Crowds roared with delight and waved hundreds of Chinese flags in welcome as the Olympic torch began an emotional tour of Sichuan yesterday, three months after a powerful quake devastated large swaths of the lush, mountainous province.
A minute of silence to honor the victims of the earthquake was held before the start of the run in Guangan. The city is about 300km from the epicenter of the quake but was unscathed.
Thousands of people were on hand, some wearing orange, red and white T-shirts that said “Light the Passion, Share the Dream.” They were gathered in a tourist park that honors communist patriarch Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平). Guangan is his hometown.
A traditional drum performance was held before the first of the 189 torch bearers set off on the 7.3km route. The way was lined with thousands of people, many waving Chinese and Olympic flags.
“I’m so moved ... it’s been a long wait. Even if we have to wait for hours it is worthwhile,” 28-year-old government worker Li Lei said.
He said he cried when the torch run started.
“For my parents and my family who were greatly affected by the disaster, this is of tremendous significance. For the Olympics spirit and for Sichuan’s spirit, this is a great thing,” said Li, who is from An County near Beichuan in northern Sichuan, one of the hardest-hit areas in the earthquake.
Another man said the torch would help Sichuan rebuild.
“The torch represents peace and harmony. The Olympic spirit will give us strength to rebuild,” government worker Qin Yi said.
After Guangan, the torch will wind through four more cities, including Mianyang, which was threatened by post-quake floods and provided shelter for tens of thousands of residents whose homes were destroyed by the magnitude-7.9 temblor.
Sichuan is the last stop for the Olympic flame before it heads to Beijing for Friday’s opening ceremony of the Games. The segment had originally been scheduled for mid-June but was postponed to support disaster-relief efforts.
The province has made swift progress since the May 12 disaster killed nearly 70,000 and left 5 million homeless. Reconstruction is well under way and new routines have been established in temporary settlements that have sprung up across the quake zone.
The Olympic flame seemed to further raise spirits. Families and friends came from hundreds of kilometers away to celebrate in Guangan. One group came in a convoy of five vehicles, complete with walkie-talkies to keep track of each other. Another consisted of 30 people who rode 200km on mountain bikes for the occasion.
“This is so inspiring!” said Wu Jing, 21, a student who was part of the bicycling group’s two-day journey. “There’s a lot of glory in having the torch come here. This is our way of showing our support.”
The streets of Guangan echoed with shouts of “Go China!” and “Go Olympics!” as an exuberant clusters of people marched through, waving flags and banners as cars honked their support. Many had stickers of the red and yellow Chinese flag on their face and matching headbands around their foreheads. Vendors did brisk business selling balloons, Olympic-themed pins and T-shirts proclaiming “I (Heart) China.”
“We have had so much sadness buried deep within us,” said Lu Guangquan, 36, a volunteer from nearby Linshui County. “The torch relay will help it all burst from within us and dissipate.”
Also See: Beijing 2008: China hoping rain won’t spoil the party
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS