The city of Quanzhou, Fujian province held a new-century Silk Road economic forum and media tour, on Feb 23, with 200 people taking part, including several dozen overseas Chinese media representatives from 20 countries, including those along the Silk Road, Fujian Daily has reported. The sponsor of the activity was the China News Service.

Taking part were Qiu Yuanping, director of the State Council's Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, Li Shulei, Fujian Publicity Dep't head, and Zheng Xiaosong, deputy-governor of Fujian province, with Qiu noting that the Silk Road took a lot of help to build, and, for building the New-century's Silk Road , it would be good if overseas Chinese got involved.

An ocean version of the Silk Road, the Maritime Silk Road, began in Quanzhou, home of the East's biggest port, during the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties. Around 7.9 million overseas Chinese originated in Quanzhou, with more than 90 percent of them living in Southeast Asia, which was on the Maritime Silk Road.

Zheng noted that Fujian needs to take advantage of this rare historical opportunity for economic development since the central government is behind the development of a Maritime Silk Road economic zone. In addition, Fujian has the advantage of being the starting point of the old Maritime Silk Road so it sort of has the responsibility of recreating its glory in the 21st century.

The new-century Silk Road and overseas Chinese media tour will allow members of the Chinese media in ASEAN and Central Asia to provide full coverage. There were also Silk Road lectures and business discussion the same afternoon, on new business opportunities and how to grasp them in cities along the Silk Road.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw