On this Day in Chinese History; 31 March

This day, 31 March, 1989, the Chinese Navy’s first Type 679 ocean-going training ship “Zheng He” with global navigation capabilities set sail from Qingdao for a visit to Hawaii in the United States. As the “Zheng He” crossed the 180-degree meridian in the the Western Pacific, it became the first ever Chinese naval ship to enter the Western Hemisphere.