Expedition team to explore Grand Canyon

Members of the Chinese Drift Expedition Team train on the Qingyijiang River in southwest China's Sichuan Province July 3, 2004. The team is scheduled to launch a drift expedition in the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River in Arizona, the United States, July 13-27. (Xinhua Photo)

Athens Olympic flame arrives in Moscow

Valery Shantsev, vice mayor of Moscow passes across the Red Square with the Athens Olympic torch on July 3. 120 torchbearers participated in the Olympic torch relay in Moscow.

Rainbow in Beijing

Two rainbows appear in Bejing, capital of China, following a heavy shower at dusk July 4, 2004.

Fire occurs in Mao Zedong's former residence

Former residence of late Chairman MaoZedong caught fire Sunday noon in Wuhan.

1st Global Chinese Culture Classics Recitation held in HK

A six-year-old girl from southeast China's Taiwan Province recites the "Happy Excursion" by Zhuang Zi (369-286 BC), a philosopher in ancient China's Warring States Period (475-221 BC), at the First Global Chinese Culture Classics Recitation in Hong Kong, south China, July 4, 2004. More than 1,000 children from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asian nations attended the event.

China's cell phone export soars

Picture taken on May 19, 2004 shows a girl passing by a billboard for a new kind of mobile phone at the Third International Information and Communication Technology Expo in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province. According to official statistics, China exported a total of 51.01 million mobile phones at a worth of 4.9 billion US dollars in the first five months this year, increasing by more than 100 percent from the same period last year.

Folk Sports Meet in Zhoushan

A participant "fastens a boat" at the Third Folk Sports Meet in the Putuo District of Zhoushan, a port city in east China's Zhejiang Province, July 4, 2004. There are six events at the sport meet, including picking up "spiral shells", accurately fastening boats, carrying goods by couples and weaving nets.

Typhoon Mindulle

The picture taken on July 3, 2004 shows people struggling against strong wind in securing ships on the Taihu Lake in Huzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. Local government sources confirmed early July 4 that Typhoon Mindulle has caused two people dead and two missing in Huzhou.

Shanghai Day

Thirty couples from east China's Shanghai walk hand in hand during their grand wedding ceremony in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris, France, July 3, 2004. A two-day activity entitled Shanghai Day kicked off here on Saturday.

CPC senior official meets French President

Li Changchun, senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), shakes hands with French President Jacques Chirac in Paris on June 4. The two leaders vowed to boost the all-around strategic partnership between the two countries.

Euro 2004 concludes with Greek myth

"It was an unusual achievement for Greek football and especially for European football. The team played great football,"said Greece coach Otto Rehhagel. Greece beat Portugal 1-0 to win the European Championship on July 4.