Dig hopes to uncover ancient treasure

Dykes have been built to surround an area about 1,000 meters long and 100 meters wide in the Minjiang River in the Pengshan district of Meishan, Sichuan province.

Water in the area has been drained away in preparation for an archaeological dig, which will be completed by the end of March.

"We hope the dig will provide evidence to verify whether the area is where Zhang Xianzhong (leader of a farmer's uprising) fought against general Yang Zhan in 1646 and left countless treasure in his sunken boats," said Liu Zhiyan, head of underwater archaeology at the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute.