A Chinese woman who was saved by Russian rescuers after a devastating earthquake two years ago left for Moscow Thursday to attend an international forum on international rescue.

Xu Rongxing, 63, is the only survivor saved by international rescuers after the 8.0-magnitude Wenchuan earthquake that shook the southwestern Sichuan Province on May 12, 2008.

She has been invited by the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations to make a speech at the forum. "I'll give an account of what happened and how I was saved," said Xu. "I will express my thanks to my saviors, too."

Xu had been trapped for 127 hours when she was pulled out of the rubble of her home in Dujiangyan City. The Russian rescuers found her exact location with the help of sniffer dogs and life detectors.

Xu was in a coma when she was pulled out. When she woke up in hospital, the rescuers had left.

Her dream to meet her rescuers came true in May this year, when two members from the Russian rescue team visited Sichuan at the provincial government's invitation.

She has treasured the Russian dolls and the porcelain plate that they brought her.

In her week-long preparations for the first trip outside China, Xu has bought a new dress and borrowed her daughter's digital camera.

Her gifts for her Russian friends included tea from Sichuan and two red Chinese knots, a traditional Chinese handicraft art.

Her trip will last for six days.

After the Sichuan earthquake, Chinese netizens created a humorous story based on Xu's miracle survival. It said a quake survivor, an old lady, woke up to see foreign faces around and exclaimed "Oh my, the earthquake was so powerful that it sent me abroad!"

Xu herself is also familiar with the story. "Now the old lady is going abroad for real," she said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 30, 2010)