By Xinhua Writers Bai Xu and Gui Tao

    BEIJING, July 4 (Xinhua) -- For a retired teacher, the trip to Taiwan carried special significance.

    Fan Qingju was in the first group of mainland tourists to set foot on Taiwan soil. It was her first chance to visit her brother after more than half a century, despite the fact that her southern Guangdong Province home was just a short way across the sea from Taiwan.

Mainland tourists greets each other before take off in Guangzhou, capital city of the southern Guangdong Province, July 4, 2008. The first cross-Strait weekend chartered flight from China's mainland to Taiwan took off at 6:31 a.m. from Guangzhou early Friday morning. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    After the civil war (1945-1949), Fan's elder brother and sister-in-law went to Taiwan with the fleeing Nationalist Party ofChina (KMT).

    "In the past, they came to visit us every two years," recalled the 66-year-old academic. "But recently, they are not in good physical condition. How we wish to visit them."

    Fan was among 106 Guangdong residents, the first mainland tourists to start a 10-day trip to China's largest island.

    At the beginning of the year she didn't tell her brother she had overheard that Taiwan might be open soon to mainland tourists and she had applied to the Guangzhilu (GZL) International Travel Service Ltd.

    "If I couldn't go, they will surely be disappointed," she said.

    When the agency called with the good news, Fan described her feeling "like winning a lottery." The delighted woman then went about buying gifts for the trip -- clothes for her brother and Olympic souvenirs for her nephew and niece.

    HISTORIC FLIGHTS

    The first cross-Strait weekend chartered flight from China's mainland to Taiwan took off at 6:31 a.m. on Friday from Guangzhou. It was part of a historic journey of 760 mainlanders from five cities. The trip came three weeks after a meeting between the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation.

    Under an agreement, 36 return flights will operate every weekend, Friday to Monday, divided evenly between mainland and Taiwan airlines.

    As many as 3,000 mainland tourists are allowed to travel to Taiwan daily in groups of 10 to 40, staying for a maximum of 10 days.

    "I have been expecting to visit Taiwan and my dream will finally come true today," beaming Guangdong native Shi Anwei said before boarding the plane. "I was too excited to sleep last night."

    Yang Guoqing, General Administration of Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) deputy head, said "regular flights across the Taiwan Strait would definitely boost the civil aviation market in the Asia-Pacific region and even the world."

    Xia Xinghua, CAAC east China bureau director, said there had been great progress since Shanghai was chosen the first city for cross-Strait flight operation five years ago.

    "The increasing and convenient flights across the Strait are not only an improved means of transportation, they are also an emotional and cultural bridge for the people. They have changed the way of thinking of both sides," he said.