Along with South Korea's Gwangju and Japan's Yokohama, Quanzhou was designated as an "East Asia City of Culture".

Fujian province's Quanzhou city is widely known for its UNESCO status as the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road. Now the ancient port city has a new tag to be proud of.

Along with South Korea's Gwangju and Japan's Yokohama, Quanzhou was designated as an "East Asia City of Culture" during the annual trilateral Ministerial Conference on Culture held in Gwangju last September.

As part of a joint activity by China, Japan and South Korea, the "East Asia City of Culture" program was first proposed by the cultural ministers of the three countries during the third ministerial conference in Nara of Japan in January 2011. It aims to promote cultural diversity in East Asia and enhance mutual understanding among the three East Asian countries.

It was formally acknowledged by each country during the fourth ministerial meeting in Shanghai in April 2012.

Lin Yuyi, a Quanzhou government official involved in the city's application, says the preparatory work was thoroughly scrutinized and a bit nerve-wracking.

Many city departments of Quanzhou, including the construction bureau and the bureau of culture, radio, television, press and publication were involved in the process starting from early 2013.

Lin says he lost count of how many meetings and seminars with culture and history experts he had to sit through to ensure a proper presentation of Quanzhou's cultural history in relation to other East Asian countries.

"The amount of material was huge, the desk was always piled high with paper, notes and reminders," Lin says.

"Given the limited time to present the city's culture and image, it was very challenging to sort through all the material," Lin says, adding an online campaign was launched to find a suitable photograph that could aptly represent the city's perseveration of intangible cultural heritage.

The painstaking efforts finally paid off as Quanzhou outperformed nine other cities that applied for the title, including Hangzhou in Zhe - jiang province and Xi'an in Shaanxi province.

Zhang Xikun, director of the Quanzhou tourism bureau, says the title of "East Asia City of Culture" will boost the city's tourism industry.

A slew of cultural exchange programs, such as the three countries' cultural performances and exhibitions to be held from March to October in Quanzhou, will attract more visitors, especially from East Asian countries to the city, Zhang adds.