A delegation of 124 Japanese college students, high school teachers and students started a cultural discovery tour in China in Beijing on Thursday.

The delegation, organized by the Confucius Institute of the Hokuriku University of Japan, will visit eight Chinese cities on various subjects ranging from the economy, culture, education to traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese cuisine.

Chen Jinyu, vice-chairman of the executive board of the Beijing-based Confucius Institute Headquarters, said the visit of Japanese students and teachers to China would promote mutual understanding of the two peoples, and seed friendship in the young minds.

Hokuriku University began organizing the exchange program in 1994; by 2006, more than 500 Japanese teachers and students attended the program and visited nearly 30 Chinese cities.

The university's Confucius Institute, launched in 2006, has offered its students more selective courses about China and helped local primary and middle schools to set up Chinese courses.

Chen believed that more and more Japanese universities and schools would participate in the exchange programs.

(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2007)