As early as 7000 years ago in the late Neolithic Age, the ancestors of the Chinese nation were able to sail on the sea with primitive raft floats and primitive navigation knowledge, which opened the prelude to the primitive raft sailing on the sea. This shows that China, like Mediterranean countries, is the birthplace of world marine culture. During the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, due to the appearance of wooden boats and sails, people began to sail along the offshore coast to today's Korean Peninsula, Japanese Islands and Indochina Peninsula. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, during the formation of ancient navigation in China, people accumulated some knowledge about astronomical orientation, geographical orientation and marine meteorology. , and initially formed the technology and related knowledge needed for offshore navigation, resulting in large-scale maritime transportation and maritime war. By the Qin and Han Dynasties, the seagoing ships gradually became large-scale and mastered the navigation technology, resulting in the feat of Xu Fu's fleet sailing eastward to Japan in the Qin Dynasty and the seagoing ships sailing in the Indian Ocean in the Western Han Dynasty. During the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Wu Dong's fleet toured Taiwan Province Province and Nanyang, Faxian returned from India, and the Chinese fleet sailed for the Persian Gulf.

After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, after the "Zhenguan rule", China was prosperous in social economy and developed in culture. On the basis of strong national strength and progress in shipbuilding technology, the shipping between China and coastal countries in West Asia and Africa has made great progress. By the Tang Dynasty, China had sailed to the coastal countries of Arabia and even Africa, and had achieved full direct flights from the previous segmented voyages. It was no longer necessary to transfer to Arab merchant ships via the coastal countries of the Indian Ocean, but it could be direct flights.

Because the compass is widely used in navigation, combined with the navigation knowledge accumulated by predecessors, such as astrology, geography, tides, monsoon, etc., and the development of shipbuilding technology, especially the watertight cabin technology, navigators after the Song Dynasty can sail at sea for many years. It is of great significance that the people of the Song Dynasty opened up a route across the Indian Ocean. In the Song Dynasty, navigators set sail from Guangzhou and Quanzhou, crossed the North Indian Ocean, and went straight to West Asia and the east coast of Africa.

A prominent feature of China's marine shipping industry in Yuan Dynasty is that maritime transportation occupies a very important position. The capital of the Yuan Dynasty was located in Dadu (now Beijing). In order to solve the problem of food shortage in Beijing and the north, it is necessary to transport food from the south of the Yangtze River, and sea transportation is one of the main ways.

In ocean transportation, the Yuan Dynasty surpassed the Tang and Song Dynasties in navigation scale, shipbuilding and navigation technology. The larger ocean-going ships in the Yuan Dynasty can carry more than a thousand people and have more than ten sails. The introduction of Arabic astronomical navigation technology into China also promoted the development of navigation technology in China. "

China entered the period of "quantitative navigation" before the west because of the active navigation trade policy and the great breakthrough in navigation technology marked by compass navigation. China set sail and established maritime trade relations with more than 20 countries and regions in Asia and Africa/KLOC-0. The development of ocean shipping in Yuan Dynasty promoted the prosperity of domestic foreign trade ports, especially Quanzhou Port, which experienced the most glorious period in its history in Yuan Dynasty. It has become not only the most important foreign trade port in China and the largest port in the East, but also the most famous overseas trade port in the world.

Wang Dayuan, a folk navigator in the Yuan Dynasty, set off from Quanzhou twice on 1330- 1390, and sailed far and wide, covering the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, as far as the Arabian Peninsula and the coastal areas of East Africa. So, in A.D. 1349, he wrote a book "Island Brief", which recorded 96 country names and place names.

From Yongle period of Ming Dynasty to Xuande period, Zheng He, a great navigator of China, led an ocean-going fleet and visited Asian and African countries seven times. Its fleet size, huge ships, wide routes and high navigation technology were unparalleled at that time.

During the six years from 1405 to 14 1 1, Zheng He's fleet went abroad almost continuously for three times, sailing to countries near Southeast Asia and India every time, which strengthened China's ties with these countries and regions, especially political and economic exchanges. Since then, foreign envoys have paid a return visit to China. At that time, the South China Sea was sailing with full sails, and exchanges between China and foreign countries became increasingly frequent. The envoys of many countries and regions are no longer limited to ships carrying Zheng He to the Western Seas. At the same time, Zheng He's several visits wiped out pirates in the old port (in today's Indonesia), strengthened ties with Southeast Asian countries, and made sea routes safe and smooth.

Zheng He's voyages to the Western Seas made historic breakthroughs in route and navigation experience. His route crossed the Indian Ocean from the western Pacific to East Africa. It is also in a leading position in the history of world navigation. At that time, sailing with wooden boats and overcoming various difficulties at sea only by natural wind required not only sailing skills, shipbuilding skills and sailing experience, but also courage and adventurous spirit, which laid the foundation for China people to sail later. Before the Yuan Dynasty, China's ocean-going routes were basically coastal voyages, and the scale, quantity, number of ships and sailing times were far less than Zheng He's voyages to the West.

Zheng He's seven voyages to the Western Ocean opened up a maritime traffic route and formed a systematic and perfect maritime traffic network. The first three trips mainly went to eastern India, and reached Guri as far as possible. Guri was an important port for ancient maritime trade between East and West. The fourth time began to arrive in West Asia and East Africa. There are 56 important routes of Zheng He, with a total length of 15000 Li. For example, it opened up hemp forest land from Guli to You Shan, then to Mogadishu (Mugudushu), Brava and Kenya in East Africa, and sailed south to Bila (Mozambican port) and Sunla (now Sofala port). It is said that the sub-fleet has passed through the storm zone in South Africa, far exceeding the requirements of monsoon navigation. Zheng He's voyage to the West is an innovative breakthrough in the history of maritime development, which laid a solid foundation for the future maritime career.

Zheng He's seven voyages to the West were a major turning point from the Silk Road on land to the Silk Road on the sea, and also created a miracle in the history of navigation. As a navigator, Zheng He's brave dedication and exploration spirit to the ocean are rare. China's ocean century, which started from Zheng He, included the exploration of the ocean in two directions. Along the sea passage opened by Zheng He, a large number of China people went abroad. It is this constant exploration of East and West Fang Haiyang that finally brings mankind together in a complete world.

However, with the gradual conservative and rigid feudalism in China's later period, the Ming and Qing Dynasties closed their doors to the outside world and imposed a maritime ban, which seriously hindered the further development of China's maritime industry and the continuous progress of maritime science and technology, and China's maritime industry entered a period from prosperity to decline.