The South China Sea region, as a key hub for commodity trade, ideas exchange, and technological dissemination in history, has significant implications for the revival of the Maritime Silk Road and regional development through its cultural diffusion pathways across various periods. During historical times, travel activities in the South China Sea region have left behind a wealth of travel literature, which not only witnessed the unique course of East-West cultural exchange but also provides valuable historical data for the study of the region's cultural evolution. Therefore, this study primarily selected over 30 domestic and foreign travel books from the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty, to analyze the dynamic development trends and network characteristics of cultural exchange routes in the South China Sea region based on cultural diffusion theory. The study found that: (1) the scope of cultural dissemination in the South China Sea region historically expanded from coastal areas to the sea, gradually forming the “Western Route” and “Eastern Route” as the two main cultural dissemination pathways, with the dissemination center undergoing a transition from land to sea and back to land. (2) Before the Yuan Dynasty, maritime travel activities and cultural dissemination networks were relatively sparse, but later the network structure became more complex, with increasingly frequent exchanges between various dissemination nodes, especially Sumatra Island becoming a key area for cultural dissemination. (3) From the mid-Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, maritime travel activities and cultural dissemination network reached its heyday; by the late Qing Dynasty, although the cultural dissemination network became sparse again, the impact of Western culture sparked collisions between Eastern and Western civilizations, giving rise to new exchange nodes. The study, through in-depth analysis of ancient travel books, clarifies the cultural dissemination nodes, routes, and networks along the Maritime Silk Road (South China Sea region) during historical periods, which has important reference significance for understanding the evolution of regional exchanges and regional relations.