As one of the four ancient civilizations, China has a glorious history of 5,000 years, and the ancestors have also left us countless precious cultural heritages, as sons and daughters of China, it is naturally duty-bound to protect cultural relics.
In our cognition, most of the cultural relics are buried as funerary objects in the tombs of the tombs on land, but who knows that there may be huge shipwreck treasures hidden under the bottomless ocean.
Anyone who has seen the tomb robbery note series knows that the mysterious Zhang family ancient mansion was built under the water, although after the baptism of time, the underwater building still stands. I thought that this situation would only appear in the pen of the literati and inkers, but I never expected that a similar situation would be staged in reality.
In 1987, the mainland discovered a huge Shipwreck of the Song Dynasty in the South China Sea, more than 800 years ago. This discovery is a pleasant surprise, but the salvage of this ship has experienced many difficulties, we first waited for 20 years, and then spent nearly a year and a huge amount of 230 million yuan to successfully salvage it.
The moment the ship was seen again proved that all our efforts and waits were worth it.
There are as many as 180,000 rare treasures on board, with a total value of up to 300 billion US dollars, and the most surprising thing is that this ship that has been sunk for hundreds of years has not decayed and is still as new as ever.
As we all know, the mainland has been constantly in turmoil in modern times, and most of the treasures left over from successive dynasties have flowed abroad. So this ship full of cultural relics is of great significance to the mainland.
So how did the mainland discover this century-old shipwreck? And how did you get it intact? What are the hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods on the ship?
A mysterious shipwreck discovered by mistake
When it comes to the discovery of the shipwreck, it's thanks to two Britons.
In 1987, they came to the Dutch Library and actively searched for information on a cargo ship.
As far as they knew, the ship was named Rhineburg, and its destination was Guangzhou, China, but it was inexplicably lost at sea, so they speculated that the ship probably sank somewhere off the coast of Guangzhou.
According to historical records, there were a lot of gold and silver jewelry on this ship, and as long as you find the location of the shipwreck, you can get all the treasures on the ship, which is why the two British people worked so hard to find the ship.
Thanks to their tireless efforts, the traces of the Rhineburg were finally discovered.
It turned out that the ship was forced to sink in the waters off the Yang River in China because of a sudden typhoon, and after knowing the specific location, the British began to carry out salvage work.
Because this is China's waters, Chinese help is indispensable, and the two countries quickly signed a contract to cooperate in salvage.
Salvage activities were in full swing for more than a month, and no trace of the Rhineburg was found. The British could no longer bear the huge cost of money, and they set a three-day deadline, and if there was no result, they had to go back home.
Coincidentally, at this last moment, the salvage team finally made a discovery, and the sonar system detected two one-meter-sized black spots.
However, judging by the size of the Rhineburg, this signal should not have been sent by it, so the British ignored it.
However, the explorers of the mainland noticed the abnormality and decided to go into the water to check it out, and the diver found something like a mast in the sea, and there was an oversized fishing net around it.
However, the water under the sea was too turbid, and the diver's vision was limited, so he could only grope forward by feeling, and soon he touched an unknown object.
Although it is not clear what is underneath, the diver can be sure that something must be underneath. Therefore, divers recommend fishing again.
A dazzling gold chain and many porcelain pieces wrapped in sediment were salvaged.
Everyone on board was excited, and the salvage crews on the mainland were acutely aware that the ship was definitely not the Rhineborg that the British were looking for, but the ancient shipwreck of the continent.
Although the Rhineborg was not found, such a more valuable shipwreck would certainly not be spared by the British.
They wanted to continue salvage, but we immediately intervened to stop it, informing them that the ship did not belong to them and was not within the scope of the contract.
Seeing the failure to pick up the leak, the British had to put an end to the flag and walk away.
After landing ashore, salvage personnel immediately sent several items salvaged to the Guangdong Provincial Museum, and after identification, it was learned that the shipwreck was most likely from the Song Dynasty, and the value was conservatively estimated at about 300 billion US dollars.
Unfortunately, the level of technology on the mainland at that time was very limited, there was no ability to salvage, and the news about the shipwreck could only be temporarily blocked, but there was no impermeable wall in the world, and this secret was finally known to the Japanese.
