PINGYAO, Shanxi: Jeff Morgan, an urban planner from the United States, climbed down from the 600-year-old city walls of Pingyao to roaring cheers and to the beat of drums, holding aloft the Olympic torch yesterday.

As executive director of the California-based Global Heritage Fund, he has been keenly involved in the conservation of Pingyao - a World Cultural Heritage - since 2006.

Before Pingyao, his organization was involved in the conservation of Lijiang, Yunnan province, for four years.