XIAMEN, June 19 (Xinhua) -- More than 10,000 people in Taiwan are expected to come across the Taiwan Strait from this weekend to attend a weeklong grassroots-level forum to be held in the Chinese mainland's boomtown Xiamen starting Saturday, organizers said.
The annual Straits Forum, now in its second year, will feature 25 activities including leisure chats, galas, and religious worships, instead of formal dialogues and policy-setting negotiations that dominate other major mainland-Taiwan exchanges.
Lin Weiguo, a senior Taiwan affairs official of Fujian Province, told reporters that Taiwan's ruling party Kuomintang's vice chairwoman Huang Ming-hui, New Party chairman Yok Mu-ming, People First Party secretary-general Chin Ching-sheng and Non-Partisan Solidarity Union chairman Lin Pin-kuan will be among the participants from Taiwan.
However, Lin said about 80 percent of the Taiwan attendants this year were non-officials and over 60 percent were from central or southern Taiwan.
Celebrities from across the Strait are to perform in a grand gala on Saturday night following a short opening ceremony.
