China's achievements in maritime design were celebrated in Beijing yesterday with the announcement of its top 10 ships .

The vessels, all designed and built on the Chinese mainland, represent the achievements the nation's ship building industry has made over the years. They are the milestones in the history of the industry's development according to the event sponsor--the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence.

Chosen from more than 100 candidates the top 10 include five civilian vessels and five military ships.

Among the five civilian vessels there's the 'Dongfeng', the first 10,000-ton ocean-going ship, designed and built independently by China in the 1960s and the 'Delvar' which was China's first 300,000-ton VLCC (Very Large Crude Oil Carrier) and built for Iran.

The other three civilian vessels were the 'Xiangyanghong 10', China's first multi-functional large ocean research vessel; the 'Changcheng', the country's first exported vessel built according to international standards and the 'Bohai Youyi' the first oil processing and storage ship.

The five military vessels included China's first generation nuclear ballistic missile submarine, the first generation missile destroyer, the new conventional nuclear submarine, the new missile destroyer and 'Yuanwang 3' a spacecraft tracking, telemetering and control ship that makes China just the fourth country in the world that has this technology.

"This is the first time a large-scale poll has been undertaken on ships in China," said Huang Pingtao, chairman of the board of directors with the China Society of Naval Architects and Maritime Engineers.

The election for the top 10 ships comes at a time when the ship building industry in China is strong. Official statistics showed that China's share in the global ship building market has grown from 5.4 percent in 1994 to 17 percent last year.

(China Daily March 24, 2006)