Construction of the Nanhai No. 1 Museum, designed to display a
first ancient vessel discovered on the "Marine Silk Road" of the
South China Sea, has begun in Yangjiang city, south China's Guangdong
Province on December 28, 2005.
The museum, also named "China's Marine Silk Road Museum", will
open to the public in 2007. It will mainly exhibit the merchant
ship of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), namely the Nanhai
No.1, and thousands of historical wares it carried.
The salvage work of the ship will go side by side with the
museum construction, which is expected to complete by the end of
2006.
The 25-meter-long Nanhai No.1 sank 20 nautical miles off the
Hailing Island of Yangjiang city. It is reportedly the earliest and
best-preserved merchant ship discovered in the world.
Green glazed porcelain plates, blue porcelain pottery and other
rarities have been found during the initial exploration of the
ship. Archaeologists estimate that there are probably 60,000 to
80,000 relics on the ship.
Chinese marine archaeologists began to use a huge "steel basket"
to salvage the ship on Dec. 28, 2005. The ship will be moved to a
glass-walled exhibition hall filled with seawater, imitating the
undersea environment to preserve the ancient ship.
As early as 2,000 years ago, ancient Chinese traders began to
ship chinaware, silk and cloth textiles and other commodities to
foreign countries along a trading route starting from ports at
today's Guangdong and Fujian provinces to countries in southeast
Asia, Africa and Europe.
The cargo ship was found in 1987. Experts said the excavation of
the ship is of great importance to the research of the history of
China's foreign trade, cultural exchange, porcelain, shipbuilding
and navigation.
(Xinhua News Agency January 1, 2006)