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Compiled by the Government Communication and Information System Date: 07 Aug 2008 Title: Olympic flame begins final leg in Beijing -------------------- Beijing - The Olympic flame on Wednesday embarked on its final leg to a boisterous welcome by a cheering and rapturous flag-waving crowd ahead of the eagerly awaited sporting mega event begins in the Chinese capital. The flame started from the landmark Forbidden City as tens of thousands of residents of Beijing gathered to receive it after it completed its longest distance of any Olympic torch relay that took it through 137 000kms across six continents over 129 days. It will pass through Beijing for three days, carried by a total of 841 torch bearers and will cover 16.4km on the first day. The crowd gathered at the historic Tiananmen Square since early morning, holding aloft the red Chinese national flags and the white Beijing Olympics flags. Chinese first astronaut Yang Liwei received the torch from Liu Qi, President of the Beijing Organising Committee at a brief ceremony held at the small square in front of the 558-year old Forbidden City's Meridian Gate embellished by red carpets and flags. "I am very happy to be here. That the torch is finally in Beijing is a realisation of a dream we have had for a hundred years," Mr Liwei said. Mr Liwei, who became a national hero after China's first manned space mission in October 2003, said: "The torch relay has displayed the spirit of Chinese. "I am very glad to be the first torch bearer in Beijing but the honour goes to our motherland. I feel proud of my country." From the Forbidden City, the torch passed through landmarks including the Tinanmen Square, the place where the birth of the Communist China was proclaimed and one that also saw crushing of a pro-democracy movement led by students in 1989 and the egg-shaped National Centre for the Performing Arts and the Temple of Heaven. - BuaNews-NNN |
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