CHANGSHA- A high-profile international Taoism forum was held in Central China's Hunan province on Sunday in an effort to spread the religion's influence.

In a message to the forum, senior Chinese leader Jia Qinglin urged the participants from 20 countries, including China, the United States, France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Japan, to explore the essence of Taoism and make the Chinese culture more attractive in the world.

Jia, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said that the event represented a blessing to the pursuit of sustained world peace and common prosperity.

"Taoism is an important part of traditional Chinese culture as well as wealth of human civilization," said Jia.

Taoism was a some 2,000-year-old religion originated from Lao Tze's philosophy. Lao Tze (BC 571-471) was the author of the book Tao De Ching, in which he pointed out that everything in the universe was born from vaccum or nothing and the balance and harmony should be achieved between human beings and nature. His thoughts even stimulated the creativity of some renowned modern physicists.

"There are many Taoist believers in western countries and a lot of foreign universities and academies have been doing extensive research into Taoism," said Lin Zhou, deputy president of Chinese Taoist Association.

Topics at the forum will cover environmental protection, sustainable development, cross-religion harmony, world peace and the role Taoism could play in those areas.

The three-day forum is held at the foot of Mt. Hengshan in Nanyue District of Hunan's Hengyang City. It is co-sponsored by the Chinese Taoist Association and the China Religious Culture Communication Association.