Saving underwater relics

Chinese underwater archaeologists hope to make their ongoing efforts to salvage the sunken ship Nan'ao-1 off the coast of Guangdong province an exemplar for other underwater projects.

A total of 20 archaeologists have been working on the centuries-old shipwreck since early April, making it the biggest in-situ underwater archaeological excavation in China since the establishment of its first underwater archaeological team in 1987.

They hope to recover the ship's full load of over 10,000 pieces of antique porcelain by the end of July before the monsoon season arrives.