BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- A total of 91 million Chinese mainlanders exited and entered the border last year, the Ministry of Public Security said here Friday.

    That number is up 12.2 percent from 2007.

    The top 10 countries or regions mainlanders departed for, in order of popularity, were Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, Vietnam, the Republic of Korea, Russia, the United States, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

    The ministry said reasons for travel fluctuated. Around 15.1 percent of people traveled for private reasons compared with 2007. Those traveling for official business dropped by 5.3 percent.

    Meanwhile, the number of foreigners visiting China declined by 6.8 percent to 48 million, despite the Beijing Olympic Games.

    Many visitors came from the Republic of Korea, followed by Japan, Russia, the United States, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam, Mongolia and Australia.

    Nearly half of the foreigners were in China for sightseeing or recreation purposes.

    The ministry did not give reasons for increases and decreases in the numbers.

    Another 4,783 people were caught illegally crossing the Chinese mainland's border by either holding fake passports or they were stowaways. That number is up 2.4 percent from 2007, the ministry said.