"Street artist" persuade tourists to take pictures with snakes. (Photo/People's Daily Online)

On Sept. 7, 2014, the team reporting the "New Silk Road" from People's Daily Online arrived at the city of Galle in south Sri Lanka. Galle is not only an important port city along the Maritime Silk Road but one of the transit points connecting Asia and the Mediterranean, China and Arab and African countries.

The "Ceylon Mountain Temple Monument" erected by Zheng He, the Chinese navigator of the Ming Dynasty, was discovered in Galle. Its discovery has proved that Zheng He had been to Sri Lanka several times since 1409, 200 years earlier than European navigators.

Galle is famous for its Galle Fort, which was built first in 1588 by the Portuguese, and then extensively fortified by the Dutch during the 17th century from 1649 onwards. It is now a World Cultural Heritage, and the best reserved colonial fortifications.

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