BEIJING -- Beijing resumed the student guard at the Monument to the People's Heroes in the heart of the Tian'anmen Square on Saturday morning.

The municipal government held a ceremony to resume the practice, which began in 1986 and had been suspended since the SARS outbreak in 2003, and 200 primary and junior high school students laid floral baskets to pay tribute to the war heroes.

12 students from Beijing No.22 Middle School stand each side of the 38-meter-high Monument to the People's Heros as Beijing resumed the student guard at the monument Saturday, September 30, 2006. [Xinhua]

Twelve students, divided into four groups, stood each side of the 38-meter-high obelisk. Each group included a bearer of the red flag of the Chinese Young Pioneers (CYP), the official children's organization, and two guards.

"I was very excited, but a little nervous at the beginning of the service, because it's my first time so close to the monument and there are so many people in the square," said 13-year-old guard Li Peixin.

Li, in his first semester at Beijing No. 22 Middle School, was chosen from more than 800 students at his school.

"I feel very honored and lucky to be on the duty, especially as the National Day (October1) is coming. I've been standing for nearly an hour, but I'm not tired," said Li.

The service would be carried out from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. every day from April 1 to October 31 every year, but this year, it would end on October 14, said Hu Jiulong, deputy director of the municipal Children's Work Committee, organizer of the guard service.

The guards, all CYP members, would be changed every half hour and nearly 5,000 Young Pioneers would take part every year, said Hu.

The student guards attracted the attention of visitors at the Tian'anmen Square and many took photos.

"They remind me of my days as a national flag bearer at the flag-raising ceremony," said Shuai Jian, 28, a bank accountant from the southwestern Sichuan Province who was on a week-long visit to Beijing.

"However, that is not comparable to their experience. After all, this is Beijing and here is Tian'anmen, the heart of the country," said Shuai.

More than 300,000 Young Pioneers in the capital have taken part in the service since it was launched by the Beijing Municipal Committee of the China Communist Youth League and the municipal Children's Work Committee.