100,000 pieces of Ming tableware discovered in the South China Sea

First modification: 05/23/2023 – 14:27

By Stéphane Lagarde, RFI correspondent in Beijing

High seas adventure is watched in China almost as closely as space adventure. Music worthy of a Hollywood movie to accompany images of ceramics resting in the deep blue waters of the South China Sea. Surprisingly sharp images of this tableware dating from the Ming Dynasty and specifically the Zhengde Emperor 1506-1521, whose patterns and colors can still be seen today.

marine rockets

It is a “great discovery of underwater archaeology,” said Chinese state media, accustomed to celebrating the feats of marine rockets. In 2011, the Jiaolong submarine descended to a depth of 5,000 meters. In 2018, the advent of marine drones like the Qianlong III pushed the boundaries of deep-sea exploration. In 2020, the Fendouzhe submersible reached the deepest known point in the Mariana Trench, almost 11 kilometers from the surface of the Pacific Ocean. But this is the first time that archaeologists will descend so low to recover relics. At 5,000 feet below the surface, wreck hunters are out of the picture. However, it is at this depth that the remains of the two ships sighted in October 2022 can be found.

And unlike its predecessor, the Jiaolong, half-made with components and technologies purchased from abroad, the bathyscaphe tasked with the recovery mission, the Deep Sea Warrior, is 95% manufactured and developed in China.

The campaign launched this weekend should extend over a year, in three stages, according to reports on Monday by experts interviewed by the People’s Daily. In total, more than 100,000 items were carried by the two heavily laden Chinese warships, including export porcelain and wooden logs en route to China.

territorial claims

China’s submarine ambitions go hand in hand with its geopolitical ambitions: “This important discovery corroborates the historical facts – the authorities said – and the way in which the Chinese have developed and used the South China Sea through the Sea Route of Silk.” It is a way for Beijing to bolster China’s maritime power status and support its territorial claims to islands and atolls claimed by neighboring countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

The official press agency of Sanya, the capital of Hainan province, even speaks directly of the opening of a “new chapter in the exploration of the Chinese deep sea”. According to the deputy director of the tourism department of Hainan province, quoted by the agency, it is in this vast area included in what Chinese diplomacy calls “the line of 9 lines” and that represents an “ox tongue” on the map. , particularly around hotly contested reefs such as the Paracel (Xisha) or Spratlys (Nansha) islands, where 124 cultural relics have been discovered in recent years, in shallow water.

Conquest of the deep sea

The Chinese conquest of the deep sea goes beyond archaeological discoveries. China has taken the lead in mapping the ocean floor. The promise of finding mineral riches is stimulating research. “Seabed mining has become a new frontier of international competition in science, technology and resources,” Ye Cong stated in March. “There are many polymetallic nodules on the ocean floor that contain rich concentrations of nickel, copper , manganese and cobalt, essential for the renewable energy industry,” added the deputy director of the China Naval Scientific Research Center in Wuxi, in east China’s Jiangsu province.

The seabeds of the South China Sea, one of the world’s most disputed maritime areas, are the subject of projects worthy of science fiction news. In 2018, the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing launched an offshore base project for scientific and defense operations carried out by pilotless drones. A kind of Atlantis of artificial intelligence. A project encouraged by the Chinese president: “there is no road on the high seas, we do not need to run [detrás de otros países]we are the way,” Xi Jinping said then.