A ceremony commemorating the newly-renovated and expanded Louguantai Temple was held Tuesday morning in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, with hundreds of participants gathered to honor Taoism, its founder Laozi and to pray for world peace.

71-year-old Ren Farong, chairman of the China Taoism Association, manifested his twin joys for the ongoing International Forum on Daodejing and the renovation of Louguantai Temple, the birthplace of the Daodejing and the holy place from which Laozi himself preached.

He personally thanked Lee Shau Kee, the Hong Kong billionaire, whose large donations made the temple renovation possible.

Hundreds of participants, including 300 delegates from 17 countries and regions, attended the ceremony, applauded the speeches, bore respectful witness to the Taoist rituals and bowed three times to Laozi's statue extending their deepest respects before praying for world peace.?

The International Forum on Daodejing, at least the Xi'an section thereof, proceeded without a hitch over the last two days with close to 30 leading Taoists and experts giving presentations.? Topics covered many areas ranging from environment protection, health, education to proper uses of the wisdom enshrined in the Taoist classic.

The forum also received 274 essays and papers, numbering over a million words, on the Daodejing and related subjects. The organizers have already prepared a three-tome volume for the series, to be accompanied with a DVD documentary.

(China.org.cn by staff reporter Zhang Rui, April 24, 2007)