More than 800 years ago, an ocean-going merchant ship sank in waters off Yangjiang in south China's Guangdong Province. In 2007, China salvaged the vessel and placed it inside a museum. The ship is now known worldwide as the Nanhai No. 1.
In 2023, the excavation and recovery of all artefacts from the Nanhai No. 1 were completed, yielding an astonishing total of more than 180,000 items — the largest number of cultural relics recovered from a single archaeological project in China.
This film (in Chinese) continues the story of the Nanhai No. 1, revealing Chinese civilization and its enduring cultural connections with the world.
Highlights of this episode：
In ancient China, advanced manufacturing produced large quantities of high-quality goods. Chinese metal materials and fine ceramics were exported overseas: weapons unearthed in Egypt have been found to contain iron sourced from Fujian, while Chinese ceramics discovered in Italy originated from Zhejiang and Guangdong.
Sophisticated shipbuilding techniques enabled these goods to cross the seas. Constructed using multiple types of wood and a multi-layered plank structure, and equipped with advanced watertight bulkhead technology, the Nanhai No. 1 remained remarkably intact even after sinking.
The ship serves as a historical vessel that carried both commodities and technology across the oceans, revealing the flourishing exchanges between East and West.
Text: Liu Yue
Editor: Huang Qini, James Campion, Shen He
Video source: China Central Television (CCTV), Guangdong Maritime Silk Road Museum
