The Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre will stage a free exhibition from tomorrow to February 12, 2025 featuring artefacts discovered from the Nanhai I, a Southern Song dynasty ocean-going merchant ship, and relevant artefacts from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.

Co-organised by the Development Bureau (DEVB), the National Cultural Heritage Administration as well as the Secretariat for Social Affairs & Culture of the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region, the 255 exhibit items in the "Launch from Greater Bay Area: Nanhai I Shipwreck & the Maritime Silk Road" exhibition will showcase the role of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area on the Maritime Silk Road.

Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn, Art Exhibitions China Deputy Director Zhou Yu, Guangdong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics & Archaeology President Cao Jin and Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region Vice President Cheang Kai-meng officiated at the opening ceremony today.

The DEVB noted that the Nanhai I shipwreck was salvaged in 2007 and is the most complete ancient ocean-going merchant ship discovered through archaeological excavation to date.

A large collection of artefacts, mainly porcelain, bronzeware, ironware, gold, silverware, lacquerware and woodenware, was discovered. Their quantities, shapes, craftsmanship and forms are rare among the archaeological finds of the Southern Song dynasty, it added.

The DEVB also pointed out that archaeologists believe the Nanhai I might have sunk along the maritime route from Guangdong to the South China Sea in the 10th year of the Chunxi reign (1183) of the Southern Song dynasty or shortly afterwards.

Exhibit highlights include artefacts discovered from the Nanhai I, such as a brown glazed jar with four lugs and stamped with the Chinese characters “Chun Xi Shi Nian” (the 10th year of the Chunxi reign) from the Nanhai kiln, a qingbai glazed foliated bowl with stamped plum blossom pattern from the Jingdezhen kiln and a green glazed ogee-shaped foliated dish with incised lotus pattern from the Longquan kiln.

Also on display are relevant exhibits unearthed from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, including the fragment of a qingbai glazed bowl with inked Chinese characters “Gong Shi” (envoy) from the Hutian kiln of the Song dynasty, a yellowish-green glazed jar with six lugs and dragon pattern of the Song dynasty and a blue-and-white kendi with elephant head shaped spout from the Jingdezhen kiln of the Ming dynasty.