More than 10,000 youngsters from more than 20 countries and regions gathered in Penglai City in East China's Shandong Province on Tuesday, dramatizing their wish for peace.

The China (Penglai) International Ode-to-Peace Youngsters' Festival, which opened on Tuesday, is sponsored by the Shandong provincial government and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) representatives to China.

The goal of the event is to lead children all over the world to "yearn for peace, pursue peace, love peace, cherish peace and guard peace."

Children from home and abroad will take part in art, culture and sports shows during the six-day event. More than 800 children and adolescents from Japan, France, Mongolia, Australia and China will participate in the international sailing competition, international pop music week and movie shows.

This year the event will exhibit more than 10,000 drawings and paintings by youngsters and some excellent works from the China National Art Museum, attracting tens of thousands of visitors.

A forum on world peace and development, a tourist-product design competition plus street festivals, fashion shows and trade talks will also take place during the event.

Penglai successfully held the first two ode-to-peace festivals in 2000 and 2001. UNESCO has named the festival one of the world's largest gatherings for the pursuit of peace, and it will be held annually in Penglai.

( China Daily August 22, 2002)