The photo exhibition of the Long Voyage Selected Antiques on the Chinese Maritime Silk Road is held in Fuzhou, capital city of southeast China's Fujian province on May 17, 2015. (Photo: CRIENGLISH.com/Sun Wanming)
A cultural and trade exposition is being held in Fuzhou, Fujian province, to highlight the cultural and commercial significance of the "belt and road" initiative.
The exposition kicked off on Sunday.
Foreign merchants from countries on the route of Silk Road showcase their goods in a bid to take advantage of the business opportunities in China.
Afghanistan's lapis lazuli, Iran's carpet, and Kyrgyzstan's onyx are all among the items to attract visitors.
Hari Shankar is a Nepali merchant, who brought his country's silk to the exposition. He says as such a large portion of the world's population live along the route, opportunities will abound.
"If you calculate the population, maybe forty to fifty percent of world population lives on the route, and you don't have to go to the market like Europe, America or Australia, because they have very little population."
Historically, China and other Silk Road countries were rich both in trade and exchange. Bronze mirrors, copper coins, incense, porcelain, silk, and spices were all traded.
Zhang Huanxin is in charge of the photo part of the exposition. He says the photos are meant to compliment the trade fair.
"Those trade goods act as the best carrier of culture, artistic, commercial and even religious concepts of different countries. It's also great publicity for Chinese and foreign exhibitors."
At the same time of the exposition is being held, a fleet of vehicles began their journey from Fuzhou to retrace the route of the ancient Silk Road.
The fleet is made up of 23 SUVs, and it plans to spend two months passing through 16 countries on the Silk Road, then later to join the world expo in Milan, Italy.
Zuo Zisheng is a chief manager of the trip's sponsor, Southeast Motors. He says that the belt and road initiative signifies opportunities for trade and technological advancement.
"The long journey is supposed to be pain-staking, while also testing the quality of our self-developed vehicles. We hope that under the "belt and road" initiative, national enterprises can find more opportunities for trade and for improving technology."
The exposition will close on Tuesday.
