The World Confucian Conference that kicked off in the Qufu city
of east China's Shandong Province, hometown of the most
honored ancient philosopher, on Thursday, is to become an annual
event "to provide a spiritual power for the modern world."
The conference, attended by 97 scholars from 55 confucianism
research centers of 12 countries and regions, is aimed at promoting
international research and exchange on the ancient oriental
philosophy.
Confucius, born in 551 BC, was a great philosopher whose thought
held sway as orthodox ideology in China for some 2,000 years. He
was honored as a cultural giant in human history together with
Sakyamuni, Jesus Christ and Mohammed.
According to a declaration, the World Confucian Conference shall
be a "people-oriented, open, fair and dynamic meeting held in Qufu
every September".
The declaration suggested that as "the balance of nature has
been broken by over-exploitation of human beings and the sky of
ethics clouded by growing desire," research of confucianism should
no longer be "confined to library data", but "to provide a
spiritual power for the modern world".
Confucianism offers references for solution to many complicated
social problems common, said the declaration, noting that many of
confucius' notions, like 'do to others as you would be done by',
have been recognized as "dictum" by many countries and peoples
across the world.
(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2007)