BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Asian civilizations have written a brilliant chapter in human civilization, said Chinese President Xi Jinping at the opening of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations (CDAC) here Wednesday.

Being one of the earliest human settlements and a major birthplace of human civilization, Asia takes up one third of the total land on Earth, has two thirds of the global population, and consists of 47 countries and more than 1,000 ethnic groups, Xi said in a keynote speech.

Asian people have made incredible cultural achievements over the past thousands of years and they have started cultural exchanges and mutual learning since the early days, he said.