The Olympic torch arrived in mainland China today after a protest-harried overseas relay, while snowfall on Mount Everest dealt a blow to climbers hoping to take a special flame to the top of the mountain.
The torch's five-continent journey has been dogged by demonstrations, mostly over China's crackdown against protests in Tibet, which deeply embarrassed Beijing and provoked retaliatory rallies at home and abroad by patriotic Chinese.
Security was tightened in mainland China, where the ruling Communist Party brooks no opposition, so the main threat after the torch left Macau for a run through every Chinese province was likely to be the weather.
Beijing lambasted the Dalai Lama, whom it blames for inciting the Tibet protests, as a criminal today as representatives of the exiled Buddhist leader prepared for talks with Chinese officials about the most serious unrest in Tibet for nearly two decades.
The torch arrived in the southern Chinese city of Sanya from the former Portuguese colony of Macau.
It was met at the airport by Hainan governor Luo Baoming, a Chinese naval band, and a small, carefully selected, cheering crowd, before being whisked away in a coach.
Security was low key, though organisers are carefully controlling who will be allowed in to see the torch run start on a man-made island just off Sanya, limiting places to a few hundred selected officials, media and other guests.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of patriotic torch supporters gathered in Macau at Fisherman's Wharf, waving China flags and shouting "Go Beijing Go" as the flame began its latest leg.
Some students from the University of Macau staged a small protest near the ferry terminal, brandishing "Anti-CNN" placards to criticise the broadcaster's perceived bias in its coverage of the Tibetan riots and crackdown by authorities.
Macau is home to a booming casino industry which is fuelled in large part by money from across the border in China.
A bold plan to take a separate Olympic torch to the top of Mount Everest faced a possible setback today as snow fell on the world's highest mountain.
The climbing team has been at 6,500 metres in advanced base camp or higher for at least two days, waiting for better weather to aim for the 8,848-metre peak.