Archaeologists prepare for the underwater field research of the Zhiyuan. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The wreck also lies in a busy commercial shipping area, so balancing cultural-heritage protection and port construction is difficult. Some have proposed raising the ship out of the water to put it on public show, but experts are divided.

Cui Yong, a researcher who participated in the project, worries the 1,600-ton ship is too fragile to be salvaged.

Other options include virtual exhibitions that digitize the archaeological findings.

"If the shipwreck stays where it is, we can also have a museum or a memorial above the water," says Hang Kan, dean of the school of archaeology and museology at Peking University.

Hang cites the example of the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii.

Zhou, the archaeological team leader, recalls once having spent a few minutes in silence upon seeing soldiers' remains underwater.

The history of the ship is making officials proceed carefully before any plan is decided.