A group of Japanese scholars and diplomats made their "experience trip" in east China's Jiangsu Province on Friday in memory of the envoys dispatched to China more than 1,000 years ago.

The tour group, headed by Virginia Anami, a Japanese scholar on east Asian history, visited the relics of a town of Tang Dynasty (618-907) in Yangzhou City.

Anami said she used to travel to Yangzhou five times because it was the hometown of Chinese monk Jianzhen (688-763), who dedicated himself to fostering the friendship between Chinese and Japanese peoples.

Japan sent the first batch of envoys to China in the year 607 and later kept dispatching envoys to China for 18 times during a period of more than 200 years, who also contributed to the friendship of the two peoples, said Anami.

"We hope China and Japan can respect each other and live in harmony like they did more than 1,000 years ago," Anami said in Chinese. "In our trip we will savor the remarkable stories the envoys had experienced."

The "experience tour" was initiated early this year. Another has been planned for a trip to China's Xi'an and Luoyang cities in autumn this year.

(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2007)