Researchers and looters compete for treasures buried under the sea

Saving ancient heritage from the depths is no easy task, as Peng Yining reports.

Editor's note: This is the second in a series of special reports in which our reporters will travel the length of China's 18,000-km-long coastline to detail the lives of the people whose existence is dominated, and often facilitated, by the waters that stretch from Bohai Bay in the north to the Zengmu shoal in the south.

After a descent of 16 meters into waters off the coast of Fujian province, Zhao Jiabin touched the sandy seabed.