China's first exit-entry permit for destination-free cruise travel was issued in Shanghai on Friday, making it easier for residents to take short offshore cruise trips.
The permit was issued under a new facilitation measure introduced by Shanghai's immigration authorities, the first of its kind in China to support exit-entry procedures for cruise travelers.
Approved by the National Immigration Administration, the new policy allows eligible applicants to obtain the permit using only their resident identity card, significantly reducing administrative requirements for cruise travel.
Unlike traditional cruise itineraries, destination-free cruises sail to the high seas and return without making any port calls.
The permit was issued ahead of the weekend departure of the Adora Magic City, China's first large domestically built cruise ship, which set sail on Saturday on a three-day, two-night offshore voyage. The voyage allows residents to enjoy a short cruise getaway without the need for a visa, providing a convenient new option for leisure travel.
Shanghai issues China's first permit for destination-free cruises
A year after issuing its first ocean forecasting AI system, Chinese scientists on Saturday rolled out LangYa 2.0, a major upgrade that moves beyond basic sea variables to predict complex marine phenomena including typhoons, extreme rainfall and storm surges.
The new model was unveiled at the ongoing Fourth China Digital Earth Conference in Qingdao, a coastal city of east China's Shandong Province.
Developed by the Institute of Oceanology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS), LangYa 2.0 marks a leap from global ocean state forecasting to intelligent prediction of complex marine phenomena, making ocean forecasts perceptible, actionable, and decision-ready, according to Wang Fan, president of IOCAS.
It will provide intelligent support for marine disaster prevention, shipping safety, polar navigation, and climate response, he added.
The upgraded system now predicts six key marine phenomena -- typhoons, extreme rainfall, storm surges, internal solitary waves, mesoscale eddies, and sea ice.
It does so via six specialized vertical sub-models, each trained on unique datasets and physical mechanisms. Together, they form what the research team calls "a diagnostic AI," which delivers direct, actionable forecasts.
Take typhoons for example. The typhoon module fuses atmospheric and oceanic fields, satellite cloud imagery and historical typhoon tracks. It is specifically designed to handle two notoriously hard-to-predict behaviors: rapid intensification and sudden turning. For coastal communities, those few hours of extra warning can mean the difference between evacuation and disaster.
For offshore engineering, LangYa 2.0 can identify internal solitary waves -- the powerful, hidden currents that can damage oil platforms.
It forecasts their evolution over the following 30 days and allows users to query speed, amplitude and other key parameters for the coming week, according to the research team.
Even before its official release, version 2.0 has begun to prove its worth.
Independently validated by the Sea Ice Prediction Network, an international collaboration of scientists and research institutions dedicated to improving seasonal forecasts of Arctic sea ice, LangYa 2.0 ranked first among multiple global models in the 2025 seasonal forecast for September Arctic sea ice extent, which refers to the area of ocean covered by ice.
It delivers monthly-scale predictions at three-kilometer resolution, which is critical for Arctic shipping routes, climate research and polar navigation safety, the team noted.
China releases LangYa 2.0 AI model for full-blown marine phenomenon forecasting
