Over the weekend, Chinese President Xi Jinping greeted a private delegation of around 3,000 Japanese visitors that consisted of lawmakers, businessmen, and tourism and government officials, led by an influential figure from Japan's ruling party. This shows the willingness of both sides to improve ties with each other and positive exchanges at the citizen level are perhaps the answer to diplomatic rows.

National leaders, officials and diplomats are considered the heavyweights in defining bilateral ties. Amid the political tensions, the power of citizens favoring a "thaw" in the icy relationship between China and Japan should not be underestimated.

Obviously, there are a number of elites in Japan that represent the mainstream idea of Japanese people toward China and do not endorse Abe's bellicose sentiment. Despite tense political ties, economic and tourism rapport plays a vital role in bilateral relations.

In 2014, the number of Chinese tourists to Japan surged by 83 percent to 2.4 million. On top of their travel expenses, they buy more than $1,000 worth of goods on average during a single trip. In this year's Spring Festival, busloads of Chinese visitors reportedly went to Japanese malls to buy high-quality Japanese products, even toilet seats.

The Chinese do not like Abe's nationalistic bluff, as it makes them believe that Japan rejects a rising China. Historical issues and territorial disputes also leave Chinese people with an unfavorable impression about Japan's rightist groups.

But from visiting Japan, most Chinese have had a positive view of the country and its people. The appealing natural scenery, successful urban modernization and civilized behavior of Japanese people have all inspired their Chinese counterparts.

Comparatively, Japanese travelers to China in 2014 decreased by 5.6 percent, the fourth consecutive decline. It seems that Chinese people adopt a more open mind in normalizing Sino-Japanese relations.

International relations are not simply determined by love or hatred between different peoples any more. Diverse exchanges between them will boost mutual understanding.

The Japanese delegation may have well sensed China's warmth and sincerity during their trip. While they pledged to make further efforts to strengthen people-to-people exchanges, they should also prevent positive mainstream opinions in Japan from being led astray by hawkish right-wing forces.