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In recent years China has made further efforts to promote the investigation
and exploration of marine resources and the marine environment,
search actively for new exploitable resources, study new techniques
and methods of marine resources exploitation and protection, train
technical personnel in marine development and protection, and spread
oceanographic knowledge among the general public in order to rouse
the whole nation to protect the marine environment.
On the basis of a multidisciplinary oceanographic research setup,
which consists of 109 research institutes and 13,000-some research
personnel, China has many achievements to its credit in oceanographic
survey and research, studies in basic oceanographic science, development
and protection of ocean resources, marine monitoring technologies
and manufacturing of oceanographic technical equipment.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 a
large amount of work has been done in the field of oceanographic
surveys and research, which started in offshore areas with surface
observation of the sea and later expanded to deep-sea regions by
means of aerospace remote sensing and underwater detection, as well
as surface observation. As early as in the period 1958-1960 a national
comprehensive survey of China's offshore waters was made; later,
from 1980 to 1986, a comprehensive survey of coastal zones and shoals
resources was conducted nationwide, along with the launching of
a number of pilot projects on the comprehensive development and
utilization of coastal zones; and from 1988 to 1995 a general investigation
of the country's island resources and an experiment on their comprehensive
development were carried out.
China signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1983 and began to make surveys
of the Antarctic and the surrounding sea areas in 1984. By 1997
the country had completed 14 programs of scientific investigation
in this region, using the Great Wall and Zhongshan survey stations
as bases. Thus, China has made positive contributions to the world's
peaceful exploitation of the Antarctic. In 1996 China joined the
International Scientific Committee on North Pole Research, and has
taken an active part in international cooperation projects in the
Arctic, such as "The Role of the Polar Region in Global Change."
With more attention paid to the study of the inshore shelf oceanography,
China has established a multidisciplinary oceanographic research
system with regional characteristics. Under the direction of the
oceanographic development strategy and the support programs and
plans for the development of oceanography drawn up by relevant state
departments, marked progress has been made in recent years in physical
oceanography, biological oceanography, marine geology and marine
chemistry. These achievements have provided scientific directions
and references for the promotion of offshore fishing and oil and
gas exploitation, protection of the marine environment, and reduction
and prevention of marine disasters.
China makes vigorous efforts for the development of oceanographic
technologies, building up an oceanographic technology system focusing
mainly on the marine environment, exploration and exploitation of
marine resources, and general marine engineering, and covering more
than 20 technological fields. The country has now turned its attention
to implementing a marine high-tech program, a program for tackling
key problems in marine science and technology and one for marine
development by reliance on science and technology. In its marine
high-tech research China gives priority to technologies covering
marine monitoring, marine exploration and resources exploitation,
deep-sea exploration and marine biology. The program for tackling
key problems in marine science and technology centers on fields
directly related to modern marine development, such as sustainable
exploitation of the resources and environment of coastal zones,
desalinization of seawater, exploitation of marine energy and comprehensive
utilization of seawater resources. In 1996 government departments
concerned jointly formulated the National Plan for Implementing
the "Program for Marine Development by Reliance on Science and Technology"
in the Ninth Five-Year Period (1996-2000) and to the Year 2010,
which focuses on research, development and dissemination of the
technologies of marine reproduction and mariculture, fine processing
of marine biological resources, exploration and extraction of marine
pharmaceuticals and exploitation of chemical resources in seawater.
Through implementation of this plan, China hopes to foster marine
technology enterprises, improve the productivity of the marine industries,
and make the technological progress factor rise from 30 percent
to 50 percent in the output increase of the marine industries.
China has basically evolved an oceanographic education system embracing
professional education, vocational education and popular knowledge
education. Oceanography as an area of study is taught in 37 institutions
of higher learning and 29 secondary specialized schools in China,
training large numbers of technical and managerial personnel. The
vocational schools, offering courses in more than 20 oceanographic
fields, have trained more than 8,000 people in the past three years.
The mass media is frequently used in China to inform young people
about oceanographic topics and educate the people living in coastal
regions in the proper way to exploit marine resources and protect
the marine environment.
In addition, a service system providing oceanographic data and
information headed by the National Oceanographic Information Center
has been established in China in the wake of the progress in the
past dozens of years in this field; it provides comprehensive information
services for ocean development, oceanographic research and marine
environmental protection. Besides, in the early 1990s China built
up a basic network jointly run by government departments concerned,
enterprises, research institutes and coastal zones to promote oceanographic
information exchanges.
To give a further boost to oceanographic technology, offshore development
and marine environment protection, the Chinese government has worked
out the Medium- and Long-Term Program for the Development of Oceanographic
Science and Technology, the Oceanographic Technology Policy (Blue
Paper) and a number of concrete development plans. The main tasks
for oceanographic technology development in the future are: To strengthen
research into basic oceanographic science; tackle the key technologies
of marine resources exploitation and environmental protection; promote
the application of oceanographic technologies to marine industries;
improve marine resources development and service support for marine
disaster prevention and reduction; improve marine environmental
protection; and narrow the gap between China and the developed countries
in oceanographic technology.
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