In the hellenized world following the death of Alexander the Great, The Isle of Rhodes was a center of art, literature and culture. It is best know for a brass-skinned statue of the Greek god Helios that stood about 100 feet high.
Now the tradition of Rhodes as a center of civilized pagan culture continues with an annual meeting of the Dialogue of Civilizations.
Consensus building, inter-civilization dialogue and peaceful coexistence are tools to build a harmonious world, a Chinese scholar told the opening plenary meeting of the 11th World Public Forum "Dialogue of Civilizations" (Rhodes Forum) on Thursday on the Greek island of Rhodes.
Zhuo Xinping, director of China's Institute of World Religions, addressing the forum's 600 participants from 60 countries and regions, said increasing "globalization" in the present-day world has heightened our awareness of cultural coexistence and he appealed all the people on earth to work concertedly for a peaceful and harmonious world.
Zhuo said the need to survive and live on harmoniously requires the mankind to replace confrontation with dialogue, chaos with harmony, and all-lose with all-win in a world of human coexistence.
"While already living intimately in a rather cozy global village, the last thing one can do is to pursue a 'bagger-my-neighbor' policy. What we should do is to advocate good-neighborliness, love, sharing and affinity. In an international community that is already globalized, we must work vigorously to resolve disputes, stop wars and give the reins to peace and tranquillity as much as possible," said Zhuo.
However, he said a harmonious world does not mean that all human civilizations should become one in the end. In contrary, they should be kept as diverse and pluralistic as before.
"Sharing beautiful cultures, nurturing a commonality of all civilizations and identifying their universally recognized characters -- this is the responsibility and mandate for all of us, " Zhuo stressed.
He said the meeting, communication, dialogue and understanding between cultures require one not only to self-consciously respect, appreciate and preserve the culture of his own, but also to learn and appreciate other cultures which may very well have peculiar and equally proud advantages.
Zhuo is among the 12 Chinese scholars attending this year's forum. They will exchange ideas with other participants on the current global challenges in international politics, economics, social relations and culture in the forum which will last until Oct. 6.
The forum was co-founded by Russian politician-cum-businessman Vladimir Yakunin with C. Kapur of India and N. Papanikolao from Greece/United States.
It unites various nongovernmental organizations, representatives of public and state institutions, civil society organizations and faith-based groups, academics, members of diverse civilizations and cultural traditions, and individuals.
The main goals of the forum are to protect the spiritual and cultural values of humankind and to create a space for constructive dialogue among the major civilizations of the modern world.
.....Rhoades
Chinese scholars host first-ever round table meeting at Rhodes Forum
The first annual session of the forum took place in September 2003 on Rhodes, about 430 km southeast of the capital Athens.
For the first time in the history of the World Public Forrum "Dialogue of Civilizations" (Rhodes Forum), Chinese scholars attending the 11th annual forum on Friday hosted a round table meeting which drew warm welcome by organizers and participants.
Under the title of "Facing the Future: China and the World from Multiple Perspectives", 12 scholars from prominent Chinese universities and research institutes expressed their views on topics such as Chinese traditional culture, China's economy, China's religion and society, family and education, and human rights.
From different perspectives, they explained how the Chinese people think and do things, China's ties with the outside world, and China's commitment to peaceful development and friendship with other countries.
During the four-hour meeting, scores of questions were raised, which included China's relations with her large neighbors such as India and Japan, China's religious freedom and human rights.
"I like the round table meeting. Here the organizers give you chances to ask questions. You can ask honest questions and get honest reactions," said Marie Lall FRSA, who is a reader in Education and South Asian Studies at the University of London.
FRSA said as a scholar studying Asia, attending this round table meeting is a must for her, as China is so important and this will be a good opportunity for her to know more about this hugh country.
She said many forums are dominated by the voices from the western world, but here she can hear more voices from the developing countries. This make her first attendance to the Rhodes forum very fruitful.
For Indian businessman Ravi Bhoothalingam who attended the Rhodes both in 2008 and 2011, the most important development of the forum is that the Chinese voice is growing rapidly.
Bhoothalingam has visited China for 23 times so far, and he thinks that India and China, both have more than 1 billion population, have huge potential to cooperate and contribute to the development of the world together.
The round table meeting, one of the many meetings arranged under this year's forum theme "The Age of the World Picture", was also attended by the forum's Founding President Vladimir Yakunin, who appreciated the role of China in the forum and looked forward further contribution from China to the forum.
The forum was co-founded by Yakunin with C. Kapur of India and N. Papanikolao from Greece/United States.
It unites various nongovernmental organizations, representatives of public and state institutions, civil society organizations and faith-based groups, academics, members of diverse civilizations and cultural traditions, and individuals.
The main goals of the forum are to protect the spiritual and cultural values of humankind and to create a space for constructive dialogue among the major civilizations of the modern world.
The first annual session of the forum took place in September 2003 on Rhodes, about 430 km southeast of the Greek capital Athens.
The 11th Rhodes Forum, opened here on Wednesday, will conclude on Sunday.
