People wearing traditional Chinese costumes perform at a ceremony to mark the 2,571st birthday of Confucius at Nanjing Confucius Temple on Monday in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. Descendents, experts and scholars of Confucius across the country took part in the ceremony to commemorate the great Chinese thinker and philosopher. SU YANG/FOR CHINA DAILY

A ceremony was held on Monday to commemorate the 2,571st birthday of Confucius in Qufu, Shandong province, the home province of the great Chinese thinker.

"The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered us to be introspective about what people should do to respond to disasters and irresistible crises. We need to draw lessons from the wisdom of ancient civilizations," Kong Deli, a 77th generation descendant of Confucius, said at the ceremony.

The ceremony is a part of the 2020 China (Qufu) International Confucius Cultural Festival and the sixth Nishan Forum on World Civilizations, both of which ended in Nishan township of Qufu on Monday.

Scholars from 17 countries and regions, who attended the forum in person or via video channels, agreed that people around the world should respect differences and seek common benefits.

The current world needs to learn from the profound wisdom of ancient civilizations to eliminate misunderstanding among different countries and people and to tackle problems and challenges in a bid to build a blueprint of mutual respect, fairness, justice and win-win cooperation, according to the common views released at the closing ceremony of the forum.

Chen Lai, a professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said ancient Chinese philosophers had proposed values for different civilizations.

"Respecting and learning from different civilizations is the basis of building a community with a shared future for mankind," he said.

More than 300 people joined the event, hailing from Beijing, Changsha in Hunan province, Changchun in Jilin province, Wuwei in Gansu province, Quzhou in Zhejiang province and Dangjin in South Korea.

People around the world can log onto an online platform, where they can complete the 10 procedures of commemorating the sage, such as presenting flowers.

Confucius (551-479 BC), lived in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). At a time when Plato and Aristotle were spreading philosophies on ethics in the Western world, Confucius was having a major impact on the social, political and philosophical structure of China.

zhaoruixue@chinadaily.com.cn