AN international Taoism forum opened on Sunday, attracting 500 scholars from 21 countries and regions to Hengshan Mountain, a sacred Taoist site in Central China’s Hunan province.

Liu Yunshan, head of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), announced the opening of the forum.

In recognition of the growing Taoist influence in modern China, the forum will focus on how to integrate Taoist philosophy with social reality and share Taoist wisdom and concerns about sustainable development, the pursuit of happiness and progress through cooperation, and protecting spiritual well-being in seminars today.

Prominent guest speakers include Bawa Jain, secretary general of the World Council of Religious Leaders, Martin Palmer, a British environmental activist and director of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation, and Ren Farong, head of the Chinese Taoist Association (CTA).

Global celebrities including Prince Philip of the United Kingdom sent their best wishes to the opening of the forum.

Xu Jialu, a retired vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, and Palmer made a live TV appearance Monday evening, exchanging Eastern and Western perspectives about harmony between nature and human beings.

Delegates from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and the Chinese mainland will hold discussions live on TV, exploring opportunities to strengthen existing ties among Taoist circles in these regions and taking stock of religious pluralism in China as exemplified by the syncretism of Taoist, Buddhist and Confucianism.

Leaders of Taoism associations in the United States and Europe — including Germany, France, Spain and Italy — will have small brainstorming sessions about how to broaden Taoism’s global appeal.

Taoism, a philosophical and religious tradition that originated in China, seeks to establish harmony between human beings and the principle of the universe, which is called Tao. The emblem of Taoism is the tai chi symbol, which is a circle with an S-shaped line dividing the white (yang) and black (yin) halves.

(SD-Agencies)