A goodwill recital contest of Chinese cultural classics ended Friday at the Research Institute of Confucius in Qufu, hometown of the great Chinese philosopher and educationist in east China's Shandong Province.

This is the first competition of its kind to be held for all Chinese inside and outside China.

Vice Premier Qian Qichen wrote to the two-day competition -- "Descendants of the same forefather, we all share concern about China."

A total of more than 2,000 people from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong took part in the event, with the oldest attendee aged 72 and the youngest only 3.

It is believed that the friendly competition has done a good job in achieving its goal of passing down Chinese civilization andimproving the humanistic quality of the Chinese people.

As part of the event's two-year long promotion, recitals of Chinese cultural classics were organized and divided into two parts -- one for children and the other for adults.

So far, millions of children from the mainland have participated in the activities, as have more than one million fromTaiwan and Hong Kong. The campaign has also spread to Australia, Canada, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and the UnitedStates.

(Xinhua News Agency September 23, 2002)