Source: CCTV.com

06-24-2008 10:53

Special Report:   2008 Beijing Olympic Games

The Beijing Olympic Flame continues its domestic journey. The torch relay in Xining, capital of Qinghai province, has started at the center square of the city.

The torch relay in Xining, capital of Qinghai  province, has started at the center square of the city.(Photo: beijing2008.cn)

The first torch bearer was Wu Tianyi, a Tajik medical scientist of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 291 torchbearers carried the flame along the 8.8 kilometer route, which covered the major landscapes of the city. Many of the torchbearers came from ethnic groups as the ethnic minority community accounts for more than half of Xining's population.

Xining was the last leg of the three-day relay in the province, which is located over 2,200 meters above sea level. With a history of more than 2,100 years, the city used to be the most common passing channel for the famous "Silk Road" in ancient times as well as an important connection between the central plains and the western part of China.

Nowadays, Xining also serves as a vital transportation hub in northwest China. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the so-called "Sky Road", starts here. It is the only city on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in which over one million people live.