More than 5,000 people from 16 countries and regions, including the United States, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan, attended the opening ceremony.

Zhou Qi, mayor of Jining City, said the current festival is to provide a series of colorful and distinctive cultural programs, academic exchanges and opportunities for economic and trade cooperation.

During the festival, which runs from September 26 to October 10, sacrificial rites will be staged every day in front of the Confucius Temple.

Confucius (BC551- 479) is regarded as a great thinker and educator in the Chinese history. Confucianism, the school of thought that developed from his ideas, has had great influence on China's political, cultural and social environment for thousands of years.

(People’s Daily 09/26/2000)