Chinese archeologists are working to salvage a sunken warship of ancient naval general Zheng Chenggong, who took back Taiwan Province from Dutch invaders more than 340 years ago.

Some 20 archeologists and dozens of divers will gather in the east China province of Fujian later this week to salvage the warship, hoping to unravel mysteries as to why the ship sunk and what weaponry and valuables were on board.

Zheng Chenggong's warship sank in today's Dongshan waters of the East China Sea, Fujian Province.

In January 2000, two fishermen found pieces of a sunken ship in the Dongshan waters. An initial salvage by archeologists subsequently produced a number of iron cannons, bronze blunderbusses, shells, landmines, damaged ship planks and porcelain at the site.

Archeologists believe more relics still remain on the seabed, and have conducted an underwater survey to locate the relics.

The salvage plan has been approved by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, and China's National Museum has decided to set up an underwater heritage protection base on Dongshan Island to better preserve the ancient warship and other cultural relics at the site.

Dongshan Island was one of Zheng's military bases where he trained soldiers and had warships built.

According to history books, Zheng's two warships, the Zhongjun and Xianfeng, both were as high as five-story buildings and could load several hundred people each.

Zheng was born in Fujian in 1623. He led troops across the Taiwan Straits from Jinmen Island in 1661, and, after a year of fighting, defeated Dutch colonialists who had occupied Taiwan for 38 years.
 
(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2004)