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Jiangxi ProvinceLooted underwater relics spark conservation calls
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A SURGE in looting of underwater relics in the South China Sea has put the region’s cultural heritage in danger, prompting authorities to intensify conservation efforts.
Driven by lucrative profits, treasure hunters flock to the waters administered by China’s newest city of Sansha in Hainan Province to retrieve relics of sunken ships and ancient treasures aboard them.
Home to about 1,000 people, Sansha was established last year to administer about 2 million square kilometers of islands, coastal areas and territorial seas in the South China Sea.
Underwater surveys conducted in the region show lots of damage to the relics lying buried on the ocean floor. Researchers also found that more artifacts have been illegally excavated.
Two ancient rock anchors, which were left unearthed in 2010 due to poor excavating equipment, were found missing at the relic site this year.
Four iron cannons that were discovered by researchers in 2010 at another site were also gone. “Looting has caused destruction to the relics. We find new damage every year,” said Li Jilong, a researcher from the provincial cultural heritage bureau.
“The way the treasure hunters loot the relics is destructive,” Li said.
Li said illegal excavators are no longer content with stealing small artifacts like porcelain but want bigger pieces such as rock anchors and ship plates.
Historical records showed many ancient Chinese ships struck hidden reefs during trips to southeast Asian countries, and sank in shallow waters near the islands in Sansha.
To gain a grasp of the region’s cultural heritage, China has carried out large-scale archaeological investigations since it reclaimed the Xisha Islands, also known as the Paracel Islands, from Vietnam in 1974.
Official data showed that a total of 128 relic sites so far have been discovered and documented in the waters administered by Sansha.
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