The Archbishop of Canterbury said Monday that the church had a role to play in contributing to the building of a "harmonious society" in China.

"At the time of material growth and vast prosperity for some there is a question where people find vision and motivation to build justice and general provision for all society," Rowan Williams said at the end of his two-week visit to the country.

"We have seen how the church vigorously pursues this vision The church needs to be there alongside other organs of the developing civil society, raising questions and encouraging debates," he told a press conference in Beijing.

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, answers a question during a news conference in Beijing October 23, 2006. [Reuters]

Williams arrived in Shanghai on October 8 at the invitation of the senior leadership of the Protestant Churches in China. The trip was the first by the top leader of the Church of England in 12 years.

He also visited Nanjing in East China's Jiangsu Province, Wuhan, in Central China, Xi'an in Northwest China, and Beijing, meeting church leaders and visiting church-related institutions and initiatives.

In addition to gaining better understanding of the Christian communities, the archbishop's key interests included China's effort to build a "harmonious society" and the contribution of religion within this process, the British Embassy in Beijing said.

A harmonious society is defined as a democratic society ruled by law, and based on equality and justice. It will also be an honest, caring, stable, vigorous and orderly society in which humans live in harmony with nature.

In a sermon delivered on Sunday in Beijing, Williams said he was encouraged to learn that Chinese public were concerned about social issues including the environment.

"Over the last two weeks, I have read the China Daily and had conversations with many people in national and local governments reports and conversations which have discussed some of these areas where there is responsible disagreement.

"Here surely is a real recognition that harmony does not mean everybody saying so. Harmony means pulling together with all our differences towards a common goal," he said in the sermon.

During his meeting with the archbishop last Thursday, Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference the country's top advisory body said: "China has engaged itself in building a harmonious society in which religion can play an important role."

Summarizing his visit yesterday, Williams said he was impressed by the range of activities, especially in social welfare, in which churches and non-governmental organizations in China are involved.

"The most striking thing that I didn't expect is what I've seen is the beginning, certainly in cities, of a very vigorous development of what I called a culture of volunteering," he said, adding it is a civil society mentality that assumes that if there is a local problem it ought to be possible to draw together informed networks to address it.

"I have seen some of the effects at the local level," he said.

The archbishop said he was also impressed by the development of education of pastoral and lay people in Chinese churches; and said the Anglican church would expand efforts to help China's Protestant church train the clergy.

China first said it would actively give play to the role of religion in building a harmonious society at the first world Buddhism forum in East China's Zhejiang Province in April.

The pledge was further enshrined in the "Resolution on Major Issues Regarding the Building of a Harmonious Socialist Society," which was adopted by the central authorities earlier this month. It outlines the main objectives and tasks for building a harmonious socialist society by 2020.

The State Administration of Religious Affairs estimates that there are at least 16 million Christians in China, and the number of religious believers exceeds 100 million.