Masood Khan (first right), the Pakistani ambassador to China, and Carlo Krieger, Luxembourg`s ambassador, visit an exhibition of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee on Thursday. Photo by Zou Hong / China Daily

>For the first time, the Communist Party of China`s highest-ranking publicity officials opened the doors of their offices, offering an opportunity for foreign diplomats to get a glimpse of the "mysterious and low-profile" Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee.

The rare occasion on Thursday attracted 51 ambassadors and ministers from 49 countries and the Delegation of the European Union to China, who were invited by the International Department of the CPC Central Committee.

"I am very delighted to receive our friends foreign diplomats here at the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee," Luo Shugang, vice-minister of the department, said at a welcome ceremony.

"The reasons we invited you to come here today are to provide a platform for you, through visit and discussions, to know more about the department and to enable more friends from the international community to know about it through (your introduction)."

After the vice-minister`s speech, Luo Yang, a worker with the cultural restructuring and development office under the department, led the visitors to a wall displaying the history and functions of the publicity department. Also on the wall was the department`s organizational structure chart, which lists the 17 organs within the department.

"The structural chart is very interesting and informative," Ioanna Malliotis, ambassador of Cyprus, told China Daily. "I`ve never seen it before."