WUHAN, May 20 (Xinhua) -- More than 10,000 Chinese held a ceremony in central China's Hubei Province Wednesday morning to worship the Yan Emperor, an ancestor who was believed to initiate agriculture some 5,000 years ago.

    The ceremony was held at a park in Lishan, the Emperor's birth place which is now a suburb of Suizhou city.

    Li Hongzhong, governor of Hubei, delivered a speech before songs and dances were performed.

    Yok Mu-ming, chairman of the New Party in Taiwan, attended the ceremony along with others from Hong Kong and Macao.

    "My major in college was medicine, so Yan Emperor is really my master in this respect," Yok said.

    Also known as Shennong, or the Divine Farmer, Yan Emperor was thought to be founding father of traditional Chinese medicine. He supposedly tasted hundreds of herbs to learn their medical values.

    May 20 is the fourth of April according to the Chinese Lunar calendar. That is the day believed to be the birthday of Yan Emperor.