The year 2017 marked the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the People's Republic of China and the Federal Republic of Germany. On this occasion, an extensive nationwide cultural program takes place, which started in Berlin on 20 February with a great Chinese New Year's concert. As part of this cultural program, the exhibition "East Meets West: Maritime Silk Street" of the Guangdong Museum will be shown at the International Maritime Museum Hamburg, which will be shown here for the first time in Europe. In the center of the exhibition are finds of the shipwrecks Nan Hai No.1 and Nan Ao No.1., Which were salvaged off the South China coast. They stand for a little known chapter in Chinese history in the West: the early sea connections of the Middle Kingdom to the West.