Tens of thousands of people swarmed the streets of Nanchang for the last leg of the torch relay in Central China's Jiangxi province, cheering their long-awaited taste of the Olympics and expressing support for China's earthquake victims.
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Company representatives display check donations at a ceremony to welcome the Olympic flame in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, on Friday. [Xinhua]
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For both torchbearers and locals, enthusiasm for the Olympics by no means detracted from their heartfelt sympathy for Sichuan province's victims.
"Come on, Olympics! Hold on, Sichuan!" read banners as the same message of goodwill was bellowed from the crowd.
Since the devastating earthquake struck on Monday, the torch relay has proceeded along a shortened route and with simplified ceremonies including a minute silence dedicated to the victims.
Olympic diving gold medalist and Nanchang native Peng Bo, who won the three-meter springboard title at the Athens games in 2004, kicked off the leg at 8 am from Bayi Square or August 1st Square, which was built in 1949 to commemorate the birthplace of China's liberation army.
Dozens of handovers later arrived at its final destination at Century Square at noon after covering just half the originally planned route, after forgoing famous attractions such as the Tang Dynasty circa (618-907) Tengwang Pavilion.
But, according to plan, Nanchang University became the first tertiary center in China to host the Olympic torch.
Home to 4.8 million people, Nanchang attracted a much larger crowd than the previous two legs in Ruijin and Jinggangshan, both just county-level cities with less than 200,000 residents.
Although relishing the once-in-a-lifetime Olympic experience, Nanchang's citizens were just as animated in their support for ongoing rescue work in Sichuan.
"We wish to help in the earthquake-hit area, but it won't be realistic for each of us to go there or to physically help," said one onlooker surnamed Wang.
"We hope they might see and feel our support through the exposure of the torch relay and our donations."
So far, Jiangxi has collected more than 60 million yuan worth of goods and cash for disaster-hit areas, including 100 urgently needed electric generators and 50 ambulance vehicles and medicines, according to Yu Xinrong, secretary of Nanchang Municipal Party Committee.
Local government, torchbearers, enterprises and the public all chipped in.