2 searches for the wreck
When the Japanese learned of the shipwreck, they also wanted to get a piece of the pie, so they offered to cooperate with China to salvage it.
Since it is a cooperative salvage, it will certainly be mutually beneficial and shared, but we do not want to give Japan this huge wealth that belongs to the mainland in vain, so we reject the Japanese side's request.
In this way, the "Nanhai No. 1" stayed in the sea for another 10 years, and it was not until 1999 that it had the opportunity to see the light of day again.
This year, Hong Kong wanted to build Disneyland, need to reclaim the sea, before this must be underwater survey, the Chinese archaeological team immediately rushed to Hong Kong to investigate.
Curiously, we re-entered the sea according to the location where we found "Nanhai No. 1" before, but this time we did not find anything. Could it be that it migrated as the waves rolled over? The archaeologists were puzzled.
After 25 days of hard work, there was still no progress, and just when the archaeologists were disheartened, the "South China Sea One" suddenly appeared.
The huge fishing net and the mast that I had seen before clearly appeared in front of the divers, and the divers also clearly saw the outline of the South China Sea One for the first time, the length of the hull was about 41 meters, and the width was about 11 meters.
This is a typical bench boat, this type of ship not only has a large load capacity, but also can be well resisted by pirates.
Now that the ship has been found, how do you salvage the boat?
Usually, salvage in the general sense is to decompose the ship on the seabed, and then salvage all the treasures inside, and finally salvaged the various parts after the shipwreck is dismantled and recombined and spliced.
But this ship is different, it has a history of 800 years, and destroying it is equivalent to destroying cultural relics.
So the archaeological team came up with a bold idea - the overall salvage, that is, to salvage the ship together with what is inside it, so as to maintain the integrity of the entire hull.
Although the treasures inside the ship are expensive, the historical significance of this ship is even more significant in comparison.
Tough salvage
The idea of salvage as a whole is good, but it is difficult to implement.
The method that the archaeological team came up with was to build a container that was larger in length and width than the Nanhai No. 1 as a container, use it to carry the entire Nanhai No. 1, and then put a steel beam in the middle, and then use a crane to lift the container from the seabed.
The overall plan seems to be feasible, but to carry out such a large project at sea, the mainland's funds and technology at that time could not keep up, and the overall salvage could not be realized, and the "South China Sea No. 1" could only continue to remain on the seabed.
In order to prevent foreign cultural relics thieves from extending their clutches to the "South China Sea No. 1," the mainland has also specially dispatched military police to intercept and protect them.
It was announced that there were historical bombs in this sea area, so no one was allowed to go near, and in this way, the "South China Sea One" slept on the seabed for 8 years.
In 2007, the wreck salvage work officially began, the first thing we had to do was to put the container on the seabed and hold the wreck, but the first step was already difficult.
The container has a limited weight, and to sink it to the bottom of the sea, it needs to add 500 tons of cement to it. But in the process of sinking, it was found that the weight of 500 tons was not enough, the seabed was not cut at all, and we could only continue to increase the weight on the container, and for this reason, we also dismantled a nearby port.
At this time, the cement on the container has weighed 4,000 tons, which is only one step away from cutting the seabed, but the container has reached its maximum load and cannot withstand more cement.
At this moment, someone proposed to dig mud under the sea, but this behavior was too risky, and once there was a huge wind and wave at sea, 4,000 tons of cement would smash the entire ship into paste in an instant.
But this is the only solution at present, can only take a risk, fortunately, the divers are cautious, the mud was successfully dug up, and the container covered the "South China Sea One" as desired.
Immediately after that, the steel beam is inserted, a total of 36 are needed, each of which must be accurately inserted into the corresponding hole, but the steel beam will be squeezed by the huge collision of sea mud in the sea, resulting in deformation.
But there are always more methods than difficulties, and with the continuous efforts of the entire work team, 36 steel beams were finally successfully inserted.
After nine months, we finally salvaged the 800-year-old shipwreck and placed it in the Yangjiang Museum.
