A total of 550 children from southwest China's earthquake zone flew to Russia's Far East on Thursday for a three-week rehabilitation program at the invitation of the Russian government. 

"I'm very happy because I will have three weeks to spend with Russian friends," said Wang Yuxiong, from Sichuan Province's Mianzhu City, at the Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan.

At the "Ocean" All-Russia Children's Care Center that is in the coastal city of Vladivostok, the children, 340 from Sichuan, 100 from Shaanxi and 110 from Gansu, will study Russian, and learn songs, dances and handcrafts and meet Russian children.

"We rehearsed Qiang ethnic folk dances for the get-togethers and prepared small hand-made gifts for our Russian friends," said middle school student Liu Wenfeng, who was of the minority Qiang ethnic group.

The magnitude-8 earthquake struck Sichuan and the neighboring provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu on May 12 last year, leaving more than 87,000 people dead or missing and more than 370,000 injured.

During his visit to China last year, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev invited students from quake-hit areas to take rehabilitation programs in his country. A total of 1,570 Chinese children will take part in the programs over two years.

The children are aged from 10 to 16. They have learned some Russian and will be accompanied by interpreters, teachers and doctors.

"Last year's rehabilitation program was very successful and helped the Chinese children to cope with their experiences," said Yu Jihai, an official with the Ministry of Education who was heading the group. 

(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2009)