A sculpture of Zheng He
The Nanjing municipal government published The Implementation Scheme on Protection and Heritage Application of Maritime Silk Road Historic Relics in Nanjing on Dec 21, vowing to complete all the repairs, protections and exhibitions for the Maritime Silk Road historic relics in Nanjing, and work hand in hand with Guangzhou and Ningbo city in launching the heritage application, which aims to have the application approved before 2020.
The protection and heritage application for the Maritime Silk Road is a major cultural program for implementing the national Belt and Road Initiative. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage designated Nanjing as one of the cities for the joint application listing the Maritime Silk Road as a cultural heritage landmark in March 2016. The implementation scheme published by Nanjing is clear – it will file for approval of The Dragon River Shipyard Relics Protection Plan, Tomb of the King of Brunei Protection Plan, Hong Bao Tomb Protection Plan and Zheng He Tomb Protection Plan, and then publish them for implementation.
