A group of foreign journalists visited Taicang, Jiangsu province, to learn about the port city's strategic role in China's Belt and Road Initiative.

From Pakistan, Uzbekistan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Bangladesh, 30 journalists visited Taicang on Nov 15, as part of a publicity initiative by Jiangsu province to promote the Belt and Road Initiative, which was proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013.

In Taicang, the journalists toured cultural relics that speak to the city's maritime history, including the Tianfei Palace which reveres Mazu– China's patron goddess to mariners and fishermen-- and the Zheng He Memorial Hall.

At the memorial hall, digital maps display the 600-year-old navigation routes which Zheng He and the imperial fleets used to travel half a globe to reach East Africa to foster friendship and exchanges with foreign regimes.

The Liujiagang dock, where Zheng He and the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) fleets set sail, was covered in the journalists' tour as well.

Najiba Basher, a feature writer from Bangladesh's The Daily Star, said that she was impressed by Taicang's profound cultural legacy. She will introduce Taicang's beautiful scenes, folk culture and development advantages to the readers in her country.

The media delegation also stopped at Taicang port, where they saw towering port equipment and rows of containers at the docks.

The port handled 1.7 million TEUs in the first half of 2015, an increase of 28 percent year-on-year, and 32.56 million tons of foreign commodities, an increase of 31 percent.

The port is now running a total of 19 near-sea shipping lines, including one route to Japan which operates two shifts each day and extends to Nanjing in Jiangsu province and Zhoushan in Zhejiang province.

Taicang port also runs 43 domestic trade routes.

The port is located on the Yangtze River estuary, next to Shanghai. This location gifts the port with unlimited potential of growth as an international shipping link.

Foreign media at the entrance of Tianfei Palace, in Taicang, Jiangsu province. A group of 30 foreign journalists visited Taicang, Jiangsu province on Nov 15. [Photo from Taicang Daily]