Beijing is a metropolis in northern China and the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the four municipalities of the PRC, which are equivalent to provinces in China's administrative structure. Beijing is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. The municipality of Beijing borders Hebei Province to the north, west, south, and for a small section in the east, and Tianjin Municipality to the southeast. Beijing is China's second largest city, after Shanghai. Beijing is a major transportation hub, with dozens of railways, roads and motorways passing through the city. It is also the focal point of many international flights to China. Beijing is recognised as the political, educational, and cultural center of the People's Republic of China, while Shanghai and Hong Kong predominate in economic fields. The city hosted the 2008 Olympic Games.

Infomercial Format

Infomercials are long-format television commercials, typically five minutes or longer. The distribution of Infomercials is via paid programming. This phenomenon started in the United States where infomercials typically shown overnight --outside of peak hours. Some television stations chose to air infomercials as an alternative to the former practice of sign-off. By 2009, most US infomercial spending is during early morning, daytime, and evening hours. Stations in most countries around the world have instituted similar media structures. Over $150 billion of consumer products in the U.S. sold through infomercials. Infomercial is sometimes misapplied and used to refer to direct response television advertisements of 60 to 120 seconds in length. However, the term describes program length advertisements. In the US, they are typically 28 minutes and 30 seconds in length. In the US, DRTV advertisements of 30 seconds to 2 minutes in length are typically called "short form" or "DRTV spots" and are not included in the advertising industry's use of the term "infomercial". Note that in the US market, a small amount of media can be purchased for 5 minutes length advertisements, although this time is quite limited. Outside of the US market, lengths depend on the lengths allowed by television stations and government regulators. Infomercial was originally applied only to television advertising; it is now sometimes used to refer to any presentation with a significant amount of information in an actual, or perceived, attempt to persuade to a point of view. When used this way, the term may be meant to carry an implication that the party making the communication is exaggerating truths or hiding important facts. Often, it is unclear whether the actual presentation fits this definition because the term is used in an attempt to dis-credit the presentation. In this way, political speeches may be derogatorily referred to as "infomercials" for a specific point of view.