Relay pays respect to Mao

SHAOSHAN, Hunan: At 12:35 pm on Thursday torchbearer Jiang Aibing arrived in front of the bronze statue of Chairman Mao Zedong in Shaoshan.

With the torch in his left hand, the 30-year-old policeman who had just returned from the Sichuan quake area, saluted the statue before moving on to light a cauldron marking the end of the relay in Hunan province.

"We were glad to have the relay here," Jiang said. "But this could not have been possible had there not been our great Chairman Mao."