A chartered Air China plane carrying the Beijing Olympic flame touched down at the Beijing Airport Monday morning.

 

Zhou Yongkang (L, front), member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and Liu Qi (R, front), president of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the 2008 Olympic Games, hold the lantern with the Olympic flame at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, on March 31, 2008.  (Xinhua Photo)

The 2008 Olympic torch was lit one week ago in Ancient Olympia, Greece, marking the start of the domestic and international torch relay that will end on Aug. 8 with the Games' opening ceremony.

An official welcome ceremony for the Olympic flame will be held late this morning at Tian'anmen Square.

The torch relay officially starts on Tuesday in Beijing when the flame is scheduled to depart for Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The Beijing Games relay is the longest and most ambitious ever planned, lasting 130 days and covering 137,000 kilometers (85,000 miles) worldwide.

The holy fire of the Olympics will also reach Mount Qomolangma, the world's highest peak. It will be the first time for the Olympic torch relay to be held on the 8,844.43-meter mountain.

The Beijing Olympics, the first to be held in China, will open on August 8 and run until August 24.

Liu Qi, president of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the 2008 Olympic Games, walks off the plane with the lantern which holds the Olympic flame at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, on March 31, 2008. The plane carrying the Beijing Olympic flame arrived in Beijing Monday morning.  (Xinhua Photo)