New Silk Road boosting Buddhist exchanges: official

A Chinese official is hoping that the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road can be as good for promoting international Buddhism as its historical forebear, the ancient Silk Road trade network.

The maritime Silk Road, which linked China with the rest of Asia and Europe for centuries, led to exchanges between Buddhists from different countries. Now, China will promote Buddhist exchanges on the route's updated, modern version proposed by China in 2013, said Jiang Jianyong, deputy head of the State Administration for Religious Affairs, on Monday.

South China's Guangdong Province can be a major gateway for these religious exchanges, said Jiang in Zhuhai City, Guangdong, where a series of Buddhist seminars on international exchange and exhibitions kicked off on Monday.

They are being attended by more than 600 senior Buddhists from China and beyond.