But the archaeological work is far from over, because these cultural relics have been soaked in seawater for a long time, if they are directly taken out to see the light, it will damage the interior of cultural relics, in order to protect the integrity of cultural relics, archaeologists have soaked ships and cultural relics in seawater for seven years.
Fast forward to 2014, the cultural relics clean-up activities officially began, and the cultural relics that had been dormant in the dark for nearly a hundred years were officially seen again.
The variety is amazing and the skills are amazing
Experts found a large number of porcelain, bronzes on the "Nanhai No. 1", these porcelains were also the main export products of the mainland at that time, most of them were produced in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, Dehua kiln in Fujian, Longquan kiln in Zhejiang and so on.
From these dazzling porcelains, we can see the maturity and development of Chinese porcelain production technology.
The porcelain is pure in texture, as white as snow, with exquisite walls and a wonderful pattern engraved inside. It is already remarkable that the production of porcelain can do the above points, and it is really jaw-dropping that the mainland can still produce in large quantities at that time.
In addition to these porcelains from China, there are also many foreign porcelains, most of which have text carvings at the bottom, which are of great significance and help for us to explore the exchange of ancient history and civilization.
The placement of these porcelains is also very exquisite, the porcelain is arranged in order from beginning to end according to the size and shape, and the spatial arrangement of each place is just right, maximizing the use of space on the ship.
Because these porcelains are fragile and break when touched, each porcelain is wrapped in thick straw, with small porcelain stuffed between the large gaps, and soft orange stems as fillings in the intervals.
In addition, the porcelain is also arranged in strict accordance with the category, which facilitates the inquiry and management of the goods.
It is thanks to such a reasonable and orderly arrangement that the "Nanhai No. 1" can smoothly load nearly 1,000 tons of cargo, thus ensuring the maximization of the profit per ship.
In addition to a large number of gold and silver treasures and bronzes, experts also found a large area of iron on this ship, as well as many iron instruments, such as iron pots, iron chains and so on.
Experts expressed great curiosity about this phenomenon, and after investigation, it was found that there were frequent wars in Southeast Asia at that time, and iron resources were seriously lacking, and many people saw business opportunities in it, so they began to smuggle iron.
One of the reasons for the sinking of the "South China Sea No. 1" is also that there are too many cargoes on board and the weight is too large, and it will hit the reef and sink the sea.
The discovery of the "Nanhai No. 1" itself has shocked the world, but after seeing the intact hull of the "Nanhai No. 1", the world was once again impressed by the superb shipbuilding technology of the Chinese.
In fact, the reason why "Nanhai No. 1" can be well preserved is partly due to man-made reasons, and part of it is also due to the natural environment.
The hull uses pine wood, which will not decay even if it is soaked in water for 1,000 years, so whether ancient or modern, pine wood is the first choice for shipbuilding wood.
The exterior design of the whole ship is exquisite, in a sealed state, which protects the internal structure very well, coupled with the oxygen content of the seabed is very low, the whole ship is also wrapped in layers of sediment, which further reduces the contact area with oxygen, which is also an important reason why the hull does not have a large area of decay.
It is under the influence of various factors that the "Nanhai No. 1" has been successfully preserved for 800 years, and we can have the honor of peeking into its true appearance.
The magic of "Nanhai No. 1" is far more than this, experts have found more than 100 tons of iron items on the wreck, which sounds like a lot of money, but this is only the tip of the iceberg on "Nanhai No. 1".
It is estimated that when it was salvaged, the total weight of the wreck exceeded 3,000 tons.
Such a huge capacity of merchant ships once again reflects the superb and excellent level of ancient Chinese shipbuilding technology from the side.
Tens of thousands of copper coins were also found on board, and the explanation given by experts is that at that time, although barter trading still existed, this method was still too troublesome, and currency trading became more and more respected.
However, not every country has the ability to make metal coins individually, so Chinese copper coins are widely used and recognized, and everyone can trade goods around the world with Chinese-made copper coins.
There are also many bronzes on board, and some estimate that these were also prepared for the manufacture of copper coins. But archaeologists say it's unclear what some of the bronzes were used for.
