On January 20, the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism held a press conference to introduce the sixth batch of provincial-level cultural relics protection units and the first batch of underwater cultural relics protection areas in Shandong Province.
Recently, Shandong announced the sixth batch of provincial-level cultural relics protection units and the first batch of underwater cultural relics protection areas. The underwater cultural relics protection area announced this time is the ruins of the Weihai Bay No. 1 shipwreck, which is basically confirmed as the wreck site of the flagship of the Beiyang Navy "Dingyuan", which is the first time in the history of Shandong to announce the underwater cultural relics protection area, and Shandong has also become the second province in the country to publish the underwater cultural relics protection area after Guangdong.
According to the provincial government general office "on further strengthening the protection and utilization of cultural relics several measures" "announced the first batch of Shandong province underwater cultural relics protection zone" target task, the provincial department of culture and tourism systematically sorted out the province's underwater archaeology projects in recent years, after Weihai City recommended confirmation, the provincial underwater archaeology research center review, expert discussion meeting review, that the "Weihai Bay No. 1 shipwreck site" archaeological research results are fruitful, basically confirmed as the Beiyang Navy flagship "Dingyuan" shipwreck site, with the basic conditions for the publication of underwater cultural relics area. According to the relevant provisions of Article 5 of the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Protection and Administration of Underwater Cultural Relics, the "Weihai Bay No. 1 Shipwreck Site" was announced as the first batch of underwater cultural relics protection areas in Shandong Province, becoming the second province in the country to publish underwater cultural relics protection areas, providing new ideas for the overall protection of underwater cultural heritage and making useful explorations.
Ruins of the one shipwreck in Wei Bay
Weihai is the final battle of the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War, in order to explore the situation of the Beiyang Naval shipwreck in Weihai Bay, since 2017, the Underwater Cultural Heritage Protection Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Underwater Archaeology Research Center of Shandong Province, the Sino-Japanese War Museum and the Weihai Museum have jointly formed teams to carry out the underwater archaeological survey project of the wreck of the Beiyang Marine Division in Weihai, Shandong.
From July to September 2019 and 2020, the archaeological team conducted two phases of underwater archaeological surveys on the "Weiwan No. 1" sinking ship, completed the sand extraction excavation area of nearly 500 square meters, and revealed the location and remnants of the original main gun, bow and stern, and the site was buried 1 to 3 meters deep under the mud, with serious remnants, incomplete hulls and scattered relics. Successive archaeological extractions have extracted 1761 pieces/groups of large iron armor (width 2600, height 2832, thickness 305 mm, weight 18.7 tons), ventilation pipes, plates and other hull components, bullet casings, shell fuzes, fire pulling, porcelain bowls and other cultural relics, which were basically confirmed as the ruins of the wreck of the Beiyang Navy flagship "Dingyuan".
The site excavated a large number of cultural relics, enriched the physical materials for the study of the Sino-Japanese War, and lifted the research on the history of the modern naval and the history of the Sino-Japanese War to a new level.
Source: Cultural Tourism Shandong