A highly renowned ancient town of China named one of Marco Polo's compatriots as its honorary mayor on Wednesday (Nov 2), according to a Xinhua report.

Armando Peres, the former vice mayor of the Italian city of Venice, has been awarded the title of honorary mayor of Tongli, a riverine town in east China's Jiangsu Province.

Being the first foreign honorary mayor to be appointed to such an ancient town in China, Mr Peres feels extraordinary honored, especially as a countryman of Marco Polo, the famous Italian explorer who traveled to China more than 800 years ago and published an account of his travels in the China of the 13th century.

He says that Chinese riverine towns have much in common with his hometown of Venice. People are proud of their long history, rich cultural heritage and traditional customs. He expressed his life-long commitment to be Tongli's goodwill ambassador to the world.

Cao Xuejuan, the mayor of Tongli, says she hopes that Armando Peres, who is now Venice's Director of Culture, Tourism & Communication, can help promote Tongli to the world.

Local officials say that Tongli is just like a little child unknown to the outside world, when compared to Venice with its more than 170 million tourists a year.

Mr Peres spent a day touring the ancient Chinese town on Wednesday, remarking that Tongli is even more impressive than he expected from what he had seen on television. He suggested that his Chinese counterpart should make efforts to join world tourism groups and send delegations to international travel promotional fairs and expositions.

Tongli's Tuisi(Retreat and Meditation) Garden was designated as part of the World's Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in the year 2000.