Chinese archeologists announced Thursday they have excavated¹ more than 30,000 relics² from a riverbed. They are believed to be treasures owned by the leader of an ancient uprising.

 

中国考古学家周四宣布，他们在一片河床上挖掘出了30000多件古物。据传这些古物是古代一位起义领袖的财产。

 

The retrieved³ relics include more than 10,000 gold and silver objects taken from the Jiangkou stretch of the Minjiang River in Meizhou City, Sichuan Province.

 

Coins, jewelry⁴, domestic objects such as silver spoons and mirrors, porcelain⁵ plates, and iron weapons including swords, knives and spears were among the items.

 

Characters carved on some relics were directly linked to the Daxi regime established by Zhang Xianzhong, leader of a peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

 

Legend had it that in 1646, Zhang was defeated by Ming soldiers while attempting to transfer his large haul of treasure southward. About 1,000 boats loaded with money and assorted⁶ valuables were said to have sunk in the skirmish. 

 

The rich findings confirmed there is some truth to the legend.

 

"The objects spanned the middle and late periods of the Ming Dynasty and came from areas covering more than half of China's territory at the time," said Gao Dalun, director of the Sichuan Provincial⁷ Cultural Relics and Archeology Research Institute.

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