Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, has arrived in Bejing, China.

British ambassador to China Barbara Woodward and China's ambassador to the United Kingdom Liu Xiaoming met him at the Beijing Airport.

This is the highest-profile visit of a British royalty to China in almost three decades, or since Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip travelled to the country way back in 1986.

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Prince William's itinerary includes a visit to the Forbidden City in Beijing and a tour of a sanctuary for wild elephants in Yunnan province.

He will also speak at a regional wildlife and conservation conference after seeing the rescued animals and will get to observe how local residents live alongside the large animals.

He will also have a light moment, as he is expected to meet the famous Paddington bear, whose movie is having a premiere in local theatres.

The Prince flew to China after completing a four-day trip in Japan.

He had gone to Japan's north-east coast, where thousands of lives were lost during the magnitude 9 earthquake that triggered a massive tsunami in March 2011.

Prince William talked with retired journalist Hiroyuki Takeuchi in the city of Ishinomaki. It was Takeuchi's newspaper that produced handwritten edition in the days after the tsunami.

The Duke told the journalist that like 9/11, people remembered where they were when Japan was hit by the twin tragedies.

"It remains with you forever," he said.

"You remember where you were. It must have been unbelievably terrifying for you and all the others," he told Takeuchi.

Takeuchi replied, "it was like hell. So many died and their bodies were on the roads. It is still raw in my memory."

The Prince offered a bouquet of flowers for more than 3,000 victims of the tsunami in Ishinomaki.

Kate, the duchess of Cambridge, is not with the Prince during his Asian trip due to her pregnancy.

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