With the Beijing Olympics still fresh in our minds, the Beijing Paralympics will soon begin. A 9-day torch relay is scheduled to start on Thursday at the Temple of Heaven, where the flame gathering ceremony will be held.

2 routes have been chosen for the torch relay of the Paralympics, one under the name of "Route of Chinese Civilization" and the other "Route of Modernity". Both will start from Beijing. The former will pass cities such as Xi'an, Huhhot, Changsha, Nanjing, Luoyang, and the latter will pass Shenzhen, Wuhan, Shanghai, Qingdao and Dalian.

850 torch bearers will take part in the relay, with 20% of them being disabled.

The torch for the 2008 Beijing Paralympics will be lit in the Temple of Heaven at 10 a.m. local time on Thursday. CCTV's Chinese, English, Spanish, and French channels will be broadcasting the event live.

Premier Wen lights Beijing Paralympic flame at Temple of Heaven

BEIJING, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese premier Wen Jiabao lit the Beijing Paralympic flame at the ancient Temple of Heaven in Beijing on Thursday, kicking off the torch relay across China before the 13th Paralympics opens on Sept. 6.

Jiang Xintian lights the torch through the lens during the  Paralympic flame lighting ceremony at the Temple of Heaven in  Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 28, 2008. (Xinhua)

In front of the symbolic Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, deaf-mute flame collector Jiang Xintian lit the flame out of a concave, burnished mirror.