Shipwreck Archaeology in China Sea

This book initiatively and systematically presents the latest discoveries in the context of shipwreck archaeology in China, telling the exciting story of the wrecks’ distribution, connotation and the research advances and empirically reconstructing the development of overseas trade and maritime cultures along the Maritime Silk Road, which flourished for more than 2000 years. The book features numerous high-quality images and comprehensively describes and reviews the development of the methodologies and technologies used in China’s underwater archaeology and underwater cultural heritage administration in recent decades.

Jianzhong Song is currently the deputy director general of China’s National Centre for Archaeology. After graduating from Peking University’s Department of Archaeology in 1985, he worked at Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology for several years as an assistant, associate and research fellow, deputy director and then the director of the institute. Since 2013, he has worked for the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage in Beijing, and was appointed director of the Technology and Equipment Department at the National Center of Underwater Cultural Heritage in the same year, and deputy director general of the National Center of Underwater Cultural Heritage in 2015.In recent years, under Mr. Song Jianzhong’s leadership, a series of important underwater archaeology projects are organized and conducted, including the South China Sea Investigation, Three Sino-Japanese War Cruiser Wrecks Investigation, etc. He organized the construction of Chinese Archaeology No.1 Ship, the first vessel specially used for China’s underwater archaeology work. He organized the “2018 Deep Sea Archaeology Investigation in South China Sea” project, during which he took the bathyscaph “Deep Sea Warrior” for the first diving. The project is a remarkable starting of the deep sea archaeology in China, laying a foundation for its subsequent development. Currently, he serves as the chief expert for the “Research on Ceramics Found in the Paracel Islands Waters and Maritime Silk Road” project, a major project of The National Social Science Fund of China. As a senior archaeologist and main leader of underwater cultural heritage administration of China, he has published a series of works on archaeology, historical cultural heritage and underwater archaeology in northern China. His recent publications include: Riding Wind through the Waves—China Archaeology No.1 Ship’s Birth (New Technology, New Method, New Concept, Beijing: Science Press, 2015), Underwater Archaeology and Maritime Silk Road (China Cultural Relics News, 2017, June 2nd), History, Archaeology and Underwater Archaeology—A Discussion on the Discovery of Chih Yuen Cruiser Wreck (Underwater Archaeology No.1, 2017), Shipwreck: Time Capsules of Human History (Museum, 2018, No.2), and History Hidden in the Sea (People’s Daily, 2018, April 11th).