Among the many items on board, the processing of metal products requires the most time, at least 10 years, because the metal material is relatively special, so it needs to be desalinated.
Most of the metal products on the ship are semi-finished products, some of them are round, some are rectangular, and some are irregular shapes, which cannot be used directly at all.
It is initially estimated that these products are exported when the material is exported to the outside world, and it needs to be reprocessed and manufactured, and polished into the desired shape and size.
The rare pewter can also be seen on the "Nanhai No. 1", and almost all of them are finished products, such as tin bowls, plates and so on.
Remember the first thing we salvaged from the Nanhai One? ——A gold chain up to 3 meters long, in addition to it, "Nanhai No. 1" also has countless dazzling gold and gold products, such as bracelets and rings.
From the manufacturing style of these items, it is not difficult to find that they are specially created for foreigners.
The most common form of gold is still gold leaves, after all, compared with copper coins, gold is the most valuable, and it is also frequently used in transactions. Gold leaves are usually marked with their color, the name and address of the production shop, and are used as a currency for large transactions.
"Nanhai No. 1" not only found these rare treasures, but also produced a lot of daily necessities used by the crew.
There were nearly a hundred crew members on this ship, who had been adrift at sea for a long time, and the ship was the only place for their life activities, and from the objects they left behind, we could judge the dietary characteristics of that dynasty.
In addition to a wide variety of fruit cores, archaeologists have also found the remains of animals and clay pots that may have been used to hold wine, which shows that the life of the Song Dynasty crew is still good, with meat to eat and wine to drink.
In addition, many life decorations, mirrors, pendants, etc. were found on the ship, all of which showed us the rich and colorful life of the people in the Song Dynasty.
The only regret is that we did not find complete silk products on board, only sporadic silk proteins.
Silk products, as the mainland's bulk export goods at that time, were the best witness to the mainland's trade with foreign countries, but unfortunately the silk preservation time was too short to leave a deposit certificate.
But at least we know the existence of the Silk Road, before we can only get information through books, and now we finally have strong evidence, through the trajectory of the "South China Sea No. 1" we can find that the development of China's Silk Road in the Song Dynasty has been quite developed, all the way to Southeast Asia and even Africa.
This discovery is also of great practical significance, and the Silk Road we are advocating now not only focuses on trade with foreign countries, but also emphasizes the export and exchange of culture.
The discovery of "Nanhai No. 1" proves that the mainland has been actively trying to communicate with the outside world since ancient times, and by strengthening the construction of the Maritime Silk Road, looking for cultural commonalities among countries, so as to promote the great prosperity and development of world culture.
We should follow the legacy of our predecessors and further carry forward the spirit of the Silk Road on the basis of what they have done well.
The archaeological work of "Nanhai No. 1" has lasted for a long time, from discovery to salvage to the excavation and processing of cultural relics, which is an incomparably long cycle.
Its successful excavation is the result of the hard work of countless explorers and archaeologists, the name of "Nanhai No. 1" is also of great significance, the excavation and mining work on land has become more and more mature, but marine exploration is still in the exploratory stage, and the name "Nanhai No. 1" also represents that we will further deepen marine exploration and let marine exploration enter a new era.
According to the current market price, the price of porcelain in the Song Dynasty is more than hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the "Nanhai No. 1" has mined a total of 180,000 treasures, and the treasure value of the entire ship is about 300 billion US dollars.
Many foreigners have expressed their desire to buy one or two cultural relics at a high price as a collection, but the mainland side has a resolute attitude and does not sell treasures.
This ship and even every item on board is priceless to us, and the successful overall salvage of "Nanhai One" is also an irreproducible miracle.
In modern times, the mainland has had countless treasures flowing abroad, especially the Eight-Power Alliance invaded China and burned the Yuanmingyuan, and what they burned was not only tens of thousands of dollars, but also our national dignity.
The successful excavation of nanhai no. 1 not only highlights the mainland's breakthrough in marine salvage technology, but also shows the world our determination to protect cultural relics.
We want to prove to the world that we have been reborn, fully awakened and powerful, and will not let anyone take away what belongs to us, and we will never let the history of humiliation repeat itself.