After a monthlong investigations, the archaeological excavation of relics on board Nan'ao 1, a merchant ship of the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) long entombed in the deep, began on May 10, 2010. By now, more than 4,000 porcelain items, mostly intact, were salvaged.

Lying on the sea floor about 27 meters below the surface, the vessel was first discovered in waters off Nan'ao Island in Shantou, south China's Guangdong Province, on May 25, 2007. Before the salvage, the estimated number of chinaware pieces in the sunken ship was between 10,000 and 60,000