Source: CCTV.com

03-31-2008 14:53

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A chartered Air China plane carrying the Beijing Olympic flame touched down at the Beijing Airport Monday morning.

Zhou Yongkang (L, back row), member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and Liu Qi, president of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the 2008 Olympic Games, pose for pictures after receiving the Olympic flame at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, China, on March 31, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

Zhou Yongkang (L, back row), member of the Standing 
Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central 
Committee of the Communist Party of China, and Liu Qi, 
president of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the 2008 
Olympic Games, pose for pictures after receiving the 
Olympic flame at the Beijing Capital International Airport
in Beijing, China, on March 31, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

The 2008 Olympic torch was lit one week ago in Ancient Olympia, Greece, marking the start of the domestic and international torch relay that will end on Aug. 8 with the Games' opening ceremony.

An official welcome ceremony for the Olympic flame will be held late this morning at Tian'anmen Square.

The torch relay officially starts on Tuesday in Beijing when the flame is scheduled to depart for Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The Beijing Games relay is the longest and most ambitious ever planned, lasting 130 days and covering 137,000 kilometers (85,000 miles) worldwide.

The holy fire of the Olympics will also reach Mount Qomolangma, the world's highest peak. It will be the first time for the Olympic torch relay to be held on the 8,844.43-meter mountain.

The Beijing Olympics, the first to be held in China, will open on August 8 and run until August 24.

 

Editor:Du Xiaodan