China has, to date, surpassed the Republic of Korea, becoming a destination country of the first choice for Japanese study tours and Beijing is the most-favored destination-city for Japanese students. This is learned from the "Seminar on Beijing Study Tour for Sino-Japanese Youngsters" held on Jun 13, 2002 in Beijing.

As learned, the Chinese government has decided that the year 2002 was made the starting point to practice visa-free policy for Japanese students to come to China for study tours. This is why the yearly increase of Japanese students who come to China for the tours.

At the seminar, Yu Changjiang, Director of Beijing Tourism Administration made an analysis on why the Japanese students are fond of Beijing. He said, Beijing has a history of over 3000 years in city construction and also a history of over 800 years as the capital of the country. So it has piled up a great many scenic spots and historical sites that may be deemed as of elegance with a long history and rich in humane culture. And so they are the best "teaching materials" for Japanese students to know about the Chinese history.

Another reason for Japanese students to take a liking in Beijing is that Beijing is one of the most developed areas of China in elementary education. The new teachers for above primary schools in the city were all required being of college graduates as from 2000 onwards. In the meanwhile, schools for overseas exchanges were also diversified with different features of their own, such as high school, vocational high school, technical school and schools of other types. These schools feature various disciplines and specialties and also rich with exchange items. As learned, Beijing has up to now 111 schools open to Japanese student groups for study tours.

Study tour is also known as educational tour. Its main purpose lies in the experience of personal contacts, getting to know something about exoticism, naturalism, collective life and common morality so as to train for personnel adapted to international practices. The year of 2001 saw more than 116,000 Japanese students take part in overseas study tours of which some 45,000 came to China but those to Beijing made up more than 32,000, accounting for 85 percent of the total students coming to China for study tours.

(People's Daily June 14, 2002)