Olympic torch relay starts in Guiyang

The Guizhou leg of the Olympic torch relay kicked off in Guiyang, capital of the Southwest Chinese province at 8 o'clock this morning.

After a ceremony at the Renmin Square, the first torchbearer Ouyang Ziyuan started the relay. The 73-year-old is the chief scientist of China's Lunar exploration Programme. The torch will make a tour of the city along a route of about 17 kilometers. It will cover the two downtown districts of Nanming and Yunyan as well as Jinyang New District.

There will be 208 torchbearers in Guiyang, and the last torchbearer will be the mayor of the city Yuan Zhou. The relay is set to finish at 11 o'clock, when the torch will then move on to Kaili for its second stop on Friday, and then Zunyi for its last stop in Guizhou on Saturday.