'East Asia City of Culture' title will boost tourism

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.