BRUSSELS, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- To mark the 10-year anniversary of a catastrophic earthquake that hit Wenchuan County in China's southwestern Sichuan Province, China opened a photo exhibition on Thursday at the European Parliament here.

The exhibition was a way for China to express its deep gratitude to the European Union (EU) and its member states for lending a helping hand.

Dozens of photos are on display of emergency teams from EU countries working in the quake-hit areas, as well as photos showing the jaw-dropping transformation of Wenchuan and the economic achievement of Sichuan Province in the past ten years.

On May 12, 2008, an earthquake of a magnitude of 8.0 on the Richter scale hit Wenchuan County, claiming more than 69,000 lives and razing almost the whole county to the ground.

It was the deadliest earthquake to hit China in a century.

"After ten years of hard work, Wenchuan has regained life, like a phoenix rising from the ashes," said Ambassador Zhang Ming, the head of the Chinese mission to the EU at the launching ceremony of the photo exhibition.

He stressed that "presenting Wenchuan's achievements is the best way to say thank you to those who have helped her, including the EU".

The ambassador heaped praise on the EU for the assistance it provided to China at the time.

"We will never forget those European relief and medical staff who worked day and night on the ground, side by side with their Chinese colleagues," he said.

Nor would China forget the EU's financial contributions to the cause, Zhang said.

"We will never forget the generosity of the EU institutions, the member states, and people from all walks of life, who made 710 million Chinese yuan (about 110 million U.S. dollars under the 2008 exchange rate) of donations."

He recalled that Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council from 2009 to 2014, visited the quake-hit region and joint reconstruction projects conducted by China and the EU.

Zhang also applauded Serge Abou, then EU Ambassador to China, who went to the Chinese foreign ministry immediately after the disaster to make donations.

"Though they are not personally here today, we still want to say 'thank you' to them, to the EU delegation to China, and to everyone who offered help and support," said the ambassador.

Echoing Zhang, Yang Xingping, vice governor of Sichuan province, said in his speech that besides being a gift of thanks to the EU for aid, the exhibition also aimed to deepen the economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges between Sichuan and EU member states.

Dimitrios Papadimoulis, vice president of the European Parliament said, "Support and assistance is something very important that brings the EU and China closer, and more importantly, brings our peoples together in a common effort."

"This exhibition is taking place in a very important moment when EU-China relations are constantly improving," he said, hailing the photo exhibition for its symbolism.

It "indicates the power of the human commitment to overcome huge difficulties, and the truthful results of international operations", Papadimoulis said.