Amateur treasure hunters descend on Chinese city after summer record heatwave dries up riverbeds exposing precious relics
- Treasure hunters swarm to dried-up riverbeds in hope of unearthing a ‘good harvest’
- Ganzhou city authorities declare mass amateur digs illegal and call on people to hand over anything they have found
Amateur treasure hunters armed with metal detectors and spades are flocking to stretches of riverbed along the Zhang and Gong rivers in Ganzhou city, Jiangxi province.
A series of videos circulating widely on mainland social media show scores of people scouring the dried-up beds of both rivers in search of antiques from centuries ago.
In one clip shared by a local resident on Douyin on Saturday, a large number of people are seen searching the exposed riverbeds carefully using a variety of tools, with some finding ancient coins, gold ingots and pieces of ceramics.
“This is from the Song dynasty. It says Da Song here,” exclaims a man holding a shoe-shaped ingot to onlookers.
“The riverbank is bustling. There is a sea of people. I hope everybody has a good harvest,” said another post featuring a treasure-seeking scene, where elderly people and children could also be seen.