China has achieved routine operations in manned deep-sea exploration at depths exceeding 10,000 meters, marking a major milestone in the nation's "14th Five-Year Plan" (2021-2025) for scientific and technological advancement.
Over the years, China has rapidly advanced its manned submersible fleet.
The Jiaolong first lifted the nation's capabilities from reaching a depth of less than 600 meters to a record 7,062 meters in 2012. In the run-up to this year's National Day, it completed the country's first manned dive beneath Arctic ice.
Though the Shenhai Yongshi ("Deep Sea Warrior"), launched in 2017, only reaches a depth of 4,534 meters, it boasts over 95 percent domestically developed components, demonstrating China's technological independence.
The deepest-diving manned submersible, Fendouzhe ("Striver"), reached a depth of 10,909 meters in 2020, officially propelling China into the era of full-ocean-depth manned diving.
With Fendouzhe now operating regularly at extreme depths, China has discovered new deep-sea species and groundbreaking ecosystems.
At the depth of 9,533 meters in the northwest Pacific, researchers identified the world's deepest known chemosynthetic biological community—organisms that can survive without sunlight. Scientists also sequenced the complete genome of a hadal amphipod, unveiling for the first time how animals genetically adapt to abyssal pressures and tracing their evolutionary history.
To further enhance in-situ research, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) is developing a new generation spectrometer capable of operating at full-ocean depth.
Building on its achievements, the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering of the CAS has launched the Global Trench Exploration and Diving Program, which in just three years has attracted 145 scientists from 10 countries to study nine major ocean trenches.
The initiative was recently recognized as an official program under the United Nations Ocean Decade.
"With the 'Fendouzhe,' we can now say it is the only manned submersible in the world equipped with robust operational capabilities at the depth of 10,000 meters. Now, many internationally renowned geologists and biologists are joining our hadal exploration program. We need to collaborate with these international peers to advance cutting-edge research in the hadal zone," said Du Mengran, director of the deep-sea scientific research department in the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering of the CAS.
China makes routine 10,000-meter manned deep-sea dives
