2008 Summer Paralympics torch relay


The torch relay for the 2008 Summer Paralympic Games was held between August 28 and September 6 in eleven cities, and also included the tomb of Yellow Emperor.

Planned Route

In 2007, the BOCOG announced the torch relay route, composed of three parts:
In June 2008, the Beijing Games' Organizing Committee announced that the planned four international torch relay cities and four national cities for the Paralympic Games had been cancelled. The Committee stated that the relay was being cancelled to enable the Chinese government to "focus on the rescue and relief work" following the Sichuan earthquake. The torch relay was held exclusively within China.
Despite the officially stated reason for the cancellation, The Guardian attributed it to China's wish to avoid "a repeat of the protests" which had occurred in a number of cities around the world during the Olympics torch relay. Similarly, The Times wrote: "China has cancelled the international leg of the Paralympic torch relay, which was due to pass through London, in an apparent attempt to avoid similar protests to those that dogged the Olympic torch’s global tour." Reuters reported simply: "China, whose Beijing Olympic torch relay was dogged by protest overseas, on Wednesday cancelled the international leg of the Paralympic torch relay, giving the devastating Sichuan earthquake as the reason."
The relay started from Tiantan on August 28 and then divided to two parallel lines before coming together in Beijing:

The route of Modern China

  1. Beijing
  2. Shenzhen
  3. Wuhan
  4. Shanghai
  5. Qingdao
  6. Dalian
  7. Beijing

    The route of Ancient China

  8. Beijing
  9. Xi'an
  10. Hohhot
  11. Changsha
  12. Nanjing
  13. Luoyang
  14. Beijing

    Lighting

Final Relay in Main Stadium

Chinese athletes with disabilities carried the torch in Beijing National Stadium during the Games' Opening Ceremony. Jin Jing carried the torch into the stadium, before it was passed on to Paralympic gold medallists Wu Yunhu, Zhang Hongwei, Zhang Haidong, Sun Changting and Hou Bin. Hou then pulled himself up on a rope to the top of the stadium to light the Paralympic flame.