CHINESE President Hu Jintao lit a cauldron at Beijing's Tiananmen Square with the Olympic torch Monday morning, marking the official start of the round-the- world relay. Two hours after a specially chartered Air China plane carrying the flame from Greece touched down, the ceremony kicked off in the square in the heart of Beijing. Vice President Xi Jinping, member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), addressed the ceremony. Zhou Yongkang, member of the nine- man Political Bureau Standing Committee, and other CPC and state leaders attended the ceremony. Also present was International Olympic Committee (IOC) Coordination Commission chairman Hein Verbruggen, who addressed the ceremony on behalf of IOC President Jacques Rogge. The flame was scheduled to depart from Beijing on Tuesday for the Kazakh city of Almaty, the first stop on its global tour of 135 cities. The relay will cover 137,000 kilometres in 130 days before the flame finally arrives at the National Stadium in Beijing on 8 August for the opening ceremony. The torch demonstrates the artistic and technical level of China. It conveys the message of a Green Olympics, a hi-tech Olympics and the People's Olympics. The shape of the paper scroll and the lucky clouds graphic express the idea of harmony. Its burning technique and adaptability to the environment have reached a new technical level. The torch was designed, researched and produced in China.
