'Tallest' big wheel starts rolling

Work has begun on the world's tallest big wheel which will soar 680 feet over the Chinese capital Beijing.

The 99 million (£44 million) Beijing Great Wheel was supposed to be open to tourists at next summer's Olympic Games, but the project has been delayed by a number of design changes and a completion date has not been announced.

The wheel is being built in eastern Beijing's Chaoyang Park. It will have 48 air-conditioned compartments that can carry a total of 1,920 passengers.

It was designed by the same Dutch company that worked on the 443-foot London Eye, which was the largest wheel in the world when it was built in 1999.

China already has a wheel taller than that The 525 foot Star of Nanchang opened in 2006 in southern Jiangxi province.

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