Paralympic torch relay took place in Shenzhen, one of the five Special Economic Zones in China, on Saturday.

The opening ceremony started at 8:00 a.m. local time on the top of Lotus Mountain, where the bronze statuary of Deng Xiaoping, the late Chinese leader, is located.

Against a stunning skyline, 70 torchbearers ran in the city relay which was started at the mountain top by Liu Hong, 2006 Asian Games race walk champion.

Then the relay moved into a theme park named "Splendid China-Folk Village". Song Zhuoping, 53, who is with Guangdong Disabled Persons' Federation, ran in the third leg and passed the torch to Liang Zuoyi, 50, who also has a disability and had been teaching himself for years before getting a diploma from Sun Yat-Sen University.

The last torchbearer was Shen Jianping, a photographer who has only one arm. He lit the cauldron at 9:40 a.m. to end the relay.

The Paralympic torch relay was carried out along two routes, namely the route of "modern China" and the route of "ancient China".

"Modern" route covers Shenzhen, Wuhan, Shanghai, Qingdao, Dalian and Beijing, the "ancient" has Xi'an, Hohhot, Changsha, Nanjing and Luoyang.

(Xinhua News Agency August 30, 2008)