The Olympic flame will travel through all 18 districts and the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Zone during the three-day torch relay in the capital, Beijing Evening News reports.

Eight hundred and forty-one torch bearers, including opening ceremony director Zhang Yimou and China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei, will pass the flame off along the 39-kilometer run, according to plans released Monday by Olympics organizers.

Starting Wednesday morning at the Meridian Gate in the Forbidden City, the relay will tour seven districts - Xicheng, Dongcheng, Chaoyang, Shijingshan, Fengtai, Xuanwu and Chongwen - on the first day, before concluding at the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests in the Temple of Heaven.

433 torch bearers are scheduled to relay the flame on the 16.5-kilometer route over the course of four hours, the report said.

The torch will pass through Yanqing, Changping, Huairou, Miyun, Pinggu, Shunyi, and Tongzhou on the second day. This section of the relay will start at the Badaling section of the Great Wall in Yanqing and finish at the Altar of the Earth, or Ditan, in Dongcheng District.

268 torch bearers will take part in the August 7 relay, which runs 14.5 kilometers in length.

The torch will travel through the last five districts of Fangshan, Mentougou, Daxing, Haidian and the economic development zone on the Games' opening day and will arrive at the Bird's Nest stadium in the afternoon.

The torch will arrive in Beijing late Tuesday, after the conclusion of the relay in Chengdu, capital of quake-hit Sichuan Province.

The Beijing Olympic Games will open at 8:08 PM on Friday.

(CRIENGLISH.com August 5, 2008)