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Flame ignited with Paralympic spirit
Former Paralympian Jin Jing is the first to receive the Olympic flame after it is ignited on August 28's ceremony at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.
Photo: Reuters
The Paralympic flame was ignited on Thursday in Beijing, a city still in the grip of a hangover from the just-ended Olympic Games.
Premier Wen Jiabao lit a cauldron in a formal ceremony at the capital's landmark Temple of Heaven, marking the beginning of a 10-day Paralympic torch relay that will visit 11 mainland cities before returning to Beijing in time for the opening ceremony on Saturday, September 6.
The Paralympics torch relay was initially also supposed to make stops overseas but organisers eventually scrapped legs in London (host of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games), the Russian city of Sochi (2014 Winter Games) and Vancouver (2010 Winter Games) - apparently fearing a repeat of the troubles that dogged the flame's journey earlier this year.
At the Paralympic Games torch-lighting ceremony on August 28 at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, performers add a touch of beauty.
Photo: Reuters
Thursday's lighting ceremony also featured Jin Jing, the former Paralympic fencer who gained fame for her fierce defence of the Olympic torch against violent protesters in the Paris leg of the Olympic relay.
The wheelchair-bound 27-year-old amputee held up the flame in front of the circular Prayer Hall for Good Harvests, an annual place of worship for ancient Chinese emperors, before passing it on to Beijing Communist Party Secretary and Bocog president Liu Qi, who then handed it to Mr Wen.
The lighting was followed by performances that included disabled artists.
Organisers have nominated more than 850 torch-bearers, mostly paralympians and other disabled celebrities from both in and outside China.
But the 10-day Paralympics relay will involve two flames travelling along separate routes, both starting out from Beijing. One will pass through Beijing, Xian, Hohhot, Changsha, Nanjing and Luoyang, while another flame will go to Shenzhen, Wuhan, Shanghai, Qingdao and Dalian.
The flames will converge in Beijing before the opening ceremony.
"The flame will symbolise over the next 10 days the unique sporting spirit displayed by Paralympic athletes," International Paralympic Committee president Philip Craven said at the Temple of Heaven ceremony.
Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong presided over the ceremony, which was attended by Politburo Standing Committee members Xi Jinping and Zhou Yongkang, as well as China's Disabled Person's Federation president Deng Pufang, the son of late leader Deng Xiaoping.