Plans for the Maritime Silk Road museum are shown in a computer-generated graphic. The museum, in Fujian province, will house relics from the ancient Maritime Silk Road. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

The Palace Museum and Shimao Group are going to build a museum focused on the Maritime Silk Road in Quanzhou, Fujian province, where the ancient maritime route began.

The Maritime Silk Road Museum of the Palace Museum is expected to play an important role in the bid to have UNESCO list the maritime route as world intangible heritage, said Shan Jixiang, director of the Palace Museum in Beijing.

Shan spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony on Monday of the contract to build the new museum, to be located in Shishi (stone lion), a city in the municipal region of Quanzhou. It is to house relics from the Maritime Silk Road and hold temporary exhibitions of treasures from the collection of the Palace Museum.

The Palace Museum will also support the construction, exhibition design and operations of the new museum, Shan said.

The Maritime Silk Road was an ancient sea passage for trade and cultural exchanges between the East and the West. Its heyday was during the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties.

It stretched from China's coastal area, including Quanzhou, one of the important port cities, to East Africa and Europe, by way of more than 100 countries and regions.

At the time, Chinese goods exported through the passage mainly included silk, tea and porcelain. From the West came not only gems, spices and medicines, but also science and technology.

The Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, has an abundant collection of Maritime Silk Road relics, given that many of the imported treasures were meant for the royal court. The Palace Museum was China's royal residence during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

Shan said the museum has about 25,000 such relics. They include porcelain, calligraphy and paintings, books, wares made of jade, cloisonne enamel, gold and silver and timepieces that were exhibited at the Meridian Gate Gallery of Palace Museum in 2017.