Opened at Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang on September 20, the Forum of Alliance on Technological Innovations of Cultural Heritage along the Silk Road was hosted by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Gansu Provincial People's Government, and co-organized by the Gansu Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Dunhuang Academy, and the Alliance on Technological Innovations of Cultural Heritage along the Silk Road. More than 150 experts and scholars from 11 countries presented at the forum to discuss the protection of the heritages and sites along the Silk Road. Guests and representatives from the members of the Alliance and provincial authorities for cultural relics also attended this forum.

On behalf of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, Song Xinchao, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, expressed gratitude to the guests of the forum and the various units of the Alliance on Technological Innovations of Cultural Heritage along the Silk Road, and delivered a keynote speech entitled "The Silk Road of World Cultural Heritage", introducing the contemporary significance of the Silk Road relics in the protection of World Cultural Heritage. Song Liang, executive deputy governor of the People's Government of Gansu Province, attended and spoke at the opening ceremony. Experts and scholars from the United States, Britain, Japan, Afghanistan, etc., launched a full range of communications and discussions on the major issues and problems in cultural heritage protection, such as the study of historic sites and the protection of monuments along the Silk Road, the preservation of museum collections, the protection of unearthed relics, and scientific archaeology, based on the actual development in the cultural heritage protection field in China and other countries along the Silk Road.