A ceremony is held yesterday to mark seawater being pumped for the first time into the Crystal Palace (inset), a huge glass pool in Yangjiang, Guangdong Province, which houses the ancient Chinese shipwreck Nanhai I. It is to replicate the sea conditions in which the wreck spent the last 800 years.

Nanhai I, which was found in 1987 in the waters near Yangjiang in Guangdong Province, is the largest cargo ship of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) so far discovered on the ancient "Marine Silk Road" of the South China Sea. Chinese archaeologists, using global positioning system (GPS) technology, accurately located the ship, which was pulled out last year using a gigantic steel basket.Xinhua