In Hunan, porcelain has place of honor

From bowls decorated with cultural elements from western Asia to kettles inscribed with Arabic words, a collection displayed at the Museum of Tongguan Kiln Porcelains in Changsha, Hunan province, sheds light on the area's glory as a porcelain base in ancient times.

Of the more than 1,700 pieces, 162 were part of a shipment of ninth-century porcelain that left China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) aboard an Arab boat, which later sank in Indonesia's Java Sea.

In 1998, a German salvage company discovered the shipwreck of the Batu Hitam, one of the earliest shipwrecks to be found along the Maritime Silk Road.