(BEIJING, May 20) -- The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), the China Disabled Persons Federation and other organizations jointly launched a knowledge contest on the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games on May 20, the 17th "National Help-the-Disabled Day."

According to the organizers, the contest is one of the major communication events that will mark the one-year-countdown to the opening of the Paralympics on September 6, 2008. The Paralympics, to be concluded on September 17, will follow the Beijing Olympic Games, which start on August 8 and end on August 24, 2008.

Under the motto "Hold Paralympics as splendid as the Olympics", the contest aims at popularizing the Paralympics and its slogan of "Transcendence, Equality and Integration", making people more compassionate toward the disabled, and encouraging participation in and support for the Games.

The contest revolves around the Paralympics, BOCOG's preparations for the event, the Paralympic sports, the cause of the disabled in China and the ways to help them.

The campaign, which is to last for three and half months, will involve newspapers, magazines and websites and will unfold across the nation.

China has an estimated 83 million disabled people, accounting for about 6.3 percent of the country's population.