Torch tours capital of quake-hit Sichuan

CHENGDU, China (Reuters) - Crowds cheered wildly as the Olympic flame made its way through the capital of China's quake-hit province of Sichuan on Tuesday, its last stop before heading to Beijing to open the Games.

The three-hour torch relay through Chengdu was greeted by residents who welcomed the distraction of the Olympics after months of coping with the aftermath of the May 12 earthquake that killed some 70,000 and devastated their southwestern province.

"It makes me extremely happy to be here. This is the pride of the Chinese people," said Xu Min, 42, among the few whose work units were selected to be there.

The relay through Chengdu marks the end of the torch's journey across five continents and every corner of China on its way to Beijing, where it will parade through the city before lighting the cauldron at the Games' opening ceremony on Friday.

But what was meant as a tour to showcase China's unity and pride ahead of the Olympics turned into a lightning rod for protests, mostly over China's crackdown on unrest in Tibet.

RETALIATORY RALLIES

The demonstrations around the world provoked retaliatory rallies by patriotic Chinese at home and abroad and sparked a display of nationalism that saw foreign retailers and media outlets under fire on China's blogs and in the streets.

In Sichuan, it has been used once again in what authorities have dubbed a "Journey of Harmony" to showcase patriotic unity as it tours the province less than three months since the 7.9-magnitude tremor.

Although two quake-hit cities were taken off the original torch route, the flame was put on exhibition in a stadium in Mianyang on Monday, where children from schools that collapsed in the quake cheered it on and soldiers re-enacted rescue scenes.

In Chengdu, as in many of the torch's stops, organizers carefully controlled those allowed to see the relay's start and finish, limiting places to select media, officials and other guests.

(Reporting by Lindsay Beck, editing by Jon Bramley)