More than 2,000 artists and writers gathered in Beijing on Tuesday at the seventh national congress of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the sixth national congress of the Chinese Writers Association, which opened Tuesday morning.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin delivered a speech at the opening ceremony.

The artists and writers, some of them come from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, are to exchange views and explore ways to promote China's literary and artistic development in the new century.

The two mass organizations will elect their new leading bodies.

(China Daily December 18, 2001)