NANTOU: For 67-year-old Beijinger Zhang Rongsheng and his wife Yang Yuzhen, it was the realization of a lifelong dream: a trip to the island of Taiwan.

Theirs was a common desire shared and fulfilled by most of the gray-haired couples in their 750-member group, the first tourist one to arrive in Taiwan for a 10-day trip.

With the help of his wife, Zhang walked up to one of the famous tourist sites of Taipei, the Memorial Hall of Dr Sun Yat-sen, on Saturday.

Zhang suffered from a brain infarction a year ago.

"We decided to apply for a trip to Taiwan as soon as we heard about the news," his 66-year-old wife said.

"We didn't want to miss the chance of realizing our lifelong dream, given our old age and poor health."

A tour group from the Chinese mainland poses for a photo beside the Love River in Kaohsiung, Taiwan July 5, 2008. The visitors are among the more than 750 mainland tourists on a 10-day inaugural mainland group tour of the island. [Asianewsphoto]

Since they retired years ago, the couple has visited Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.

"Although we have always wanted to visit Taiwan, we almost gave up that thought, especially after my husband fell ill," said Yang, who used to be a teacher.

Previously, mainland Chinese on business or visiting relatives were allowed to go to Taiwan.

"So when we found out we were part of the first tour group to Taiwan, we were too excited to sleep for the first few days," Yang said.

"It's a worthwhile trip, the most memorable one we have had," both Zhang and Yang said of their inaugural visit to Taiwan.

Song Mingtai and Jin Yi, from Zhuhai in Guangdong province, were another couple in the tour group.

The 67-year-old Song and his 62-year-old wife spent close to a week anxiously anticipating the trip.

Their city was given a quota of 20 travelers on the tour, but more than 1,000 applied.

Song said he and his wife were overjoyed because they could finally see with their own eyes what they had learned about Taiwan from textbooks.

"Sun Moon Lake and Ali Mountain have been so familiar to us, but up till now, they have been just words on paper," Song said at the lakeside of Sun Moon Lake.

"We're really lucky to be here," he said.