A special luxurious train traveling along the China part of the ancient silk road left Xi'an at 22:30 tonight on a nine-day, 2,568 km tour.
The tour, part of the Xi'an Silk Road International Tourism Festival 2000, is taking 360 passengers to eight major cities or points on the ancient silk road in Shaanxi Province, Gansu Province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Local tourism officials said 98 percent of the passengers are Chinese, in sharp contrast to previous 20-strong tours launched since 1994 that most of the passengers were foreigners.
Providing quality service, the special tour was jointly organized by the State Tourism Administration and Xi'an Municipal Government.
(People's Daily 10/01/2000)
