Torch relay resumes in China

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- The Olympic torch relay resumed Thursday across China after being suspended for three days as part of the nation's mourning of quake victims.

Olympic organizers also said that earthquake relief efforts have prompted Chinese officials to postpone the Sichuan province leg of the Olympic torch relay.

The two-day relay through Sichuan province, still reeling from the this month's deadly 7.9-magnitude quake, will start August 3 -- less than a week before the torch enters the opening ceremony in Beijing, according to a statement from the Beijing Olympic organizing committee.

The relay had been scheduled for June 15.

On Thursday the relay started with a minute of silence at a container terminal in the eastern seaport city of Ningbo.

A ceremony that included a minute of silence for the victims and the millions of people left homeless was held on a dock under a giant crane used to lift containers on ships at the seaport city, The Associated Press reported.

Organizers of the Beijing Summer Games had initially resisted altering the relay route, which corporate sponsor have paid millions of dollars to fund, AP said.

But in response to a public outcry and sensing positive public relations, organizers toned down the ceremony and began last Wednesday's leg in the southeastern city of Ruijin with a moment of silence.

Many of the legs since then have been shortened, with the focus turning away from ceremony and toward commemorations for the dead. Donations have been collected along the run.

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