Chinese man suffers raft ordeal in Games tribute

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Shanghhai, Aug 13: A Chinese man battled storms and floods to row down almost half of China's longest river in a handmade craft in his own tribute to the Beijing Olympics which begin in a year's time.

Cheng Yanhua kicked off his voyage on July 1 in the southwestern city of Chongqing, in the middle reaches of the Yangtze, and spent more than 10 hours a day in his raft, made up of an automobile inner tube and a plastic basin, before reaching Shanghai where the Yangtze flows into the Pacific.

All in all, he covered about 3,000 km of the 6,300 km-long river.

China has suffered widespread flooding this summer, killing hundreds, with the Yangtze, home to the massive Three Gorges Dam, swollen by heavy rain, breaking its banks in places and displacing millions of residents.

''I did it to welcome the Beijing Olympics, as no one has done it before,'' the 41-year-old told reporters on the bank of the Huangpu River, which flows into the Yangtze.

His craft carried slogans such as ''Welcome Olympics, First Yangtze raft'' and two flags -- China's national flag and the Beijing Olympics logo.

Cheng showed a notebook that sport administrations of major cities alongside the Yangtze stamped and wrote down greetings and wishes.

''They supported me. As I was not allowed to access the Three Gorges Dam, the local maritime affairs bureau used its boat to let me overpass it,'' he said.

''I met some dangerous and difficult times, including coming across several big rain storms.'' In 1986, two Chinese teams rowed by raft from the source of the Yangtze to Shanghai, with 10 dying in accidents along the way.

In her own special Olympic tribute, an 8-year-old girl has set out to walk from her home in the southern island of Hainan 2,150 miles to Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Reuters>