Nanjing, a historical city in east China's Jiangsu Province, will host an exposition on the world's historic cities from April 30 to May 6, sources with the Chinese Ministry of Culture (MOC) said at a press conference in Beijing Thursday.

The exposition is co-sponsored by the MOC, the Ministry of Construction, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and China's National Commission for the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO), with support from the municipal government of Nanjing and some departments of Jiangsu.

The organizers said the exposition will cover six major projects, namely dialogues among world historic cities, a cultural seminar, cultural events, a historic city show and evening ball and carnival, with a total of 53 programs.

So far, 11 foreign cities including Barcelona, Florence, Kyoto, Paris and Vienna have been invited to attend the exposition, together with seven Chinese ancient capital cities such as Beijing, Hangzhou and Xi'an, as well as Lijiang and Pingyao which are listed as the world's cultural heritage.

Participants will also attend a series of cultural seminars and exhibitions on the history of Nanjing and on cultural relics of other historical cities.

The organizers have launched an official website, www.whcce.org, for the exposition.

(Xinhua News Agency March 19, 2004)