It's a huge event for the whole country

Jinmen county commissioner Chen Shui-tsai

The group of Taiwanese pilgrims and local government officials arrived in China's south-eastern Fujian province after making the crossing of just 40km (25 miles) by sea.

The pilgrims are due to visit a shrine to a local deity, the Goddess of the Sea, who is worshipped by fishermen on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

The voyage was the first direct and legal crossing since the two sides were divided by China's civil war in 1949.

Two ships - the Tai Wu and the Wu Chiang - carrying about 190 passengers docked just before noon local time in the China's Xiamen port, having embarked from Taiwan's Jinmen island.

Another ship, the Taima, carrying 500 pilgrims, which left Taiwan's Matsu island, arrived almost simultaneously in the city of Fuzhou.

"The journey is so short but it's taken 52 years," said Chen Shui-tsai, commissioner of Taiwan's Jinmen island, one of the delegation's leaders.

Restrictions eased

The crossings came a day after Taiwan partially lifted its ban on direct travel to the mainland.

Xiamen welcomed two Taiwanese boats

On Monday, a Taiwanese boat aborted its attempt to make the crossing soon after setting out, ostensibly due to high seas.

There was speculation that officials in China, and possibly Taiwan as well, encouraged it to turn back because they preferred to see the first direct legal crossing made by an official delegation.

China played down the significance of Tuesday's event, which was not reported by state media, and offered little in the way of welcoming ceremonies to the ships.

Taiwanese journalists were allowed to disembark on the mainland, but not to bring television cameras ashore in Fuzhou, news agencies reported.

Long-standing travel ban

Waving Taiwanese set out on their historic journey

Taipei has banned direct travel between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland since the end of the civil war that saw the Mao Tse-tung's Communists defeat the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek.

Taipei's relaxation of the restriction applies only to the Taiwanese islands of Matsu and Jinmen. It lifted its travel ban without consulting China.

Beijing has downplayed the significance of the new ruling, saying it does little more than legalise the illicit trade in seafood, produce and consumer goods that has been going on for some years.

China wants a lifting of the ban on direct transport between the main island of Taiwan itself and the mainland, which still remains.