Xiamen University (XMU) started marine studies almost 100 years ago and is recognized as the cradle of China’s marine studies. Its Department of Oceanography, established in 1946, is the first of its kind in China, while its College of Ocean and Earth Sciences has developed into one of China’s best marine research institutions with a state key discipline – marine science, and has a faculty that includes an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a number of experts involved in “Thousand Talents Plan”, China’s Recruitment Programme of Global Experts. The College boasts excellent research platforms, such as the State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, outstanding educational centers, such as National Experimental Center for Education, as well as an advanced general-purpose research vessel equipped with state-of-the-art scientific instruments, which was put into use in 2017 and would serve the interdisciplinary oceanographic cruises conducted in international waters.