Last year over 4,000 precious cultural relics made of gold, silver,
copper, iron and clay were salvaged from the Song Dynasty
"Nanahai-1", a merchant shipwreck located in Yangjiang River waters
in Guangdong Province. Based on available information from
exploration, the entire ship is estimated to have 60,000 to 80,000
historical relics. The value and influence of the ship, after it
finally emerges out of water, will not be inferior to Emperor
Qinshihuang Terracotta Warriors and Horses in Xi'an, said cultural
relics experts.
Around last March, an undersea archeological team carried out
meticulous exploration and excavation into the "Nanhai-1" merchant
ship. The shipwreck, lying 20 meters beneath the water surface, is
now covered by two-meter-thick silt. The ship, 30-meter long and
10-meter wide, is the largest Song vessel ever-found. To their
surprise, the millennial shipwreck is well preserved, with the
wooden hull as hard as if it were new. Instead of capsizing or
leaning, it is sitting upright on the seabed.
According to archaeological experts, the discovery of the
"Nanahi-1" is rated as a wonder in the world navigation history. So
far, no discovery of such a large millennial vessel has been
reported worldwide, not to say well preserved. Besides, the
discovery provides a most typical specimen for studies on ancient
shipbuilding arts and crafts, navigation technology as well as
scientific rules of wooden relics preservation. When the team holed
the shipwreck and entered it, they were stupefied by the more than
4,000 treasures they saw: in a cabin of only several square meters.
Among these relics, high-quality and fine porcelain made up a
majority, which were all produced in Fujian and Jiangxi provinces.
Archeological professionals noted, a china bowl which boasts a
similar age and craft was once sold at a price of hundreds of
thousands of dollars in the United States. Whereas the ship here
contains batches of relics, so it is invaluable.
China has since ancient times had the tradition and virtue of
leaving fine things to others, and the cultural relics in the
shipwreck were exports of the Song Dynasty, the chinaware must have
been first-class works, representing the then highest technological
level. Therefore, they have extraordinary value.
The "Nanhai-1" merchant ship, by preliminary appraisal, was an
international trading ship, sailing along the main channel for
overseas trade ---- the ancient marine silk road in the Tang-Song
period. Presumably, it left a domestic port for the Middle East.
Among the relics, some products were in a distinguishing foreign
style, showing great difference from products found at home in the
corresponding period. For instance, some flared china bowls were
never seen at home, yet they were very much like Arabian bowls. And
some china caskets were obviously designed specially for foreign
clients. On this basis, archeologists estimated that many of these
relics were specially produced in accordance with overseas market
demands.
Archeological studies on the "Nanhai-1" ship initially proved that
as early as a thousand years ago, "processing according to
customer's sample", a form of international business cooperation
and trade, had appeared in China.
(People's Daily March 7, 2003)