The Olympic flame will start its relay on Saturday in Shantou, the home city of millions of overseas Chinese and also a special economic zone in east Guangdong Province.

It will be the sacred flame's fourth and last stop in the Guangdong province and the relay will cover 48 kilometers with 208 torchbearers.

The Shantou relay is going to start on the square in front of Longhu District Government, where the Shantou special economic zone began to boom, set to pass local attractions such as Shantou Railway Station, Gulf Bridge, Shantou Natatorium, Queshi Scenic Spot, Queshi Bridge, Star Lake Park and reach the celebration site Municipal People's Square.

The main feature of the Shantou relay is that it is going along the coast line of Shantou Gulf, the only gulf embedded in the city center in China. Shantou Gulf is where Han River, Rong River and Lian River join the ocean. It covers 37 square kilometers, 5 times as large as the West Lake in Hangzhou City.

The relay will go across the gulf twice, through the 2,500-meter long Gulf Bridge and the 3,500-meter long Queshi Bridge respectively.

As living in a seaside city, the Shantou people have strong affection towards aquatic sports. The city is famed as the "cradle of world champions". Six torchbearers out of the total 208 are world champions in diving, including Sun Shuwei, the gold medal winner of the 10 meters platform diving competition in 1992 summer Olympic Games.

Shantou is also known for its significant Chaoshan culture. Folk artists are going to perform Chaoshan music, Chao Opera, stilts riding and lion dancing along the relay route.

(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2008)