The Paralympic Games commence in Beijing one year from yesterday. Most Beijing papers put a photo of the one-year countdown ceremony on the cover, but they chose to emphasize different aspects of the event.

Here's the cover of The First, an also-ran broadsheet-format paper run by the Beijing Youth Daily group. Andy Lau was a special guest yesterday, and here he's shown singing "Everyone is No. 1" to an audience of disabled athletes. Other papers (such as The Beijing News and Beijing Daily Messenger) featured photos of Lau, whose Adidas trainers stylishly complemented the customary dark suit he typically wears this sort of event, grasping the hand of an athlete in a wheelchair. (link)

Some papers went for a more button-down feel - Beijing Youth Daily's front page featured a photo of Paralympics president Philip Craven embracing China committee chair Wang Xinxian, while an unidentified functionary looks on.

The top headline in The First reads "10,000 people on the job inspecting food." Over 90% of Beijing's neighborhoods and administative districts have food quality supervisors; the article quotes an official who says that the makeup of this 8100-person strong work force is quite special: "The government has hired congressional representatives and CPPCC delegates, and has also recruited neighborhood and street committee heads as well as leaders of the women's federation and university villages."

The other big news today was the death of Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti.

Every day, The First comes wrapped in a glossy, full-color poster, most often of a sports figure. Today's was of Pavarotti. The caption reads: "Arrivederci Pavarotti. A high C floats up to heaven."