Where is Beijing? What's China like? The 2008 Olympics is a prime opportunity to introduce kids to another culture. There's a great article about China for kids at:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080513/YAK01/805130315/1073/YAK
The Internet Public Library offers a fun site for getting to know other cultures at: http://www.ipl.org/youth/cquest/
To talk about the history of the Olympics, you can find lots of facts at http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/ancient/index_uk.asp. Want to start a round of giggles? Tell the kids how the Ancient Greeks had to compete in the Olympics naked. I also got comments such as, "Cool!" and "You mean...like...no underwear?"