(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-28 13:55

JINAN - 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.