The torch relay of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will pass through five continents and, for the first time, scale the earth's summit, Mount Qomolongma.

According to Wang Ning, a senior official of the Beijing Organizing Committee, the sacred flame will be kindled in March 2008.

It will then be passed on in some 28 foreign cities across the world before it comes to China to tour around the country.

The torch relay will last over 140 days. Some 15 thousand people are expected to pass on the torch.

A working group will travel in May to Mount Qomolangma, also known as Mount Everest, to further study the conditions there.

(CRI English April 19, 2006)