"The captains usually chose a good time to leave, particularly favoring days when the wind was blowing in the right direction," says Wu.

Although Wenzhou maritime trade experienced its heyday during the Song and Yuan periods, making it an important station on the ancient Maritime Silk Road with the establishment of professional institutes governing maritime trade, it actually has a much longer history.

According to Liang, early in the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), present-day Wenzhou was one of nine ports in China.

Before the discovery of Wenzhou's ancient port, sites have been found in other cities, but none of them compare to Shuomen.

Liu Qingzhu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and dean of the history school at Zhengzhou University, tells Xinhua that this site is the most complete of its kind in China. Its relics and artifacts, which can be accurately dated, provide solid evidence that the Maritime Silk Road thrived during the Song and Yuan dynasties.

"As of present, whether it is cities already listed as World Heritage site, like Quanzhou (Fujian province) and Macao, or their counterparts applying for global recognition as port cities on the Maritime Silk Road, like Guangzhou, Ningbo (Zhejiang), Dengzhou (today in Penglai, Shandong province) and Yangzhou (Jiangsu province), archaeological evidence is lacking," says Liang.

"The archaeological work at the Shuomen site fills in this blank, and can be seen as part of the precious heritage of the history of maritime civilization," he adds.

Contact the writers at wangru1@chinadaily.com.cn