BEIJING, August 7 -- China and central Asian countries on Friday created a blueprint to jointly apply for adding the ancient Silk Road on UNESCO's world cultural heritage list in the next three to five years.

    Archaeologists and cultural officials at an ongoing multinational application convention in Turpan, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, reached the agreement titled an "Action Plan for Multinational Application for Silk Road on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List."

    "The action plan will be the initial step of the multinational application," said Gu Yucai, director of the cultural relics protection department under the State Cultural Heritage Administration.

    Under the plan, Silk Road countries would take measures to protect cultural relics, improve the environment at sites and carry out promotional campaigns, said Gu.

    Protection would focus on substantial relics such as ruins and tombs, as well as valuable non-material relics, such as traditional ballads and dances still performed along the route.

    The 2,000-year-old Silk Road was a trade route linking Asia and Europe. It extended from Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province, to Europe via south and central Asian countries. It was 7,000 kilometers long, more than half of which is in China. Parts of the Silk Road also pass through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

    Along this road, gunpowder, papermaking and printing technologies were sent to the West, while Western mathematics and medicine came to China.

    In 1987, the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, also known as the Caves of 1,000 Buddhas in Gansu Province, were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

    In 1994, China withdrew its application for a World Heritage listing of ancient Jiaohe City, a cultural relic site along the Silk Road in Xinjiang, due to inadequate preparation.

    In the 1990s, countries along the ancient Silk Road began to seek a multinational application for World Heritage status.

    Also in the early 1990s, UNESCO carried out three major inspections of historical sites along the route.

    In 2003 and 2004, UNESCO organized two teams of experts to conduct inspections of cultural relic sites along the Silk Road in China.

    Six historical sites in five central Asian countries have been listed separately as World Heritage sites, each with its own unique qualities, according to UNESCO.

    (Source: Shanghai Daily)