Enduring voyage of recovery

It took decades for Chinese nautical archaeologists to dig out the treasures from a trading vessel that sank off the coast of Guangdong in imperial times - but it has been well worth the wait, Wang Kaihao reports.

In 1987, employees of a British maritime salvage company came to Yangjiang, Guangdong province, under an agreement with the Chinese government.

They came to look for the Rijnsburg, a Dutch merchant ship that sank during a typhoon in 1772 while reportedly carrying a bountiful cargo. It was a ship about which they only knew from historical records.