The 2024 Mayors Exchange Conference on Maritime Silk Road City Influence was held in Wenzhou, Zhejiang from November 29 to December 1. The 2024 report on the comprehensive influence index of China's Maritime Silk Road cities was released at the conference. Changsha was selected as one of the influential cities on the Maritime Silk Road in China in 2024.

Under the guidance of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, Guangzhou, Ningbo, and Nanjing cities jointly initiated the establishment of the City Alliance for the Protection and Joint Application of Maritime Silk Road World Heritage. The aim is to promote the formation of domestic and international consensus on the Maritime Silk Road as a transnational cultural route through the world heritage application of Maritime Silk Road, and to leverage the positive role of the Maritime Silk Road heritage in promoting and supporting the world vision of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The 2024 Joint Symposium of the City Alliance for the Protection and Joint Application of Maritime Silk Road World Heritage took place in Changsha from November 14 to 16. The conference approved the admission of Indonesia's Cirebon to the alliance, making it the first foreign city to join the alliance and bringing the total number of the alliance's member cities to 35. This marked a solid step toward international cooperation on the alliance's joint application for world heritage status.

Changsha is an important node city along the Belt and Road and a famous historical and cultural city. The city's location has remained the same for three thousand years. With its abundant historical, cultural, natural, and ecological resources, the city is known as a well-known Chu-Han City and a holy land for revolution. The inland city of Changsha has become an important starting point and a land transit station on the Maritime Silk Road, thanks to the Xiangjiang River, the largest river running across the city from the south to the north. In 2019, Changsha's Tongguan Kiln was listed as one of "Maritime Silk Road · Chinese Historical Sites". Tongguan Kiln is the birthplace of colorful underglaze ceramics of the world, with its products being sold not only throughout Asia but also as far away as Africa.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Kuang Zhenzhen

Chinese source: hunantoday