A month after stepping down as Hong Kong's environment minister last July, Sarah Liao Sau-tung took on a new role as a communicator of what she calls 'true and good stories' about a green Beijing Olympics.
'The Olympics is not just about sports, but culture and environment as well. And it is this culture thing that really matters,' said Dr Liao, who has the task of putting a positive spin on environmental issues surrounding the Games.
As an environmental consultant who volunteered to help Beijing's bid for the Games eight years ago, Dr Liao is fluent in the technical jargon involving the newest green technologies and measures adopted for the Games.
But getting what she described as 'leapfrog' achievements in Beijing across to the public has required a little more than technical competence.
Dr Liao, elected a 2007 green leader on the mainland, said cultural differences particularly between the foreign media and mainland officials, made the task more difficult.
In one case, a foreign journalist accused Beijing of manipulating air quality data by moving a monitoring station. But the station had been moved to a spot with even worse pollution to better reflect the true situation.
