Both torchbearers, one from China and the other from the United States, embrace eath other after the Olympic flame is passed during the torch relay in Xining, capital of Qinghai Province, June 24, 2008. [Xinhua] |
The number of Xining's torchbearer is also the most compared with previous stops.
"When I was carrying the torch, I prayed for the quake-affected people and I hope the Flame would bring them strength and warmth," said Zhang Qiang, a neurosurgeon who just came back from relief work in Sichuan.
"Though I'd left the disaster area, I still want to pass our love from the Flame to the people and relief workers there," said he.
The last torchbearer, Li Chunxiu, a retired walking racer and bronze medallist in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, lightened the community cauldron at 10:15 a.m. in the closing ceremony in Xinning Square.
"I'm honored and proud to a torchbearer," said Li. "It's my first time to see such a spectacle and I feel the passion and enthusiasm from people in my hometown."
"When I lightened the community caldron, the common aspiration of all ethnic groups in Qinghai as well as the Olympic Dream was also lightened," said she.
Located on the eastern edge of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with an average altitude of over 2200 meters (about 7217 feet), Xining serves as a vital transportation hub in northwest China where starts the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and Highway, the well-known "Sky Road".
