'Tea Road' summit to commence in Pingyao

Pingyao county in Jinzhong, Shanxi province, will host the fifth China-Mongolia-Russia Mayors' Summit on the "Tea Road" from May 15 to 18, according to a press conference held on April 21 in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province.

The summit, which has a theme of "connecting cities through communication, cooperation and sharing", will gather mayors or government officials, scholars, and leaders of various industries from the three countries.

They will discuss how to revive the Sino-Russian Tea Road, a vital ancient trade route which first appeared in the 17th century as Europeans developed a taste for Chinese tea, and further economic and cultural communication among the cities along the route.

A series of seminars, culture and tourism promotion conferences and trade cooperation negotiations, such as the "Sino-Russia Tea Road" Forum and specialty expo for cities along the Tea Road, will be held during the summit, helping enhance economic and cultural partnerships between China, Mongolia and Russia.

Jinzhong is the birthplace of Shanxi merchants, a group of prominent businesspeople active from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), who pioneered the 13,000-kilometer Tea Road.

To raise the reputation and influence of Jinzhong as a vital stop on the Tea Road, Jinzhong will give 500 entrance tickets of local tourist attractions to other cities along the trade route and publicize preferential tourism policies so as to share tourism resources among these cities.

The China-Mongolia-Russia Mayors' Summit, launched in 2012, has been held a total of four times.

This year's event, the biggest one organized so far, is expected to invite 109 cities along the trade route, including 30 cities from Mongolia and Russia, and some 10 international organizations. Currently, 71 cities have confirmed that they will attend the summit.