On Nov 26, 1983, former top leader of the Communist Party of China Hu Yaobang made a state visit to Japan. He spoke to more than 4,000 people at the headquarters of NHK and unveiled the idea of inviting 3,000 young Japanese people to visit China.

Hu's proposal caught his audience by surprise. They didn't expect China to make such a big move.

In the immediate aftermath of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), the economically underdeveloped China found it difficult to accommodate and even transport such a large number of foreign visitors. But it managed to host the young Japanese visitors well.

The move embodied China's resolve to build a strong and friendly relationship with its neighbor.

The Japanese visitors were invited to the Tian'anmen Square on Oct 1, 1984 as a grand celebration of China's National Day, the first after the "cultural revolution", was held. Along with their Chinese peers, they danced at the square till 2 am.

Seeing is believing, and visits such as this help people of the two countries know each other better. China and Japan have inked four basic political documents since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1972, with the spirit of "learning from history, peaceful coexistence, mutual respect, friendship for generations, mutually beneficial cooperation and common development".

With these aspirations, the Chinese and Japanese initiators of the four documents bore in mind their disputes and made efforts to keep them under control. They saw the bigger picture of relations.

Cold as China-Japan relations are, some 1.8 million Chinese tourists still visited Japan in the first 10 months of this year, an 80 percent increase over the same period of last year. Their experiences in Japan endeared the country and its people to many.

There is still a learning curve that the two countries need to follow to maintain their relations practically while facing their problems squarely, but visits and exchanges can help thaw the relations.

The author is China Daily's Tokyo bureau chief. caihong@chinadaily.com.cn