US. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice concluded her visits to the quake-hit Chinese province Sichuan and left here for Beijing on Sunday afternoon.

Rice first visited the debris of the Tengda sports club in downtown Dujiangyan. The three-story building, built in the 1980s, collapsed during the earthquake.

Then she went to Qinjianrenjia, where 8,000 people lived, and visited a cultural center to watch a Beijing opera performance and a show performed by children.

Rice said at a press briefing before her departure from Chengdu, "It is a really a sign of how the human spirit can overcome great devastation."

Rice also visited some temporary housing for survivors and a water purifier donated by Samaritan's Purse, a U.S. non-governmental organization committed to international relief.

The U.S. government has offered to cash and materials worth 2.6 million U.S. dollars for quake relief, according to China's Foreign Ministry.

Rice's Sichuan visit is part of her two-day China tour, which will bring her to Beijing. She is scheduled to discuss with Chinese leaders a wide range of issues, including the Korean nuclear issues.

(Xinhua News Agency June 29, 2008)