When she retired from a local factory three years ago, Qiu Huiying, a resident in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, couldn't help feeling lonely and depressed as she often thought she had been "left behind by a rapidly developing society."

Qiu, now 58, didn't find back her mental peace until she turned to Buddhist doctrines. "Having meditated over the meaning of life, my mind gradually calmed down and my family is happy to see my life back to normal," she said.

Qiu was more than glad when her city played host to a World Buddhist Forum in early April, China's first international Buddhist congregation since the religion was introduced to the country some 2,000 years ago.

The holding of the forum was big news to the country's 100 million Buddhism adherents, as well as some 200,000 monks and nuns in 130,000 monasteries and convents. It has conveyed the message that the doctrines of Buddhism are officially recognized by the atheist government as a conducive vehicle to help with the creation of a harmonious society.

As China becomes more wealthy and worldly, "Buddhism can be taken as 'a method to deal with humanity's spiritual confusion and solve various problems confronting us," Ye Xiaowen, director of China's State Administration for Religious Affairs, told China Features at the World Buddhist Forum.

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