The Olympic torch relay came to Kashgar, the oasis city on the western edge of the Taklimakan Desert Wednesday morning, the second leg of its tour through the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

First torchbearer Adili Wuxor, a tightrope walker, gives a big thumb as he runs with the Beijing Olympic torch in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, June 18, 2008. The Olympic torch was paraded on Wednesday through China's former Silk Road city of Kashgar. [Xinhua]

The event began at 9:30 am at a square to the east of the Etigar Mosque, a grand structure in the heart of the city center. Built in 1442, and extended many times, it today occupies an area of 16,800 sq m and is the largest mosque in Xinjiang. As part of the country's cultural heritage it is also protected at the state level.

The two-hour relay covered almost 7.5 km of Kashgar's downtown districts and involved 208 torchbearers representing the Uygur, Han, Hazak, Hui, Kirgiz, Mongolian, Bai and Tu peoples.

The first leg was run by Adili Wuxor, a dawaz (the Uygur name for high wire walking) performer. Over the years, the 37-year-old has held five Guinness World Records for his particular style of tightrope walking, which he performs barefoot on a hemp rope.

"I owe my thanks to the people of Xinjiang. I have the chance to carry the Olympic torch today because they still love dawaz and other traditional acrobatics," he said.

Dawuti Aximu, a former head of a Kashgar village and now a county official, ran the final leg and performed the lighting of the cauldron.

Dawuti played a key role in the reconstruction of his village after Xinjiang was hit by a 6.8-magnitude earthquake on Feb 24, 2003. The quake claimed the lives of 268 people across the region, including five members of his family.

Located at the foot of the Tianshan Mountain, Kashgar is one of the oldest cities in Xinjiang, dating back more than 2,000 years, and has been a major trade hub since the days of the Silk Road.

Its name means "variegated houses".

On completion of the relay, the flame was flown to Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, and then bussed to the city of Shihezi. Relays will be held today in Shihezi and Changji, seat of the Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, before moving on to Lhasa, Tibet, tomorrow.

(China Daily, June 19, 2008)