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The Type 679 training ship (NATO reporting name Daxing (大兴, meaning Great Prosper) class) is a Chinese training ship developed for the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The ship is more commonly known as Zheng He, after a Chinese Ming dynasty admiral of the same name.
Zheng He is the first purpose built training ship indigenously developed by China. Designed by the 708th Institute of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), which is also more commonly known as China Shipbuilding and Oceanic Engineering Design Academy (中国船舶及海洋工程设计研究), the ship was built by Qiuxing (求新) Shipyard in Shanghai, a division of Jiangnan Shipyard. The ship is designed to be crewed by 170 sailors and 30 instructors are also assigned to the ship. The ship has a large hospital on board to accommodate cadet classes. Originally, the ship could house 170 cadets at any one time in addition to the 170 crew and 30 instructors; this number was increased to 200 when the number of chart rooms (originally there were three) was reduced, as a result of the adoption of electronic charts during later upgrades. When the ship first entered service in 1987, it was the first ship in the PLAN to incorporate entertainment rooms (there are two such rooms). More than forty different classes can be trained on board. In April 1989, Zheng He became the first ship in the PLAN to visit the United States when it visited Hawaii. Between April 16 and September 21, 2012, Zheng He conducted its first circumnavigation of the planet. The ship has won numerous awards from the city of Shanghai and CSSC for its design and construction.
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