Taoism must face up to challenges posed by different sciences and better connect with young people, said Xu Jialu, former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

"If a religion tries to distance itself from science, it is trying to distance itself from the group of people that needs the religious dimension most," Xu said in a keynote speech at the Third International Taoist Forum in Yingtan, Jiangxi province, on Tuesday.

He said Taoism should be able to better connect with modern science and technology rather than being divorced from it and added that its practitioners should enhance overseas exchanges, especially in the Taoist philosophy of ecology and health preservation.