SINGAPORE - A world forum on the Chinese culture in the 21st Century kicked off here on Tuesday, aiming to promote co-existence and co-prosperity of the Chinese and other cultures in the world.

Themed "Cultural co-growth: The exchanges and interfacing and development of Chinese and Southeast Asia cultures", the sixth International Symposium of the World Forum on Chinese Culture in the 21st century is the first of its kind held outside China.

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The objectives of the three-day symposium are to facilitate Chinese culture merging into the global scene, to promote interaction between Chinese culture and cultures of Southeast Asia and Singapore in particular, to facilitate the construction of a harmonious world for people of various countries.

Speaking at the opening of the forum, Xu Jialu, president of the Association for Yan Huang Culture of China, said, the world today hears a stronger voice for cultural co-existence and world peace. The Chinese people are willing to share our culture with the world, but we never export our culture by force, nor do we place the Chinese culture above other cultures.

"It's like when you open up a store, you need to put some advertisement to tell people what you are selling. We won't bully other into buying our products. The store will be popular as long as the products worth the price." Xu said, adding that the theme of the forum, cultural co-growth, is a timely topic and shows that the Chinese culture respects different cultures.

Lin Xiang Xiong, president of the Global Chinese Arts & Culture Society of Singapore, echoed Xu's view. He said, the stronger civilization and political economy in developed countries cannot outmatch those in developing or underdeveloped countries and regions. Based on "harmony without uniformity" and "unity in diversity," the Chinese culture will help to create an invisible affinity of the human society by treating others humbly and modestly.

Established in 1998, the World Forum on Chinese Culture in the 21st Century has been previously held in Beijing, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Guangzhou. This year's forum will attract some 150 participants from China and Southeast Asia academia.