A delegation of 34 Japanese  teachers and education officials visited the Memorial Hall of the  War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in a Beijing suburb  Thursday.

   Ten days ago, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi went to the hall and offered a heartfelt apology and condolences to the  Chinese victims of Japanese aggression.

   Teachers and education officials, who bear the responsibility  to educate the younger generation of Japanese, will give their  students the correct perspective on the eight-year war in China,  said Sato Masaaki, superintendent with the Board of Education of  Aomori-Ken (Prefecture) in Japan who headed the delegation.

   During their visit to China, the Japanese educators will learn  more about what really happened during the war some 60 years ago  and gain a deeper understanding of the damage it inflicted on the  collective Chinese psyche, he added.

   The delegation was invited by the China-Japan Friendship  Association as part of the exchange plan put forward by the former Japanese Prime Minister Murayama Tomiichi in 1995. Seven education delegations from Japan have come to China since 1997, while five  Chinese delegations have visited Japan.

   Delegates will also visit east China's Nanjing where the  Nanjing Massacre took place as well as northwest China's Xi'an and south China's Guangzhou.