The sacred Olympic flame that Chinese mountaineers carried to the top of the world on May 8 will be reunited with the one on the main torch relay route June 21.
A torchbearer (R) holds the Beijing Olympic torch while carring a lantern encasing the Olympic flame before mounting the Mount Qomolangma in this May 8, 2008 file photo. [Xinhua]
The one-day Lhasa leg of the relay starts in the morning after the torch reaches the city from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, organizers said.
The torch relay in the Tibet Autonomous Region, in which 156 torchbearers will take part, has been cut down to one day from the originally planned two days because of the May 12 quake.
Some of the local torchbearers, who were supposed to participate in the relay in Shannan district, will now carry the sacred flame in Lhasa.
Gangbung is the first Tibetan to climb Mount Qomolangma through the north ridge (on May 25, 1960), and he will be the first local resident to carry the torch in Lhasa. The last torchbearer will be famous Tibetan singer Tseten Dolma.
The 11-km relay will start from Norbulingka and end at the Potala Palace. Norbulingka, which means "treasure park" in Tibetan, is also known as the Summer Palace of the Dalai Lama. The public garden is about 1 km southwest of Potala Palace in the western suburbs of Lhasa.
Famous for its Tibetan ethnic and religious features and architecture style, Norbulingka was listed by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site in 2001 as an extension of the Potala Palace.
At the end of the relay, the "Qomolangma flame" will be reunited with the main flame, after which the torch will travel to Qinghai province, on Saturday night, for a three-day relay that starts on Sunday.
(China Daily June 20, 2008)