Twenty scholars signed a pledge to foster awareness of human welfare at the third Nishan Forum on World Civilizations that closed on Friday in Jinan, Shandong province.

The gathering is named after Nishan Mountain where Confucius is believed to have been born.

Along with scholars, the pledge was initiated by Xu Jialu, chairman of the forum and vice-chairman of the standing committee of the ninth and 10th National People's Congress, and Hans d'Orville, assistant director-general for strategic planning at UNESCO.