The Maritime Silk Road International Cultural Forum opened in Macao on November 17, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. It was hosted by the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) and the government of the Macao Special Administrative Region. As an important city along the Maritime Silk Road and a member of the City Alliance of Maritime Silk Road Heritage Conservation and Inscription on the World Heritage List, Changsha was invited to attend the forum.

Both Changsha and Macao joined the alliance in 2019. The forum is an important international academic exchange activity in the field of Maritime Silk Road preservation and research, and plays an important role in promoting Changsha and Macao to join hands in advancing cross-boundary application for World Heritage status.
 
With the theme of "Conservation and sustainable development of the cultural heritage of the Maritime Silk Road", the forum aimed to conduct extensive exchanges through expert discussions, field research and other forms and build consensus to jointly protect the heritage of the Maritime Silk Road and seek a place for it on the World Heritage List.
At the forum, Jiang Bo, a professor of Shandong University and a think tank expert of the alliance, said that Changsha Kiln porcelain found in the shipwreck "Batu Hitam" witnessed the first peak of trade between China and Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean region. It was the most active participant of the maritime porcelain trade in the ninth century, and an indispensable part of the Maritime Silk Road series heritage.

A photo exhibition on the preservation and research of Maritime Silk Road heritage was also held at the forum venue. It introduced historical sites of the alliance's 28 member cities. The Changsha Tongguan Kiln Site is the only historical site along the Maritime Silk Road in Changsha. Porcelain unearthed at the site bears witness to the prosperity of goods trade along the Maritime Silk Road and the spread and exchange of production technologies and aesthetic concepts. Now the site is a national key cultural relic protection unit and has been included by NCHA in the second batch of national archaeological site parks.

Source: en.changsha.gov.cn