A special exhibition of cultural heritage of the Maritime Silk Road was held in the fifth exhibition hall of the Fuzhou city Museum, Zhan Zhenyu, the Museum’s curator told China Daily’s Fujian Bureau, on June 6.

A visitor appreciates silk crafts in Fuzhou city Museum. [Photo by Liu Xiaoyu for China Daily]

The thematic exhibition represents the important role that Fuzhou played in the rise of the Silk Road on the Sea in different historical phrases with documents, pictures, cultural relics and models of the scene.

“In December 1986, more than 500 well-preserved silk crafts were unearthed and some of them are also on display in this thematic exhibition,” said Zhang, adding that it took more than two years to prepare the exhibition, which has been divided into three parts.

In the period of Tianbao in the Tang Dynasty (742-765), due to the halting of trade on the Silk Road to the Western Region, merchants turned to expand their overseas trade via a sea route with foreign countries.

As a major city of the Southeast, the marine trade of Fuzhou had increased greatly during the region of Wang Shenzhi and his descendants at the end of the Tang Dynasty.

IThus began the Silk Road on the China sea, serving not only as a path to cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, but also as an important commercial gateway . By and large, it has played an important role in the development of the Silk Road on the Sea of China.

By Lu Ting from China Daily Fujian Bureau.