For Zhengfa, a 21-year-old monk from Hangzhou's Shangtianzhu Monastery, it was a happy thing to see more young people turn to Buddhism, whether seriously or just at times as they, more educated than before, can help spread Buddhism to more people.

Unlike the old image of a monk wearing a grey or yellow robe with a bowl in hand and parcel on back to beg alms, monks like Zhengfa use cell phones, digital cameras and log on the Internet to understand how the world is developing.

"If modernization is a river tide, then we are a boat. We have to ride the right direction and know what should be or not be done. Only in this way can we stand ready for the tide instead of being washed away like fish," said Master Yongxin of Shaolin Temple based in central Henan Province, who put the once-secret Shaolin Kungfu documents online and is committed to promoting the Shaolin culture worldwide.

As an epilogue of the forum, monks and nuns visited Shanghai and rode the country's first magnetic suspension train and gained a bird's view of the financial hub of the Bund with the 468-meter-tall Oriental Pearl TV Tower, all landmarks of China's rapid economic growth in the past two decades.

"As long as people who love each other come together, who cherish peace and harmony come together, as long as we sit down together to communicate, it's something significant.

"It's good that the forum lets fresh air in and offers a platform for different peoples to know more about China. And when we return home, we will help more people to know China," said Dra.S. Hartati Murdaya, president of the Indonesian Buddhist Council Association.