Briefly

SHANGHAI

Shipwreck artifacts donated to museum

The China Maritime Museum in Shanghai on Sunday received a donation of 100 pieces of ancient porcelain from the Tek Sing, a merchant ship active during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The huge ship loaded with silk and porcelain from China sank in waters off Indonesia in 1822.It was salvaged by a commercial team in 1999, and the artifacts were then put up for auction. Waterside Culture Group－the private Chinese firm that donated the porcelain wares, which were manufactured at the Dehua kilns in Fujian province－had purchased more than 100,000 of the artifacts from the United Kingdom in 2018. It is one of the largest single donations the museum has received in recent years, providing precious tangible evidence for the study of China's maritime trade in the 19th century and the Maritime Silk Road route, as well as Dehua's porcelain history, according to the museum.

HAINAN

Coast guard captures 21 in smuggling case

The coast guard authority in Hainan province, in collaboration with Haikou Customs, cracked a major case involving the smuggling of frozen goods and captured 21 suspects, the China Coast Guard said. The coast guard in Hainan inspected a foreign cargo ship in early August and seized over 1,500 metric tons of suspected smuggled frozen meat, according to a statement by the coast guard. Preliminary investigations found that it was a complex case involving many suspects and a large amount of funds. After 77 days of investigation, the cross-border gang smuggling frozen goods was busted, with 21 suspects arrested, said the coast guard. Preliminary investigation showed that the ship had loaded about 5,000 tons of frozen meat from abroad since April before distributing the meat to smaller boats on the Yellow Sea to smuggle into the country.

Xinhua