Ten Cherokee cruise jeeps carrying 17 foreign guests left Tian'anmen Square in Beijing on Friday morning for a one-month observation tour of the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Tibetan communities in four West China provinces.

The foreign guests come from countries including Belgium, Britain, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United States.

The event, entitled "China Auto rally of Tibetan Culture," is a study tour which will take the foreigners to the provinces of Yunnan, Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan provinces, and the Tibet Autonomous Region, where the foreign guests will study Tibetan culture. The entire journey is estimated to be 13,000 km in length.

The activity is organized by a number of organizations, including the Buddhist Association of China.

(Xinhua News Agency September 21, 2002)