The "China-Russia Friendship Tour: China Tour", a large-scale media activity jointly organized by China Radio International (CRI) and Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency, was launched in Beijing on Friday morning.

The media delegation departed from Beijing's central Tiananmen Square on Friday. They will travel some 8,600 kilometers before returning to Beijing at the tour's end in late June.

Director for the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television Wang Taihua, Director-General of CRI Wang Gengnian, Russian Ambassador to China Sergey Razov, and other officials attended the departure ceremony.

The China tour is part of celebrations for the "Year of China" been held in Russia, a reciprocal event for last year's "Year of Russia" in China.

Journalists from 12 mainstream Russian media organizations will travel through some 15 Chinese provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, reporting stories about China's social development and the cooperation between China and Russia.

The Russia tour, also organized by CRI and ITAR-TASS last year, had more than 40 Chinese journalists participate. Over a month's duration, the tour traveled from Beijing to Moscow carrying the spirit of shared friendship between China and Russia.

(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2007)