A total of 1,000 Japanese youths arrived in China on Monday for a seven-day tour of the country to mark the start of the China-Japan Friendly Exchange Year of the Youth.

The Japanese delegation, breaking into small groups, will respectively visit cities such as Shanghai and Hangzhou in the east, Chongqing and Chengdu in the west, Guangzhou in the south and Dalian in the northeast and hold get-togethers with their Chinese peers.

A group of high school students from the Japanese delegation arrived in Chongqing on Monday morning for exchange visit

They will gather in Beijing on Saturday to participate in the China-Japan Friendly Exchange Year opening ceremony.

The delegation, led by Japanese Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Osamu Uno, consists of 500 high school students, 200 university students and 300 young representatives from all walks of life.

Yotaro Kobayashi, the chief Japanese member of the new 21st Century Committee for China-Japan Friendship, is the delegation's special advisor.

Delegates from China and Japan take a group photo

The China-Japan Friendly Exchange Year was created last year by China Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda when the two met over lunch in Singapore at the Asian Summit in November. It also marks the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Japan-China Peace and Friendship Treaty.

A series of youth exchange activities will be conducted over the course of the year in the fields of culture, academia, environmental protection, science and technology, media, tourism, film and television.

The China-Japan Friendly Exchange Year is sponsored by the All-China Youth Federation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.

Chinese youth will visit Japan later in the year.

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2008)