The Foreign Ministry's Information Department hosted a Lunar New Year ( Spring Festival) reception for Beijing-based foreign journalists and press attachés on Friday evening.

 

More than 180 foreign guests attended the gathering in the newly completed Beijing Museum. Currently, there are 515 foreign journalists from 290 news organizations in 46 countries who are based in the Chinese capital, according to the ministry.

 

Last year the ministry organized the reporters to visit different parts of China, such as Tibet Autonomous Region, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province.

 

This year's Spring Festival, which is the most important and traditional holiday for the Chinese, falls on January 29.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 21, 2006)