Situated in East Asia and bordered by the western part of the Pacific Ocean, China is seen as both a continental and an oceanic country, with an 18,000-km-long coastline and over 6,500 islands. The Bohai, Huanghai, East, and South seas, which combine to encircle the Chinese land, form a large water area that leads to various of the world's oceans. The Chinese nation, which grew up along the Huang (Yellow) and Yangtze rivers, created Chinese civilization by developing from the land and river to the oceans, greatly pushing forward the development of the nation as well as the world.

Canoes of the Eastern Han Dynasty excavated in Huazhou County of Guangdong Province

As early as in the Neolithic Age about 7,000 years ago, the ancestors of Chinese people were already able to conduct sea voyages with their primitive floating tools -- canoes and rafts and rough navigation knowledge, which shows that China, alongside those Mediterranean countries, is the cradle of global maritime culture.

With the availability of wooden boats and sails during the Xia (21-16th century BC), Shang (16-11th century BC), and Zhou (11th century-256BC) dynasties, the ancient people started their voyages to today's Korea peninsula and Japanese islands.

By the Spring and Autumn Period (770-446BC) and the Warring States Period (475-221BC), when ancient navigation was formed, people had already accumulated some knowledge on aspects such as astronomical direction, geographical positioning, and oceanic climate. With the formation of necessary navigation skills and knowledge, maritime transportation and warfare of a relatively large scale emerged.

By the time of the Qin (221-206BC) and Han (206BC-220AD) dynasties, large sea boats had taken the place of wooden sailboats and people were gradually mastering how to sail with the help of wind, thus giving rise to Xu Fu's expedition to Japan during the Qin Dynasty as well as his voyage to the Indian Ocean during the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-24AD).

During the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280), fleets from the Wu State reached Taiwan and the South Sea, while Fa Xian of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420) returned from India by sea. By the Northern Dynasty (386-581), Chinese fleets had gone as far as the Persian Gulf.