The past and present of the "Xiangyanghong 09" ship

An old ship with a service life of more than 40 years is equivalent to an old man in his 80s. The Xiangyanghong 09 is such an old ship, a meritorious ship that was born in the 1970s and 1980s.

Xiangyanghong No. 09 when it was completed and shipped in 1987

In ancient times, a hero would not talk about his past achievements, but from a cultural perspective, the same cannot be said about the evaluation of an old ship with meritorious service. For the marine industry of New China, when the use value of an old ship disappears, it will inevitably settle into a culture, and the "Xiangyanghong 09" is the symbol of this culture, carrying a period of history in the history of marine surveys in New China and becoming a symbol of my country's marine culture.

People who are familiar with my country's marine survey history and the "Xiangyanghong 09" ship in the 20th century are accustomed to calling it "Xiang Jiu". Perhaps it is the hull number of this fiery era. The combination of "Xiang" and "Jiu" has created the legend of New China's marine cause.

The "Xiang Yang Hong" series of survey vessels pioneered the history of my country's marine scientific expeditions. As the first ship of the "Xiang Yang Hong" series, the "Xiang Jiu" is one of the three meritorious marine scientific research vessels of the former State Oceanic Administration.

The Xiangjiu is a 4,500-ton ocean-going scientific research vessel designed and built by my country. It was built by Shanghai Hudong Shipyard in 1978. It has been more than 40 years since it was included in the "Xiangyanghong" series of the State Oceanic Administration. During this period, it has not only completed routine annual ocean survey tasks, but also completed dozens of major ocean scientific research tasks in my country's coastal waters. It has successively completed major international cooperative survey tasks such as the World Meteorological Organization's "Global Atmospheric Experiment", "China-US East China Sea Joint Survey", "China-Japan Kuroshio Cooperation Survey", and "China-France Yangtze River Estuary Sediment Survey". It has visited Japan, South Korea, Russia, North Korea and the United States. Over the past 40 years, the Xiangjiu has had its glory, but also suffered disasters such as the "burning of warships", all of which have cast a mysterious color on its legendary experience.

Xiangyanghong No. 09 after restoration after a fire in the 1980s

At the end of December 2006, the Xiangjiu entered the Shanghai Lifeng Shipyard for modification and was shipped out of the factory in November 2007 to be converted into a deep-diving test mother ship. Afterwards, it carried the Jiaolong manned submersible and made another great achievement.

In November 2007, it was converted into a deep-diving test mother ship for my country.

This scientific ship has crisscrossed the Chinese seas and sailed from the Chinese seas to the deep oceans. Countless voyages have allowed it to go through too many tests and create brilliance. Those fragments of memory about marine scientific expeditions will surely be pieced together into the colorful history of my country's marine scientific investigations, thus precipitating into the "Xiangyanghong" culture.

On November 30, 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the 10th National Congress of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the 9th National Congress of the China Writers Association, pointing out that the fate of literature is linked to the fate of the country, and the cultural heritage is connected to the national vein. As the marine cause of New China has developed to this day, General Secretary Xi Jinping's speech can be said to be a wake-up call for the development of marine culture that accompanies the development of my country's marine cause, and it also points out the direction for the construction of my country's marine culture.

Study General Secretary Xi's speech and think about the construction and development of my country's marine culture today. The progress of China's marine culture is related to the future development of my country's marine cause. When we are talking about the great achievements and glory of the marine cause, should we rationally examine and think about what is the cultural destiny and cultural context of the marine cause?

History is the story of the past, and today's story will inevitably become the history of the future. Storytelling is actually the responsibility of culture. Telling good stories is not only related to the natural ocean, but also closely connected to the human ocean. Looking back at the history of the ocean industry, most of what our predecessors left behind are simple records of events or boring records of related scientific research, but there are few humanistic descriptions of the emotions of the characters and the plot of the story in the development of events or scientific research.

Nowadays, from a cultural perspective, the development of my country's marine industry and the improvement of the nation's marine awareness are no longer satisfied by popularizing science, but also need the nourishment and guidance of marine culture. The protection and utilization of marine historical materials and marine cultural heritage, and a large number of marine cultural products that eulogize the development and progress of the marine industry have become urgent needs of the people. Therefore, there is still a long way to go in the construction of my country's marine culture.

Establishing confidence in marine culture and prospering marine culture are important components of my country's marine cause. At the same time, marine culture is also the spiritual home for the existence, progress and development of marine cause.

The "Xiang Jiu" ship carries a history of the development of the new China's marine industry. What will be the fate of the "Xiang Jiu" ship in the future? This will be a cultural answer sheet in the development of my country's marine industry. The author expects that the "Xiang Jiu" can represent a new start in the construction of marine culture!