Over 200 relics found in Sino-Japanese War shipwreck

BEIJING -- Archaeologists have retrieved more than 200 relics from a shipwreck confirmed to be the Zhiyuan, sunk by the Japanese navy 120 years ago during the Sino-Japanese War.

Among the relics are a telescope bearing the English name of Zhiyuan's chief officer, copper Gatling guns, dinnerware bearing the characters "Zhiyuan" and a hookah, the National Center of Underwater Cultural Heritage said Thursday.

The findings were unveiled during a three-year archaeological survey of the shipwreck, which finished in October. The 61-meter-long wreck is in the sea about 50 kilometers southwest of the city of Dandong in northeast China's Liaoning Province.

Zhiyuan, built in Britain in 1887, was one of the most advanced warships in the Beiyang Fleet, defeated in 1894 by the Japanese navy.

The ship was severely damaged in battle.

"The cruiser should be about eight meters tall when it was intact, now only 2.5 meters remain," said Zhou Chunshui, who led the project, adding that the remaining part of the ship is well preserved in silt.