The International Press Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized a reporting trip of foreign correspondents posted in Beijing and Shanghai to Lhasa and Nyingchi, Tibet, from 12 to 19 August 2004. Thirty-two correspondents of 22 agencies from 9 countries including the US, the UK, Germany, Spain, Japan and the ROK interviewed the political, economic, ethnic, religious aspects in Tibet as well as protection of cultural relics, construction of Qinghai-Tibet Railway and life of common people.

In Lhasa, Vice Chairman Wu Jilie of the Tibet Autonomous Region met with the correspondents and answered questions concerning Tibet's economic construction, people's life, proportion of Tibetan and Han people in Tibet and assistance by other provinces. Vice Mayor of Lhasa, Deputy Director-General of the Reform and Development Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region, Director of the Management of the Potala Palace were interviewed respectively. The correspondents also went to the construction site of the Lhasa River Bridge of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and interviewed the officials of the Lhasa Command Office on the construction of the railway. They also visited the Potala Place, Jokhang Temple, exhibition of Thangka in Drepung Monastery, monks debating scriptures in Sera Monastery, Tibetan Archives, Tibet Mountaineering Guide School, Barkhor Bazaar, opening ceremony of the Shotaan Festival and Tibetan opera show. In Nyingchi, they interviewed Commissioner Zhao He and went to a Tibetan medicine factory, counterpart assistance projects by Guangdon and Fujian Provinces. They also visited a Tibetan family in Bayi Town.

The correspondents were happy to have a chance to view the development of Tibet.