For more than 20 years, Wang Youde and his colleagues have lived in a compound about 100 miles from Yinchuan, planting and caring for trees at the southern end of the Mu Us Desert.

Flag-waving spectators cheer on the torch relay yesterday, in Yinchuan, Ningxia. (Photo: Xinhua)

In that time they have helped to create a 42-km-long, 10-km-wide "Great Wall" of trees, which plays a vital role in preventing the desert from encroaching on Yinchuan, the principal city of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Yesterday, however, Wang took a break from his labors to take part in the Olympic torch relay. As the last of 226 torchbearers, he also lit the cauldron to the cheers of thousands of spectators.

"I'm greatly encouraged by being a torchbearer and I will go on fighting the desert," he said.

Yinchuan was the final stop for the relay through Ningxia, which began on Sunday and has involved 624 torchbearers.

Yesterday's event, which lasted three hours and covered 13 km, began at Crescent Square, home to the Beiguan Mosque - one of the region's largest - and ended at People's Square in the heart of the city.

Qi Chunxia, a 44-year-old shooting coach and former world shooting champion, ran the first leg.

"I hope more people here will become sport lovers after watching the torch relay. My biggest regret is that I didn't win an Olympic gold medal, but my greatest dream is that my students will one day become Olympic champions," she said.

Among the crowds cheering for Qi, were 50 teenagers from Qingchuan county of Guangyuan, Sichuan Province, an area badly damaged by the May 12 earthquake. A total of 136 students were transferred from Qingchuan Middle School to Liupanshan Middle School in Yinchuan.

One of them, 16-year-old Tao Xiaohui, said: "Our school collapsed in the earthquake and the students have all now been moved to different places.

"I came with my classmates here and we are always together, so I am not lonely. My new teachers and classmates are also very nice, so my parents don't have to worry about me," she said, adding that her parents are still in Sichuan.

Today, the torch will travel to Shaanxi to begin a three-day relay in the province, where it will visit the cities of Yan'an, Yangling, Xianyang and Xi'an.

(China Daily July 2, 2008)