The Olympic torch relay has resumed its run through China as the country ended a three-day national mourning period for the victims of last weeks deadly earthquake.

Olympic organisers has also announced that the Sichuan leg of the torch relay would be shifted from mid-June to August 3 to August 5 because of the quake.

The Olympic torch relay, a symbol of the hopes the country holds for the Beijing Olympics in August, resumed its run after a minute of silence.

Chinas leaders moved to contain the political aftershocks of the deadly quake, promising a huge rebuilding fund, reining in the recently aggressive media and trying to keep despair from turning to anger in the disaster zone.