrity 110m hurdler forced to quit the Games with an injury, and ancient musical instruments from the opening ceremony.

There are so many items it could take up to two years to auction them all. The auctions will be conducted by the China Beijing Equity Exchange, which mostly sells off shares in state-owned enterprises to private buyers. It may raise $US145m.

Many Chinese sports fans are suffering after spending much of August in front of their television sets watching the Beijing Olympics. Chinese state media cited experts as saying that, since the Games ended on Sunday, many viewers were “feeling lost and prone to whining.”

Said Lin Ye, a Shanghai-based psychological consultant: “TV viewers and their families shared fun and excitement so that their home atmosphere became better (and) they temporarily forgot about worries in their work.

“When the Olympics ended on Sunday, they had to return to normal life and face the worries in their work, but often they were unable to adjust their mood so quickly.”

He dubbed this phenomenon the “Olympic Syndrome”, and said office workers and students were most vulnerable.