Enhanced mutual understanding and trust is needed for the world to have a more objective view and knowledge of China, Wang Chen, minister of the State Council Information Office, said yesterday.

To achieve this, he said the channel for mutual communication between China and the international community should increasingly be expanded.

Wang’s words came in a speech delivered to the Third World Forum on China Studies, which started in Shanghai yesterday,.

An honorary chairman of the event's organizing committee, Wang believes China's future and fate "is increasingly linked with the world's future.

The forum, jointly organized by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and the Shanghai municipal information office, provides domestic and overseas scholars a new platform to study developing trends in China..

With the country's rapid development in recent years, China studies, which originated from Sinology, have expanded to include economics, politics, education, social and military affairs and foreign policy, rather than just focusing on literature, history, philosophy and archaeology.

More than 100 scholars from overseas and 200 from various provinces of China are attending this year's forum entitled: "Common Challenges, Common Efforts: Working".

"It represents a great opportunity to exchange ideas in a wide variety of panel discussions and to familiarize ourselves with each other," said David Shambaugh, professor and director of George Washington University's China Policy Program in the United States.

"Some of the best brains and leading experts in many fields in China are in attendance, and it offers a great opportunity to listen, learn and get to know each other," Shambaugh said.

Questions:

1. In which city was the Third World Forum on China Studies taking place?

2. How many scholars from overseas were in attendance?

Answers:

1. Shanghai.

2. 100.