The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic GamesAugust 8-24 2008
Related story: Paralympic torch to be lit on Aug. 28
Date/Time: 2:00 p.m., Friday, August 22
Venue: Main Press Center (MPC)
Wang Hui
Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to today's press conference at MPC. This is already the 14th day of the Games, two days to go for the Games. However, at the same time in another 15 days, we will welcome the Beijing Paralympic Games. Together like the Olympics, we will have torch relay. This is the theme of today.
We are happy to be with us several honored guests, Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice president of BOCOG; Tang Xiaoquan, president of executive board of China Disable Persons Federation, executive vice president of BOCOG; and Zhang Ming, director of Olympic Torch Relay Center, BOCOG.
Before we give you a brief introduction of the torch relay, let us watch the video first.
(Video being played)
Thank you. Now I would like to give the floor to Mr. Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice president of BOCOG, to brief everyone on the torch relay.
Jiang Xiaoyu
Good afternoon, friends from the media, thank you. In another two days, the Beijing Olympics which gave you a lot of joy and excitement will come to an end.
On September 6, Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games will be held in Beijing. As a usual practice before the Games, we will have the Paralympic Torch Relay announcing to the whole world the upcoming of the 13th Paralympic Games.
The torch flame of the Paralympics is the highest symbol of the ideal of the Paralympic sports. The torch relay is a very important method in passing on the information of harmony and friendship and to showcase the Paralympic content of sprint in emotion. The flame also carries with it the emotion of 600 million disabled persons in the world and also expresses the idea of harmony between people, the harmony between human and society, and the harmony between human and nature. The Paralympic flame of the torch relay enables the host country as well as its people to have the opportunity to feel the important meaning of the Paralympic Games. It is also a very good opportunity for the host countries and cities to showcase themselves.
The Beijing Paralympic Torch Relay will follow the objective of 'equal success to both the Olympic and Paralympic Games' and will use a unique torch relay to showcase the perseverance of the disabled persons in the world and also take this opportunity to spread and popularize Paralympic knowledge, as well as to promote the spirit of the Paralympic Games, which is the spirit of motion, to spread the contributions of the Paralympic Games for peace, friendship and progress of this society. We will also take this opportunity to promote the development of the disabled people in China and also to leave a very important cultural heritage.
I will mainly make 3 points and after that we will be willing together with Tang Xiaoquan and Zhang Ming to take question afterwards.
First, I want to give basic information about the torch relay as well as the route arrangement of the torch relay.
The theme of the Beijing Paralympic Torch Relay is "Transcendence, Integration and Equality". The total length of the route is 13,181 km. We plan to have 850 torchbearers. We have two routes. One is the route of "Ancient China" or Chinese civilization and the other is route of "Modern China". The relay will be in 11 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government. Altogether the torch realy will last 9 days, symbolizing a grand feat for "persons without a disability and persons with a disability running together to jointly build a harmonious society".
The lighting ceremony of the Beijing Paralympic Torch Relay shall take place at the Temple of Heaven Beijing after 10:30 a.m., August 28, 2008. The flame lighting in the Olympics will emulate - using the optical focus of a concave mirror to light the Olympic flame.
The Temple of Heaven is where ancient Chinese offered sacrifices to Heaven. The Paralympic flame will be lit at the Temple of Heaven to help "integrate Heaven and Man", a core concept of traditional Chinese culture and embody the Chinese pursuit for "harmony between man and nature". It is also in line with the emblem of the Beijing Paralympic Games of 2008 - "Sky, Earth and Human Beings".
From August 29 to September 6, in the nine days, the torch relay of the Beijing Paralympics will follow two routines simultaneously. One of them is route of "Ancient China" and the route of "Modern China".
The "Ancient China" route shall start from the Temple of Heaven and pass by many well-known ancient Chinese capitals or cities of historic and cultural significance. Specifically this includes: Xi'an, Hohhot, Changsha, Nanjing, and Luoyang.
This route will showcase the Chinese civilization and the beautiful sceneries.
The "Modern China" route will also begin at the Temple of Heaven and pass by many modern cities of China. Specifically this includes: Shenzhen, Wuhan, Shanghai, Qingdao, and Dalian.
The "Modern China" route not only signifies the leading role of the eastern coastal areas of the economic development of China during the reform and opening up but also embody the achievement of the economic rise in Central China, thus to display achievement of China, ever since the Chinese reform and opening up ceremony.
On September 5, 2008, the two Paralympic Torch Relay routes will converge in Beijing and reach National Stadium (the Bird's Nest) for the Opening Ceremony to light the cauldron on September 6.
The arrangement of the daily torch relay of the flame will be the same of the Olympics. Everyday we will have ceremony and then follow the torch relay, and each bearer will run 50 meters, especially for Beijing. In other cities, there will be 60 torchbearers in each of the torch relay cities (except Beijing) and the relay route will be about three kilometers long. At the end of the relay there will be a closing ceremony. The process of the torch relay will last about one and a half hours.
As Beijing is the host city of the Paralympic Games of 2008, the distance of the relay route, relay time and the number of the torchbearers will be more than those of other cities.
The emblem of the Beijing Paralympic Torch Relay follows that of the Paralympic Games of 2008 - "Sky, Earth and Human Beings". The pattern, style and design of the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay is followed in the Beijing Paralympic Torch Relay.
However, the Paralympic torch, the torch lamp, cauldron, torchbearers and escort's uniform will employ the emblem of the Beijing Paralympic Torch Relay.
Second is about the selection of the torch bearers. There are 850 torchbearers in the Beijing Paralympic Torch Relay and people with a disability will account for about 20%.
The torchbearers have been selected by the relay cities, China Disabled Persons' Federation, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), and Paralympic sponsors. Each selection body will follow the systems to have the nomination and also to follow the approval and examination procedures to make sure that they can successfully complete the selection work.
So far, most selecting main bodies have completed their torchbearer-selection work.
These torchbearers include former medalists of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, excellent athlete representatives of people with a disability, representatives from through China who are devoted to the care of and support to people with a disability and are willing to make every efforts to improve the living conditions of people with a disability and promote the harmony of communities, representatives of volunteers of the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games and representatives of the staffs in the organizations that support people with a disability.
The Beijing Paralympic Torch Relay will be produced in our official TV signals including texts, pictures, audio signals, etc. These are provided for the media from all over the world free of charge. The official signal production teams of every torch relay day will produce at least 5-minute video content, 10 pictures, 5-minute audio content and one press release both in Chinese and English. The official television signal will also be issued via the global satellite network. If you want to know more information, you can visit the Official Website of the Beijing Paralympic Games Torch Relay Website. The official pictures, audio content and press content as well as TV signal form will also be issued by this official website. At the same time, the official Paralympics website will also be in very timely fashion issue information about the torch relay route arrangements, very brief introduction of the torch bearers and other related information.
I want to thank our friends from the media for your support and attention to the Paralympic torch relay. The Beijing Olympic Games is coming to an end and the Paralympic Games is equally splendid. We warmly welcome you to continue to pay attention to the Paralympic Games. Thank you very much.
Wang Hui
Now the floor is open for questions.
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