News > 2008 > May

Miss World carries the 2008 Olympic Torch 

China welcomes Olympic flame for mainland tour

by Peter Parks Sun May 4, 7:12 AM ET

SANYA, China (AFP) - China welcomed the Olympic flame on Sunday with a celebrity-packed start to the mainland torch relay, with officials hoping to extinguish memories of a global journey marred by protests over Tibet and other controversies.
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Amid heavy security, speed skating Olympic champion Yang Yang was the first to carry the torch on the southern tropical island of Hainan, with basketball star Yi Jianlian and current Miss World Zhang Zilin (right) also making appearances.

Ahead of the Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing on August 8, the torch will travel through more than 100 cities and scenic spots in China, including Tibet and Xinjiang where protests have erupted in recent weeks against Chinese rule.

Sunday's torch relay in Sanya, Hainan's popular tourist enclave, had a protest-free run amid a highly visible security presence, as China ensured no repeat of the problems that plagued the flame elsewhere around the world.

China had hoped the global legs of the relay, which traversed five continents, would showcase the nation's rise as a peaceful power.

But many groups used the relay to highlight a range of controversies swirling around China, including its rule of Tibet, alliance with Sudan's government and the communist government's human rights policies.

The Sanya leg came as two envoys of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama began talks with Chinese officials in southern China, amid international pressure over the government's handling of the Tibet crisis.

Separately, Chinese President Hu Jintao voiced confidence that the Games would be a success.

"I believe, with the wide participation of the peoples of the world... and support from the international Olympic family, the Beijing Olympics will be an event of high quality," the official Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying.

In what some may view as a bad omen for China's relay, Yang's run got off to a shaky start when the torch appeared to go out after just a few steps.

Yang was told to stop by security guards as the broadcast on national television cut away to images of the crowd.

Footage panned back to Yang as security guards relit the torch.

But Yang, who became China's first winter Olympic gold medallist with two victories in the 2002 Games, appeared undeterred by the hiccup.

"I felt both excited and nervous to be the first torchbearer in the Chinese mainland," a smiling Yang told reporters.

Yang passed the torch to Yi, who made his debut in the NBA this year with the Milwaukee Bucks, and the relay kicked off in earnest with 208 people carrying the sacred flame through Sanya.

Zhang, who last year became the first Chinese to win the Miss World event, said she was honoured to have carried the torch.

"I wish the distance could have been a bit longer, but I think that if in a lifetime you have the opportunity to have such a short experience, it's enough," she said.

Douglas Jackson, an executive at Coca Cola, one of the big Olympic sponsors, was the first foreigner to carry the torch in China.

Jackie Chan, the kung-fu superstar actor, was due to be the last personality to carry the flame in Sanya. Actress Zhang Ziyi of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" fame was also set to carry the flame along its final stages here.

On the global leg, the Tibet issue was under a particularly fierce spotlight amid unrest that began in the Himalayan region on March 10 that led to a highly controversial crackdown by Chinese military and security forces.

Tibet's government-in-exile says more than 200 people were killed in the crackdown, which included sealing off the region to foreign reporters that made accounts of bloodshed difficult to verify.

China says Tibetan "rioters" and "insurgents" killed 21 people, including a policeman on April 28.

Tibetan exiled leaders have said the plan to take the torch into Tibet is an insult to the people there considering the current situation.

However, aside from the regular relay through Tibet's capital, Lhasa, in June, China is also preparing to take a separate Olympic torch to the top of Mount Everest within days.

The torch may scale the world's highest mountain, which is inside Tibet, on Monday, depending on weather conditions, state press reported over the weekend.

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Zilin, who was recently in Ireland, will next travel to New Zealand and then to Cannes, where she will be a special guest at the Cannes Film Festival.

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