The World Peace Torch, lit in Lumbini in Nepal, the birthplace of the Buddha Gautama, will be carried to China next week for the Shanghai Expo 2010.

Local media call the torch’s delivery not a religious event but a message for the Expo participants and a reminder that the Light of Asia was born in Lumbini in the Rupandehi district of Nepal, near the Indian border.

On Thursday, Nepalese Deputy Prime Minister Sujata Koirala began the Torch delivery ceremony by lighting a special oil-fed lamp. Buddhists from many countries including China took part in the ceremony.

On Saturday the Torch will arrive in Kathmandu and then it will be handed over to Chinese government representatives. The torch will be kept in one of the famous Chinese temples until September 2 and the next day it will be placed in the Nepal pavilion.  

The 2010 World Expo in Shanghai opened on May 1 and runs until October 31. More than 200 countries, corporations and international organization are taking part.

 SHANGHAI, August 20 (RIA Novosti)