This morning the Olympic torch relay was significantly scaled down in Nanchang, the third and last stop in Jiangxi Province, to pay tribute to the earthquake victims.

Government estimates say the death toll could exceed 50,000 in Monday's quake in southwest China.

The local government cut the originally planned nine-and-a-half-hour relay to just over four hours, scrapping 10 kilometers of the route. Instead, earthquake victims were remembered in a special memorial service.

This came one day after the relay route in Jinggangshan, also known as "the cradle of China's revolution", was also reduced to half its previously scheduled leg.

The torch relay is set to continue in Wenzhou and Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province on Saturday. According to Xinhua News Agency, the Wenzhou leg will go ahead as planned. Calls made to the sports bureau of Shaoxing and Wenzhou were unanswered Friday afternoon.

Xinhua contributed to the story