On January 20, 2006, the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China hosted the Spring Festival Reception for foreign correspondents based in China and the information officers of foreign embassies in China in the Capital Museum. Assistant Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai and the spokespersons of the ministries and commissions of the State Council attended the reception.

More than 180 Beijing-based foreign journalists and information officers of foreign embassies in China attended the reception. At present there are 515 journalists from 290 organizations in 46 countries based in China. Both the number of organizations and that of the resident journalists increase considerably compared with 2004. In the past year, the Information Department focused upon the hot issues journalists were interested in and organized different subjects such as A Trip to Western China and An Energy Tour. The Information Department organized 22 visits including the trips to Tibet, Xinjiang and Qinghai and site visits to Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant and Yulin Heavy Chemical Base in Shaanxi, held 14 briefings on different themes for foreign journalists based in China and the information officers of foreign embassies in China, and provided assistance for their interviews actively, which was widely welcomed by the journalists.

Prior to the reception, the journalists visited some exhibition halls of the Capital Museum with great interests. They also learned to draw Chinese new year paintings by themselves and had a feel of Beijing flavor and Chinese folk arts.