Children had the time of their life with President Hu Jintao at Zhongnanhai compound yesterday.

As the 88 students from the quake-hit provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu crowded around Hu, he approached one. She glanced up and said: "Do you still remember me?"

The president smiled, held the seventh-grader in his arms, and replied: "Sure I remember you. I went to the tent hospital to see you on May 31. You were reading your elder brother's book, though still on a drip. I was very impressed."

The president had shaken hands with 12-year-old Zhao Shasha in Shaanxi province a month and a half ago, and said: "Let's make friends."

Yesterday, she met her friend again.

Zhao is part of the first batch of children from the quake-hit areas who will fly to Russia on a three-week vacation today.

During his visit to China in May, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev invited 1,000 children from the quake-hit areas to visit Russia.

Children in Zhao's group, most of who were injured or lost their relatives in the disaster, were visibly excited as they crowded around the president, who joined them an hour into their tour of Zhongnanhai's lake and park.

The children, some showing the "V" sign with their fingers, did not waste the precious photo opportunity with the president, who they called "Gong Gong” or “Grandpa Hu", and a few were busy taking photographs on their cell phones.

"Amid quake-relief efforts, it was the children that the Party, the government and the people were worried about the most," Hu told the children. "I hope you'll turn this love and care into a source of motivation for maturity and progress."

The president told a Russian envoy that his country's help and invitation "reflect the Russian people's deep affection for the Chinese people, and have reassured that China and Russia are truly good neighbors, good friends and good partners".