The "From the Mountaintop to the Ocean" exhibition opens to the public in Beijing, Nov. 26, 2025. [Photo/China.org.cn] 

China highlighted major scientific and technological advances in the natural resources sector on Wednesday at the newly launched "From the Mountaintop to the Ocean" exhibition at the Geological Museum of China. Alongside the exhibition, the Ministry of Natural Resources hosted a symposium reviewing progress made during the 2021–2025 period.

At the symposium, Feng Wenli, director general of the ministry's Department of Technological Development, said China has achieved a series of landmark breakthroughs over the past five years, strengthening its capabilities to safeguard energy and resource security and advancing the country's maritime development.

Among the highlighted achievements, a research team from Tsinghua University developed the world's first hundred-meter-scale lined subsea pipeline, enhancing the safety of deep-water oil and gas transportation. The technology has also benefited several Belt and Road countries through product exports, shifting China's role from an importer to an international leader in this field.

In remote sensing, advances in satellite data processing have enabled LuTan-1, China's L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite, to become the global first of its kind with topographic mapping capabilities. 

In the deep sea, the icebreaking-capable mothership Tansuo-3 completed 43 dives in the Arctic Ocean with the Fendouzhe deep-sea submersible this year. China's first manned submersible Jiaolong, operating with the research vessel Shenhai Yihao, completed the first manned deep-sea diving operations in the Arctic area. 

For the first time, Jiaolong and Fendouzhe manned submersibles conducted joint underwater operations, innovating coordinated underwater operation mode for dual manned submersibles. The two submersibles have finished more than 50 dives in the Arctic Ocean in total, making China the only country to conduct continuous manned deep-sea expeditions in dense sea ice zones. 

The symposium also showcased progress in mineral resources utilization, forestry germplasm innovation, and national land and spatial planning, reflecting broad advances across the natural resources system.

Looking ahead, the ministry is focusing on innovation across five domains: geology and minerals, land and spatial management, forestry and ecology, geospatial surveying, and ocean and polar research, Feng said.