国内英语新闻:Grassroots cross-Strait forum opens in mainland with 10,000 expected Taiwanese guests

"People across the Strait need more interaction. Even disputes are OK because agreements can be reached through discussions," said Huang, also mayor of Chiayi City in central Taiwan.

With this year's theme, "Focus on livelihood benefits both sides of the Strait", the forum will gather residents from across the Strait to discuss cooperation on agriculture, tourism, banking, investment, publishing, and ethnic culture preservation projects, among others, organizers said.

As part of the forum, participants will even jointly worship their shared ancestors, gods, and legendary figures revered on both sides of the Strait.

On Saturday, thousands of Taiwanese surnamed Zheng and people from the mainland paid tribute to Zheng Chenggong, a naval general who forced Dutch invaders to leave Taiwan in the 18th century, at the foot of a giant statue of Zheng in Xiamen, Fujian Province.

Zheng, who died aged 38 in southern Taiwan, lived in Xiamen for 14 years and based his naval forces here.

Some Zhengs from south Taiwan worshipped Zheng Chenggong here on Saturday consider themselves the ancient naval general's descendants. And it was the first time for many of them to return to their ancestral hometown.

Xiamen, a coastal city with a population of 2.52 million, had been a flashpoint of cross-Strait rivalry through the 1950s and 1960s after the Kuomintang lost the civil war and fled to Taiwan in late 1940s.

Cross-Strait exchanges warmed after the Kuomintang, led by a new generation of leaders, returned to power in the 2008 Taiwan elections, ending the eight-year rule by the pro-secession Democratic Progressive Party.