Beijing is seeking inspiration from religious teachings to help the nation through a 'crisis of social morality'.
The central government sponsored a three-day International Taoism Forum on Hengshan mountain, a sacred Taoist site. The event, set to end today, received heavy coverage from state media, in a sign Beijing might be tapping ancient Chinese philosophy to bolster its campaign for more a more stable and compassionate society.
The death of a two-year-old in a grisly hit-and-run in Guangdong that saw several pedestrians neglect to help the bleeding girl prompted much national anguish.
'We can get some inspiration from Taoism in the period of globalisation,' Wang Zuoan, deputy director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs, said yesterday. 'We are concerned not just for environmental protection, but also for heart and soul protection.'
Such problems are the focus of the forum, which aims to 'help Chinese society solve existing problems [through] Taoist wisdom', according to Zhang Jiyu, vice-president of the China Taoist Association (CTA).
Last night state broadcaster CCTV aired an hour-long talk between Xu Jialu, former vice-president of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, and Martin Palmer, who translates Taoist books into English and runs an religious foundation in Britain.
