Religious center ready for Asiad participants

GUANGZHOU - Rooms adorned with religious paintings and statues, clerks and volunteers able to lead prayers in foreign languages -- four days before the opening of Asiad in Guangzhou, the Asiad religious service center is poised to provide spiritual assistance for participating athletes of different faiths.

"Our service is available around the clock, and volunteers have been ready at all times,"?said Zhong Zhiyan, head of the Games' religious service office, said Monday.

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Occupying an area of 1,500 square meters in the Athletes' Village, the center has six rooms for prayers of Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Christianity, and Hinduism, and a serenity room for adherents of other faiths.

Free access will be available to athletes, coaches, and officials from participating countries during the Games, which are scheduled from Nov 12 to 27, said Zhong.

"The room for Islam is the biggest, since a large number of Muslim participants have been predicted," said Lin Hang, Imam from Beijing.

The center said it would also hold celebrations for the coming Eid al-Adha, an important Muslim festival that will coincide with the Games this year.

Further, Taoism, an indigenous religion in China, has become part of the religious options offered at Asiad for the first time, said Huang Shizhen, abbot of Qinghua Palace in Xi'an and currently guiding the Taoist services at the center.

Taoism has more than 50,000 priests and countless believers in the Chinese mainland. Huang said they also expected to receive athletes from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asian countries at the religious service center.

The Asian Games will attract 11,700 athletes from 45 countries and regions in Asia this year. Officials at the center said they had trained the staff and volunteers in English and other foreign languages.

"The room for Buddhism, for example, has several accomplished Buddhists who can speak fluent English," said Daoxue Master, head of the room for Buddhism.

The center is currently staffed with 24 clerks and 46 religious volunteers.

Apart from the Asiad religious service center, an additional 28 churches and temples in the city of Guangzhou, which have completed renovations and expansions, will also accommodate worshipers during the Games.