Reporters from Fujian Daily visited the International Research Center for Austronesian Archaeology based in Pingtan, the closest place on the Chinese mainland to Taiwan. Relics dating back to the ancient Maritime Silk Road, porcelain plates, pottery bowls, and pottery shards recovered off the waters of Pingtan are on display, like walking into a “time tunnel”.

A map showed the 90 square kilometers of an underwater relics conservation area in the Haitan Strait, confirming that the Haitan Strait had become an important section of the Maritime Silk Road at the latest during the Five Dynasties, and it continued uninterruptedly in various subsequent historical periods.

In May 2013, the Haitan Strait underwater site was named a national key cultural relics protection unit. In 2016, the State Council of China greenlighted the island’s construction towards becoming an international tourism island, heralding a new era for Pingtan’s tourism. Now, the development of archaeological tourism has become a hot topic.

Chen Sheng, head of the Underwater Site Protection Center of Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone, said that Pingtan has worked out a master plan for building an underwater archaeology park, the first of its kind after completion in China.

According to the plan, the archaeology park is an enormous project. It will be built in three phases, spanning to the year 2035. The park will serve as a relics protection center , scientific research and education facility, ecological conservation, leisure and recreation to further promote the maritime trading of Haitan Strait and Taiwan Straits.

Shipwrecks dating back to the Song (960–1279) and Qing (1644-1912) dynasties have been found in the Haitan Strait.

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