Society

Universiade flame lit in Tsinghua University

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-04-25 11:07

The sacred flame for the 2011 Shenzhen Universiade is ignited Monday morning in a ceremony held at the Tsinghua University, Beijing. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - The sacred flame for the 2011 Shenzhen Universiade was ignited Monday morning in a ceremony held at the Tsinghua University, one of the country's premiere institutions of higher learning.

At 10:00 am local time, five students from as many countries lit the flame out of a convex mirror, in front of the Great Assembly Hall of Tsinghua University which celebrated its centennial anniversary on Sunday.

It was a cloudy day, but the sun shone over the five students from China, Nigeria, Russia, Australia and Brazil, who represented five continents, just enough to focus its rays on their "Rainbow" torch and the flame was ignited after nearly 30 seconds.

"I was quite nervous during the ceremony," said Li Luya, the Chinese student. "I could not see sunshine, and it took quite a while to light the flame, much longer than we did during the rehearsal."

"Usually it took us only two or three seconds, but we had waited for nearly 30 seconds," said Li, who studies at Shenzhen University. "I am very excited when I saw the flame finally ignited."

There were dancing and singing performances at the ceremony.

"It is a good experience," said Gregory Mikkelsen from Australia, who studies Chinese in Tsinghua. "You don't have chances like this everyday, I am very excited. It is quite lucky for me to be one of the students to light the flame and I wish I could do more for the Universiade in Shenzhen, if I have chances."

Wang Rong, vice-president of the organizing committee, welcomed the the Universiade flame and said that this represents an important moment in Shenzhen's history, as it is the first time that a large-scale international games are being held in Shenzhen, a major city in southern China's Guangdong province.

"This flame highlights the courage and determination of the university students to shine at the 2011 Universiade," he said. "The people of Shenzhen are proud that for the first time in the city's history, we are hosting the University Games."

"With the slogan 'Start Here, Make a Difference', Shenzhen Games will show the city's innovation and wisdom. It will be a brilliant Universiade," said Wang, noting that as China's first and one of the most successful Special Economic Zones, Shenzhen would not simply copy the models of Beijing Olympics and Guangzhou Asian Games.

The flame will burn during the August 12-23 Universiade, following a torch relay which will start in another famous university in the capital of China - Beijing University on May 4, Chinese Youth Day.

The torch relay will reach Shenzhen University on May 10, and then be relayed mainly by college students in Shenzhen and then Guangzhou, which hosted the 2010 Asian Games.

On August 10 and 11, two days before the opening of the Universiade, the relay will continue in Shenzhen, covering the downtown area and Longgang District, which is home to the Universiade Center and Athletes' Village.