The preliminary list still needs final approval from the State Cultural Heritage Administration before being submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Center, Lu Qiong, an administration official, was quoted as saying by Xinhua News Agency.

Winding more than 6,000 miles through desolate mountains and deserts, the 2,000-year-old Silk Road guided camel caravans to and from Xi'an, capital of China's Shaanxi province, to Europe via Central Asia. Marco Polo, Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great followed its paths.

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have set a preliminary list of 54 sites for the joint application, which is expected to be submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Center in early 2009.