Ancient vassal state, once submerged, comes to light

A lost ancient state in Jiangxi province was unveiled to the public on Wednesday, when major archaeological breakthroughs were announced at a news conference in the provincial capital of Nanchang.

The full scope of the vassal state ruled by Marquis Haihun, from the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24), was finally revealed after a five-year archaeological project involving China's top research institutions, including the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peking University and the National Museum of China.

The earliest mention of the state was in the Book of Han, which was compiled in the first century.