The Shanghai leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay will be held in the city tomorrow and on Saturday after being postponed during the nation's period of mourning for earthquake victims.
A man holds an Olympic flag yesterday at the Bund. The Beijing Olympic torch relay will be held in Shanghai tomorrow and on Saturday when traffic limits will be enforced. Century Park and the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum in Pudong will be closed tomorrow.
The Olympic flame will be passed on to Shanghai from Zhejiang Province this evening, local authorities announced yesterday.
The relay will pass eight city areas including historic sites, education and commercial centers as well as zones outside the downtown area.
More than 400 torchbearers will take part in the Shanghai relay.
The relay means there will be traffic restrictions and some transit bus lines will make detours or have their routes temporarily shortened.
The torch relay organizers will hold a news conference in Shanghai today, open to both Chinese and overseas media representatives.
China National Radio, the CCTV Olympic Channel, and local radio and TV stations will make live broadcasts of the torch relay from the launching ceremony at 8 a.m. tomorrow until the end.
As the relay continues on Saturday, sightseeing bus routes will also be affected, city tourism authorities said yesterday. Some services will be delayed, and others canceled.
Officials said people who have bought tourism tickets for Saturday can receive refunds before May 31 at all business sites of the Shanghai Sightseeing Bus Center.
The Olympic torch relay resumes its journey through China today at a container port in the eastern city of Ningbo, traveling across the Hangzhou Bay Bridge to Jiaxing. Later today the flame will be moved by vehicle to Shanghai.
It is unclear exactly how the route through the rest of China will be adjusted to make up for the delay this week.
After Shanghai, the torch and relay move to neighboring Jiangsu Province.
They are due to arrive on June 13 in Chongqing City and enter Sichuan Province, site of the deadly earthquake, two days later.
The torch will make a triumphant return to Beijing on August 6, two days before the Games' opening ceremony.
(Shanghai Daily May 22, 2008)