Special Report: Year of China in Russia 2007

    By Liu Yifang

    MOSCOW, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Stepping into the first hall of this year's International Trade Fair for Travel and Tourism in Moscow, visitors found themselves in a beautiful "Chinese palace" turned by a red exhibition pavilion, with "Welcome to China" strikingly painted on its walls.

    Monday was the day for the opening ceremony of the fair, and was also announced by Director of the Russian Federal Tourism Bureau Vladimir Strzhalkovsky as "the China Day" of the fair.

    Inside the Chinese pavilion, an old man was carefully painting faces of figures from Peking Opera on gesso. Beside him, a Chinese woman put on display small figures from Chinese opera made of colored dough. Not far away, another handicraftsman was cutting red paper with a pair of scissors.

    Handicrafts are merely part of the Chinese charm. Chinese officials brought not only souvenirs typical of Chinese culture, but also eight monks from the famous Shaolin Temple, which Russian President Vladimir Putin visited during his trip to China last year.

    "After Putin's visit, Russian visitors rushed to the temple to see what has fascinated their president," said Shao Qiwei, director of China's National Tourism Administration.

    The Shaolin monks who fascinated the Russian president did have much appeal to the visitors. When they started their performance on the red stand, passing visitors stood still, watching.

    They were teenagers, but apparently highly skilled performers. When 17-year-old Zhang Yong pitched a steel needle into a piece of thick glass two meters away, the needle broke through and pricked a balloon behind the broken glass. After seconds of silence, the crowd burst into applause.

    On the walls of the pavilion, pictures and electric screens were showing landscapes of different Chinese provinces, such as towering mountains in Guangxi, crystal-clear lakes in Sichuang and imperial buildings in Henan.

    The beginning of the Year of China in Russia apparently boosted the Chinese presence in this year's tourism fair, with more than 200 representatives from 20 Chinese provinces coming to participate in the event, compared to about 80 representatives from 10 provinces last year, Zhao said.

    With the opening of Russia's Year of China in 2007, nearly 200 festivities, including some 10 national-level events, are planned that will cover a wide range of fields such as politics, economy, science, culture, education and tourism.

    "Tourism can open a window for both countries... It can promote understanding between the two countries and enable the two peoples to know each other better," Shao said.