Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and the Sichuan provincial government, the Photography Program of the Reconstruction after Wenchuan Earthquake Through the Lens of Foreign Photographers kicked off in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, on Thursday.

From Nov 10 to 17, ten world-famous photographers from Japan, Egypt, Germany, Mongolia, Spain, Italy, Russia, South Korea, England and Australia will visit six key regions of post-quake reconstruction in Deyang, Ya'an, Chengdu, Mianyang, Guangyuan, the Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture in Sichuan.

The photos they take will be shown in a global tour exhibition held next May in 10 foreign countries, the United Nations in New York, the UNESCO in Paris and the EU in Brussels.

The 8.0-magnitude Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008, left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing.