The Olympic flame for this summer's Beijing Olympic Games is now touring the southern Chinese city of Shantou.

It's the hometown of millions of overseas Chinese and is one of China's five special economic zones.


It's the Olympic flame's fourth and last stop in Guangdong Province in southern China.

The torch relay in Shantou started around eight o'clock on Saturday morning in front of the Government building of Longhu District, where the Shantou special economic zone began to boom.

The first runner was a weightlifing coach, Cai Yanshu. He's won numerous national and world championships in the heavyweight division.

A total of 208 torchbearers are taking part in the relay. The whole route lasts 48 kilometers.

The main feature of this relay is that the flame is expected to run along the coast line of Shantou Gulf, the only gulf embedded in a city center in China.

The relay is expected to last about ten hours. World diving champion, Sun Shuwei, and the Mayor of Shantou, Cai Zongze, will together run as the last torchbearers.

The relay is scheduled to end at the celebration site of Municipal People's Square.

Following its tour in Shantou, the Olympic flame will head to Fujian Province in eastern China for the next leg of the torch relay.