Believe it or not, archeologists have located 2,000 ships that sank in China's territorial waters during the heyday of its marine trade.
China was a major maritime power between the 10th and 16th centuries, and the great exploits of Zheng He offer a glimpse of the Ming Dynasty's (1368-1644) might on the sea.
The 2,000 wreckages won't be the last to be found. According to State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) Director Shan Jixiang, many are waiting to be located.
Archeologists and other experts are now trying to find the sunken treasures in the Grand Canal, and their number can be "big", Shan says.
Work on the 1,700-km-long canal linking Beijing with Hangzhou began in the 5th century BC. The deft engineers of the times, built a canal so extraordinary it is in use even today.
The Song Dynasty (960-1279) ship Nanhai-I was finally hauled from South China Sea on Saturday. It prompted the government to draft a plan to protect its relics lying under the water, Shan says.
In fact, the work on the plan has already begun.
The discoveries have created the need for regulations and actions, too. "Now that everyone has realized the value of the cultural relics lying under the water, it has become all the more urgent to keep thieves and smugglers away from them."
Zhang Wei is director of the National Museum of China's underwater archaeological center. He says if the country wants to better protect these priceless objects, it has to join the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage.
China has just two instruments to protect its underwater heritage: the Cultural Heritage Protection Law, promulgated in 1981 and amended in 2003. It also has the Regulation on the Protection of Underwater Heritage, announced by the State Council in 1989.
Most of the relics looted from the seas and rivers make their way abroad, and smugglers have been particularly rampant over the last two years, Shan says.
Art collectors and dealers across the world have become especially interested in China's underwater heritage since 2005, when about 15,000 relics, mainly 300-year-old blue-and-white porcelain, were found on a 13.5-m sunken ship off the coast of Fujian Province.
Questions:
1.How many ships have archeologists found off the coast of China?
2.How long is the Grand Canal, which links Beijing with Hangzhou?
3.According to Zhang Wei, if China wants to better protect its priceless treasures still underwater, it must join which international body?
Answers:
1.2000.
2.1700 km.
3.UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
（英语点津 Celene 编辑）
About the broadcaster:
Jonathan Stewart is a media and journalism expert from the United States with four years of experience as a writer and instructor. He accepted a foreign expert position with chinadaily.com.cn in June 2007 following the completion of his Master of Arts degree in International Relations and Comparative Politics.
