In a bid to highlight the theme of "transcendence, equality, integration", the Paralympic torch relay will start today at the China Millennium Monument, a symbolic and commemorative piece of architecture built to welcome the arrival of the year 2000.

"A total of 240 torchbearers will participate in the 12-km relay in Beijing over two days," Sun Xuecai, deputy director of the Beijing sports administration, told a news conference yesterday.

Today will begin with a ceremony at 8:15 am, when the torches from the Modern and Ancient routes come together to light the cauldron.

Wang Juan, a polio sufferer who works at the Beijing Sports and Vocational Training Center for the Disabled, will run the first leg.

In her sporting career she has broken nine world records in athletics and fencing.

In a bid to address the ancient history and culture of Beijing, the torch will be carried to the Summer Palace.

Beginning at the New Palace Gate of the Summer Palace, the torch will be carried through the Long Corridor to the Marble Boat and will be passed to a torchbearer in a boat on Kunming Lake.

The boat will travel in a "Z" pattern, like the Beijing Paralympic emblem.

Thirty torchbearers will pass the torch on the water and 47 relay will carry it in the Palace.

The torchbearers are representatives from different walks of life from home and abroad, including 10 people from Hong Kong and 83 from overseas, Sun said.

The oldest torchbearer will be 81-year-old former Olympian Shirley Olafsson from Canada, and the youngest is 14-year-old Philip Cochrane from Britain, who ranks fourth in the international Tennis Federation's Wheelchair Tennis for Youth listing.

Seventy people with disabilities will take part in the two-day relay, Sun said.

"I am glad to be a Paralympic torchbearer, and I will hold the torch high to light the way to my future," disabled singer and shooter Li Chen said.

"Sport is not only about gold medals for me. It has allowed me to pursue the uplifting Olympic spirit that encourages me to be more active and confident in my life."

(China Daily September 5, 2008)