BEIJING, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The volunteers corps for the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics was officially launched here on Sunday as the games' chief organizer, Liu Qi, handed the team its flag at a rally.

      Vice President Xi Jinping, a member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), addressed the gathering, which was attended by more than 6,000 people.

      He urged Olympics volunteers to be "promoters of the Olympic spirit" and "practitioners of the volunteer service concept," as well as "representatives of China's peaceful development image."

      He also urged participants to contribute to holding a "unique and high-level" event.

      The volunteers corps of the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics has 100,000 Games-time volunteers, 400,000 city volunteers and more than 1 million social volunteers.

      City volunteers will work at designated locations across the host city, mainly to help overseas visitors overcome the language barrier, while the social volunteers will mainly offer services at local communities.

      There will also be hundreds of thousands of volunteer cheerleaders during the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games, which will run from Aug. 8-24 and Sept. 6-17, respectively.