Organisers of the next National Games for able-bodied and disabled athletes held a flame-lighting ceremony on Thursday in the Guangdong city of Nansha, a month before the tournament begins.

The source of the flame came from combustible ice some 1,500 metres deep in the South China Sea, organisers said.

Senior officials - including Chief Executive John Lee and his Macau counterpart Sam Hou-fai - were at the event and helped pass on the flame.

Guangdong deputy party secretary Meng Fanli said the three regions will host a world-class sports extravaganza with Chinese panache.

"The National Games and the National Special Olympic Games are the top multi-sport events of our country. It's a presentation of the country's dreams of a national rejuvenation," he said in a speech at the ceremony.

"For General Secretary Xi Jinping and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to give our three places the task of co-hosting the tournaments, it demonstrates the systemic advantages of the One Country, Two Systems principle and its glorious prospects."

The heads of the organising committees in the three places, including Hong Kong Chief Secretary Eric Chan, passed the flame to workers to send to various cities hosting the events.