World Heritage status sought for corridor

In August, a team of 20 cyclists from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan departed from Xi'an, Shaanxi province, to traverse the ancient Silk Road.

The journey took them to many Chinese cities before they arrived at their destination, Kazakhstan's Masanchi, where the Dungan people - a branch of China's Hui ethnic group - settled after emigrating from China more than a century ago.

From Sept 14 to Dec 8, more than 70 Buddhist cultural relics excavated along the Silk Road in Shaanxi province, Gansu province and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region will be exhibited at the Fo Guang Shan Buddha Memorial Center in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

These are two of many events in support of a bid to nominate the "Silk Roads: Initial Section and Network of Routes of Tian-shan Corridor" for next year's World Heritage List, as proposed by China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

"We will be very happy if our exhibition can promote and build momentum for the nomination," said Yao An, deputy director of Art Exhibitions China, the organizing institution of the Buddhist relics exhibition.

The Silk Road is an overland commercial route that connected countries on the ancient landmass of Eurasia from the 2nd century BC to the 16th century AD.

The Silk Road has played a role in promoting economic and cultural exchanges between East and West as well as building friendship between China and the rest of Eurasia.