Descendants and representatives of the Japanese participants of the largest-ever Japan-China youth gathering in 1984 arrived in China's financial hub of Shanghai on Wednesday, starting a week-long friendly visit to China as part of the two countries' joint efforts to carry on friendship for generations.

The 200-odd member delegation, led by former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, is composed of representatives and the children of participants who attended the 1984 gathering, as well as several Japanese dietmen and personnel from friendship organizations.

The visit is part of the activities celebrating 2007 China-Japan Culture and Sports Year.

During their stay, they will also visit northwestern China's Lanzhou city and Beijing, where they are scheduled to attend a series of forums and gatherings to learn about China's development in political, economic, social and cultural fields.

In the fall of 1984, 3,000 Japanese young people visited China at the invitation of Hu Yaobang, then general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. They met with about 1 million Chinese youth from all walks of life, and celebrated the 12th anniversary of the normalization of Sino-Japanese relations.

It was the largest foreign group China had received since 1949. The event was described as unprecedented in the history of Sino-Japanese friendship.

Source: Xinhua