The diplomatic relation between China and Japan originated from the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). It greatly developed during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), due to the prosperity of that time.

The Japanese came to China as part of diplomatic missions or by taking private ships for cultural exchanges and trade activities. From the year 630 to 834, a total of 19 diplomatic missions were dispatched from Japan to China, with 15 of them successfully arriving, overcoming the dangers on the sea.

The number of Japanese visitors grew from 200 at the early stage to 600 in later periods. The selection of visitors was very strict, with the visitors being mainly knowledgeable experts, overseas students, or monks.

Even though only a select number of the visitors were allowed to enter Chang’an (now Xi’an, Northwest China’s Shaanxi province) for many economic and political reasons, the number of visitors was considerable.

The imperial court of the Tang Dynasty provided lots of preferential policies to visitors from Japan, such as paying for all of their expenses in Chang’an.

The envoys would search for Chinese classics and recruit Chinese scholars, eminent monks and skilled craftsmen. They would also travel around the city to learn about the political situation, the society, and local customs. According to records, about 1.68 million Chinese classics were kept in Japan during the Tang Dynasty.

After the diplomatic missions returned, overseas students and monks would stay in Chang’an to further study the civilization of the Tang Dynasty and promote cultural exchanges.

Overseas students would study in the imperial school, mainly learning about the Confucian classics. Some of them even passed the imperial examination, and then served as government officials.

The number of overseas monks was even large, and the number of those with records was more than three times than that of overseas students.

Overseas monks would study in various temples to learn from different eminent monks. Many of them were prestigious and played an important role in international Buddhism exchanges.

Ancient Japan made great developments due to the cultural exchanges with the prosperous Tang Dynasty, and was honored as the country of gentlemen for the cultural achievements and hard work of the overseas students and monks.