China's refitted aircraft carrier, known as the Varyag, left its shipyard at Dalian Port in northeast Liaoning Province on Wednesday morning to start its first sea trial, Xinhua reported.

According to the military sources, the first sea trial was in line with schedule of the carrier's refitting project and would not take a long time. After returning from the sea trial, the aircraft carrier will continue refit and test work.

The carrier was originally built by the former Soviet Union which named it Varyag yet failed to complete the ship's construction before collapsing in 1991. The still-unnamed aircraft carrier was an empty shell. Ukraine disarmed it and removed its engines before selling it to China.

(China.org.cn August 10, 2011)