The opening ceremony for the 7th Nishan Forum on World Civilizations was held in Qufu, Jining, East China's Shandong province on Sept 27.

Themed"Dialogue among civilizations and global cooperation", the forum attracted nearly 200 scholars and experts from across the world.

A number of activities, including a high-level dialogue, keynote speeches, and youth forums, were held on the sidelines of the forum. Participants exchanged their views on three main topics, which are the diversity of civilizations and the world's integrated development, the power of culture in the global response to the pandemic, as well as common values of humanity and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

In addition, this year's forum introduced the Nishan Forum on Traditional Chinese Medicine, as well as the 2021 Confucius Culture Week for Chinese and Foreign Young Students for the first time.

The Nishan Forum on World Civilizations is expected to fuel the innovative development of excellent traditional Chinese culture and enhance communications between different civilizations, said Cheng Shoutian, deputy head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee.