Themed as “Maritime Silk Road and the Process of World Civilization”, the International Forum was held in the city of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province last Saturday.
At this forum, seven Chinese port cities along the ancient maritime Silk Road announced that they would jointly launch a campaign to apply for the Maritime Silk Road being titled the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage. The Maritime Silk Road refers to the route from each port in south China, such as Guangzhou or Quanzhou to the Southeast Asia, India, Arabia or even farther through heading west by boat.
Related officials of the seven cities , namely Beihai, Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Ningbo, Yangzhou, Penglai and Zhangzhou, held a second round-table meeting and signed the program of action for the joint efforts. They will further build a platform to coordinate and facilitate the work of local governments, cultural relics authorities and museums to preserve and study the heritages along the maritime trade route.