Underwater exploration: 100,000 pieces of Ming tableware discovered in the South China Sea

Detail of a "blue and white" porcelain dish from the Ming Dynasty, representing a dragon. (Illustrative image) © Wikimedia commons CC BY SA 3.0 Louis the Great

Text by: Stéphane Lagarde Follow

2 min

An underwater mapping and scouting campaign has begun in the South China Sea. Chinese archaeologists intend to recover relics - mainly porcelain dating from the Ming dynasty - contained in two wrecks sunk at a depth of 1,500 meters. A technological feat, not devoid of political aims.

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From our correspondent in Beijing

The adventure of the great depths is almost as followed as the space adventure in China. Music worthy of a Hollywood movie to accompany these images of ceramics resting in the blue night waters of the deep sea of the South China Sea. Surprisingly clear images of this tableware dating from the Ming dynasty and precisely from Emperor Zhengde 1506-1521, whose patterns and colors can still be seen.

Sea rockets

It is a "major discovery of underwater archaeology", trumpeted the Chinese state media, accustomed to celebrating the exploits of sea rockets. In 2011, the submarine descended below 5,000 meters deep. In 2020, the submersible Fendouzhe hit the deepest known point of the Mariana Trench, nearly 11kilometers from the surface of the Pacific Ocean. But this is the first time archaeologists have come so far to retrieve relics. At 1,500 meters below the surface, wreck hunters are out of race. However, it is at this depth that the remains of the two ships spotted in October 2022 are located.

The campaign launched this weekend should be spread over a year, in three stages, report this Monday the experts interviewed by the People's Daily. In total, more than 100,000 items were transported by these two heavily loaded Chinese navy vessels, including export porcelain and logs en route to China.

The adventure of the great depths is almost as followed as the space adventure in China. We are talking about it tonight on @RFI, because China launched this weekend a campaign to recover + 100,000 relics, mainly Ming dishes resting at a depth of 1500 m. 🧶 pic.twitter.com/5QNsZAkSe8

— Stéphane Lagarde (@StephaneLagarde) May 22, 2023

Land claims

"This important discovery supports historical facts," the authorities said, "and how the Chinese developed and used the South China Sea via the Maritime Silk Road." A way for Beijing to strengthen China's status as a maritime power and support its territorial claims on islands and atolls claimed by neighboring countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

The official news agency in Sanya, capital of Hainan province, even speaks directly of the opening of a "new chapter in China's deep-sea exploration". According to the deputy director of the tourism department of Hainan province, quoted by the agency, it is in this vast area included in what Chinese diplomacy calls "the 9-dash line" and representing on the map a "tongue of ox", especially around highly contested reefs, such as the Paracel Islands (Xisha) or Spratlys (Nansha), 124 cultural relics have been discovered in recent years, in shallow waters.

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