Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst Dahlem Berlin Mai 2006 044

''Huaguangjiao One'' () is a Chinese

merchant ship A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are u ...

, built during the

Southern Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

(1127–1279), that sank off the coast of the

Paracel Islands The Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands () and the Hoang Sa Archipelago ( vi, Quần đảo Hoàng Sa, lit=Yellow Sand Archipelago), are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. The archipelago includes about 130 small coral ...

(Xisha Islands) in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...

. The ship's name translates as "Magnificent China Reef Wreck #1". It was discovered in 1996 and is currently the oldest hull that China has discovered in the open seas.

Archeological findings

In 1996, a group of Chinese fishermen discovered a , wide ship about three meters below the surface near the Huaguang Reef. The wreckage covered 180 square meters meaning that the ship would have had an estimated displacement capacity of 60 tons and 11 cabins. On 15 March 2007, an archeological salvaging operation was organized by the

National Museum of China The National Museum of China () flanks the eastern side of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. The museum's mission is to educate about the arts and history of China. It is directed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic ...

and the Hainan Provincial Administration of Culture, Radio & Television, Publishing and Sport, and the excavation of the shipwreck site at Huaguang Reef initiated. This operation not only helped the archaeologists involved in the survey locate nearly 10 other shipwrecks in the surrounding area, but also helped establish the first time that China conducted high-seas excavation work. According to Dr. Zhang Wei, director of the China's Underwater Research Center with the National Museum at the time of the discovery, even though the wreck had been robbed many times and severely damaged by looters, the retrieval of the more than 10,000 pieces of antique

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...

and

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...

, which seems to have mainly come from the

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

and

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...

s, most certainly provide a very important piece of information and undeniable evidence of an already well established maritime trade route, known as the

Maritime Silk Road The Maritime Silk Road or Maritime Silk Route is the maritime section of the historic Silk Road that connected Southeast Asia, China, the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian peninsula, Somalia, Egypt and Europe. It began by the 2nd century BCE and ...

, between China and the rest of the world during the

Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

and

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...

(1280–1368).

Artefacts

Many fragments of porcelain and pottery were collected at the site, mostly concentrated in an area of 38 square meters within the reef. Among the items recovered were some exquisite blue white porcelain yielded from the

Jingdezhen Jingdezhen is a prefecture-level city, in northeastern Jiangxi province, with a total population of 1,669,057 (2018), bordering Anhui to the north. It is known as the "Porcelain Capital" because it has been producing Chinese ceramics for at leas ...

factory, in

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

province, shadowy blue porcelains, green glazed porcelain plates, pots and other rare antiques. Brown-glazed wares have also been found, indicating the possibility that they might be from an even earlier period in time. Many of the items recovered at the archeological site were later presented at a news conference in

Haikou Haikou (; ), also spelled as Hoikow is the capital and most populous city of the Chinese province of Hainan. Haikou city is situated on the northern coast of Hainan, by the mouth of the Nandu River. The northern part of the city is on the Ha ...

city, the capital of south China's

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

province on 8 May 2007.

References

External links

Asian maritime & trade chronology to 1700 CE
{{coord, 16, 16, 16, N, 111, 34, 03, E, region:CN-44_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title 1996 archaeological discoveries History of the Paracel Islands Merchant ships of China Shipwrecks in the South China Sea Shipwrecks of China Song dynasty Underwater archaeological sites

Archeological findings

Artefacts

See also

References

External links