Over 400 relics items from South China Sea make debut in Hainan

HAIKOU, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- An exhibition featuring more than 400 relics items retrieved from two ancient shipwrecks discovered in the South China Sea kicked off on Friday afternoon in Qionghai, a city in south China's island province of Hainan.

These artifacts, which had been submerged in the sea for over 500 years at a depth of more than 1,500 meters, are being showcased for the first time.

Located at the China (Hainan) Museum of the South China Sea, the exhibition covers an area of nearly 1,000 square meters. A total of 408 artifacts from the two ancient shipwrecks are on display, along with 34 borrowed artifacts from the Palace Museum and other museums, bringing the total number of exhibits to 442.

In October 2022, these two ancient shipwrecks from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) were discovered near the northwest continental slope in the South China Sea.