WUXI, Jiangsu Province, March 27 (Xinhua) -- The 11th Panchen Lama, Bainqen Erdini Qoigyijabu, will attend the Second World Buddhist Forum that is to open in the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi Saturday, a forum spokesman said Friday.

    "He will attend the opening ceremony tommorrow," said Ming Sheng, vice president of the Buddhist Association of China, at a press conference.

    He would not provide further details.

    The forum, with the theme "A harmonious world, a synergy of conditions," was jointly organized by the Buddhist Association of China, the Buddha's Light International Association, the Hong Kong Buddhist Association, and the China Religious Culture Communication Association.

    More than 1,000 Buddhist monks and scholars from about 50 countries and regions will attend the forum and discuss how to build a harmonious world.

    The five-day forum will be held in two parts. The first part will be held from March 28-29 in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. The participants will move from Nanjing to Taipei by four direct charter flights on March 30, where the second part of the forum will be held from March 31-April 1, Ming Sheng said.

    The 11th Panchen Lama attended the First World Buddhist Forum held in the eastern Chinese cities of Hangzhou and Zhoushan in April 2006.

Panchen Lama: Freedom and prosperity ring on liberated plateau 

    By Bainqen Erdini Qoigyijabu

    BEIJING, March 23 -- I, as a descendant of the suppressed serfs in the old Tibet and a legitimate heir to the Panchen Erdini, feel exceptionally excited while celebrating the 50th anniversary of the liberation of a million serfs in the region.

The 11th Panchen Lama Erdeni Gyaincain Norbu (front) looks at the exhibits during an exhibition titled "Democratic Reform in the Tibet Autonomous Region" in Beijing, capital of China, March 15, 2009. (Xinhua/Fan Rujun) Photo Gallery>>>

    The 17-Article Agreement, signed by the central government and the local authority of Tibet upon the region's peaceful liberation in 1951, signaled the end of past imperialist aggression and slavery and a new step for the Chinese people toward national unity. The armed uprising that failed eight years later was aimed at opposing any progressive social reforms in the region and preserving feudal serfdom. Full story

Panchen Lama hails progress in Tibet, calls for support for CPC leadership 

    BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The 11th Panchen Lama Gyaincain Norbu has called on people in Tibet to support the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), to which he credited the highland region's prosperity and development today.

    In a signed article to be carried by Monday's People's Daily, the Panchen Lama, one of Tibet's most senior living Buddhas, said the hard-earned happy life of today's Tibetans should be greatly cherished. Full story

Dalai Lama not invited to World Buddhist Forum in eastern Chinese city

    WUXI, Jiangsu Province, March 27 (Xinhua) -- The 14th Dalai Lama was not invited to the Second World Buddhist Forum that is to open in the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi Saturday, a forum spokesman said Friday.

    "He is a political fugitive and has done lots of things to secede his motherland and go against his identity of being a Buddhist," Ming Sheng, vice president of the Buddhist Association of China, told Xinhua. Full story