Olympic torch lands in China

The Olympic torch arrived in mainland China yesterday after a protest-harried overseas relay, while snowfall on Mount Everest dealt a blow to climbers hoping to take a special flame to the roof of the world.

The torch's five-continent journey has been dogged by demonstrations, mostly over China's crackdown against protests in Tibet, which deeply embarrassed Beijing and provoked retaliatory rallies at home and abroad by patriotic Chinese.

Security was tightened in mainland China, where the ruling Communist Party brooks no opposition, so the main threat after the torch left Macau for a run through every Chinese province was likely to be the weather.

Beijing lambasted the Dalai Lama, whom it blames for inciting the Tibet protests, as a criminal yesterday, as representatives of the exiled Buddhist leader prepared for talks with Chinese officials about the most serious unrest in Tibet for nearly two decades.

The torch arrived in the southern Chinese city of Sanya from the former Portuguese colony of Macau.

It was met at the airport by Hainan governor Luo Baoming, a Chinese naval band, and a small, carefully selected, cheering crowd, before being whisked away in a coach.

People in Sanya, a tropical resort city at the bottom tip of the island province of Hainan, could barely contain their excitement at the prospect of the torch's arrival, where the likelihood of large-scale pro-Tibet protests was virtually nil.

"As a Chinese, I feel very proud," said Sanya resident Gao Li, his eyes moist, after unveiling a large red banner reading "2008 Go China" on the beach front, where the torch will pass on its long journey to August's Beijing Games. "This is a huge event of national importance. We've been waiting for the Olympics for 100 years," he added. "I'm very happy."

Security was low key, though organisers are carefully controlling who will be allowed in to see the torch run start on a man-made island just off Sanya, limiting places to a few hundred selected officials, media and other guests.

Meteorologists expect showers in the coming days across much of Hainan and relay organisers have prepared raincoats for the torch runners, a website of state news agency Xinhua said.

Earlier yesterday, hundreds of patriotic torch supporters gathered in Macau at Fisherman's Wharf, waving China flags and shouting "Go Beijing Go" as the flame began its latest leg.