After researching Maritime Silk Road relic sites in Nanjing for years, a professor at one of China's top universities is working with researchers from eight other cities to seek UNESCO World Heritage status for the ancient route.

The other cities are Beihai, Guangzhou, Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, Ningbo, Yangzhou, Penglai and Fuzhou.

He Yun'ao said that Nanjing has 12 relic sites that have been confirmed as the remains of the Maritime Silk Road, most of which are connected to Zheng He (1371-1433), the explorer who undertook seven voyages around the rim of the Indian Ocean in the 1400s, with some reaching the Middle East, South Asia and the Horn of Africa.