A group of 61 young Chinese will leave for Japan Wednesday as part of this year's Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program to promote cultural exchange between China and Japan.

The Japanese embassy to China held a farewell ceremony in Beijing Tuesday evening for the leaving Chinese. Officials from the Japanese embassy and the Chinese Foreign Ministry attended the ceremony.

These young people are expected to serve as coordinators for international relations in charge of international cultural and economic exchange with Japanese local public organizations or as assistant language teachers to teach Chinese in Japanese schools in the coming one or two years.

The JET Program was first carried out in 1987, with the aim of recruiting foreign young people to work in Japan's local public organizations. It has so far recruited about 6,273 young people from 38 countries and regions, including China.

This is the 13th year China has joined the program. China sent its first four participants to Japan in 1992, and by the end of the year 2003, the number had increased to 529.
 
(Xinhua News Agency April 7, 2004)