A cult-like crowd gathered in the morning of Sept. 8, 2005. in Dalian, a port city in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, to open the 2005 World UFO Conference. It is the first time the event has been held in China.

The obsession with UFOs (unidentified flying objects) has created the largest community of enthusiasts in the world. The number now exceeds half of the world's total number of intellectuals, claimed Sun Shili, chairman of the conference.

Most of those who come to the conference believe that extraterrestrials do exist and that they are more intelligent than us human beings.