He is an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a pioneer in seabed exploration and research, widely recognized as one of the founders of seabed science in China. He led the earliest geophysical surveys of the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea and East China Sea, and conducted systematic studies on the structural framework and hydrocarbon potential of the continental shelf, as well as the crustal nature and evolution of the Okinawa Trough. He obtained the first in-situ evidence for deep-sea crustal properties in the South China Sea and discovered cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts and slope basins with hydrocarbon potential.
In the field of deep-sea mineral exploration and development, he played a decisive role in securing for China an ideal 150,000 km² exploration area in the eastern Pacific and in China’s successful qualification as the world’s fifth pioneer investor in the international seabed area. He led the national major project “Exploration and Research on Deep-Sea Polymetallic Mineral Resources,” contributing significantly to China’s emergence as one of the leading nations in deep-sea resource exploration.
He currently serves as a doctoral supervisor at the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang University, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), and China University of Geosciences (Beijing). He is also Professor and Honorary Dean of the School of Resources and Environmental Engineering at Shandong University of Technology.
His research projects have received numerous awards, including First and Second Prizes for Scientific and Technological Progress of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, two First Prizes and one Second Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress of the State Oceanic Administration, recognition as an Outstanding Contributor to the National “Eighth Five-Year Plan” Science and Technology Program, the Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award, and the Special Prize for Marine Science and Technology Innovation of the State Oceanic Administration.