China is commemorating the International Day of Peace 2014 with a series of activities that started on Monday in Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province.

An opening ceremony was held on Tuesday morning in Xi'an, an ancient city that served as the capital of 13 Chinese dynasties and the starting point of the ancient Silk Road, a trade and cultural communication channel built more than 2,000 years ago to link China, Central Asia and Europe.

Han Qide, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Chairman of the Central Committee of Jiu San Society and president of the Chinese People's Association for Peace and Disarmament, attended a ceremony for the Art Exhibition on Peace and the "A Ray of Sunshine" project on Monday evening.

Sponsored by the Chinese People's Association for Peace and Disarmament, the United Nations system in China and the Shaanxi provincial people's government, the commemoration themed "People Aspire to a Safer Asia" runs from Sept 22 through 24, and includes high-level dialogue, sub-forums, a roundtable conference on cooperation and development among the cities along the Silk Road economic belt, prayers for peace and a closing ceremony, as well as artistic performances.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sent a congratulatory message to organizers saying that people around the world are eager to lead peaceful lives.

Chinese leaders and a number of politicians and former politicians of Asian countries are participating in the activities, which aim to show to the international community the good wishes of the Chinese people and the people of other Asian countries that love peace and desire to strengthen cooperation and promote common development. It also aims to enhance practical cooperation and exchanges between the Chinese people and the people of other Asian countries, and to advocate the concept of peace in order to promote those friendships and jointly build the Silk Road economic belt under a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere.

In 2001, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution and declared Sept 21 the International Day of Peace, aiming to "enhance the ideals of peace between different countries and the people within one nation".

Since then, every year the UN has put forward a theme for the annual celebration and encouraged all countries to hold commemoration activities.

In recent years, as the largest NGO peace organization, the CPAPD has actively responded to the call from the UN by hosting a series of commemoration activities on the International Day of Peace so as to advocate China's ideas of adhering to a path of peaceful development and promoting the concept of developing a harmonious world, and to promote peace, development, cooperation and friendship.