Russian president's representative in Far East showed up at "Ocean," a children's center in the area, to visit the 364 students convalescing from China's quake-hit southwest Sichuan Province.

Alex Safonov asked staff about the students' daily life and urged them to provide the best service to those students. He joined the students in Ocean's activity rooms.

In the pottery room, he met Zheng Xiaopeng, a 13-year-old student from the city of Shifang in Sichuan, who extricated a schoolmate buried under the debris. Safonov praised his bravery and rewarded him with a pen. In return, Xiaopeng gave Safonov a self-made pottery rose.

In the video room the Russian official enjoyed the "red sailing boat," a Russian folk song performed by the Chinese students in Russian. They were rehearsing for the "China Day" due on July 27.

He also went to the skating field and skated with the 20 students having class there. Students said they were delighted to skate with the president's representative.

At the invitation of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, some 1,000 students from China's earth-affected provinces have arrived in the country since July 17 for their three-week rehabilitation.

Safonov told Xinhua that the Chinese students convalescing in Russia will remember the country and its people. Children from the two nations can make friends here, which will contribute to the development of Sino-Russia relations.

(Xinhua News Agency July 26, 2008)