China Shipping Day origin and history

The "sailing day" is a national day of statutory activity led by the government and participated by the whole people. It is not only a common holiday for all relevant industries including sailing, marine, fishery, shipbuilding industry, scientific research and education of sailing ships, and its naval officers and men as well as publicity Popularize sailing and marine knowledge, enhance awareness of coastal defense and promote social harmony and unity among all the ethnic cultural activities.

July 11, 2005 is the 600th anniversary of Zheng He, the world famous great navigator Zheng He. The state decided to set July 11 each year as a "sailing day" and July 11 as the birthday of China's "sailing day."

China is one of the birthplaces of the world's maritime civilization. Zheng He traveled to the Western Ocean, discovering the New World of America 87 years earlier than Columbus, 98 years earlier than Dagamar bypassed the Cape of Good Hope and 116 years earlier than Magellan reaching the Philippines. Zheng He is a pioneer in world navigation. The ethos implied by Zheng He's voyage has surpassed national boundaries and becomes a world cultural heritage.

An industry insider who attended the celebration said that all the countries holding the festival did not have such a great background of the day for the election of China as Zhenghe and the other seven have a great historical impact and thus made a significant contribution to human navigation.

Taiwan also set July 11 as "Sailing Festival." The Ministry of Communications believes that celebrating festivals on the same day by the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will surely become the emotional bond linking the two sides across the Taiwan Strait. At the same time, it will promote cross-Strait cultural and economic and trade exchanges, help realize the "three links," and promote the unification of the motherland.

Our country is a big marine country and a big shipping country. China has more than 3 million square kilometers of blue land, more than 1,400 ports and 210,000 shipping vessels. 90% of China's foreign trade import and export goods are undertaken by shipping, making it the third largest shipbuilding country in the world. Shipping, ports, fisheries, shipbuilding, offshore oil development and other industries occupy a very important position in the national economy and social development.

The process of setting up "sailing day" activities by the state is as follows:

In the eighties of the last century, in commemoration of the 580th anniversary of Zheng He's western voyage, Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Agriculture, Animal and Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, State Oceanic Administration, China Association for Science and Technology, Naval Command, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China Sea Staff Association and China Navigation Association, jointly proposed to the State Council and the National People's Congress that Zheng He first march down to the West - July 11 as a "Festival of Shipping," which received the attention of the relevant state authorities.

In April 2001, the Central Committee decided to carry out the commemoration of Zheng He's 600th anniversary under the theme of "love the motherland, good neighborliness and friendship and scientific navigation" and set up a preparatory leading group led by the Ministry of Communications.

Since 2003, Taicang City, Jiangsu Province, held two consecutive "China Taicang Zhenghe Nautical Festival", Taicang Zheng He was under the West from the anchorage.

In 2003, Shanghai Maritime Academy advocated the establishment of "Shanghai International Maritime Festival."

During the "two sessions" of Beijing in 2004, 30 representatives, including NPC Standing Committee COSCO Group Secretary Zhang Fusheng, member of the CPPCC National Committee and former director of China's Maritime Bureau Liu Dehong, put forward proposals and proposals for setting up "Nautical Festival", calling for China's maritime community The grand festival is coming soon.

In 2005, COSCO Group, China Shipping Group, and CSC Group's 100 captains signed a joint proposal to set July 11 as "sailing day." In their proposal, they said: When we took part in the Nautical Festival of Other Nations as a "foreigner" in a foreign country, we even hoped for our own "sailing day."

Birth March 2005, the CPPCC National Committee, China Democratic Reform Fujian Provincial Committee, vice chairman of Fujian Provincial Science and Technology Department deputy director Lin Jia 騋 at the Third Session of the Tenth CPPCC National Committee submitted a proposal, it is proposed that Zheng He will sail on the Western Ocean July 11th as China's maritime festival statutory day "sailing day."

April 2005, the State Council approved July 11 as "sailing day", as an important national holiday fixed. It also serves as the date of implementation of World Maritime Day in our country. After every July 11, from the government to the private sector, to be celebrated.