Now, CGTN's Xia Ruixue checks out China's first professional hospital ship called Peace Ark – a vessel that has provided free medical services around the world.
A beautiful white ship. This is the Peace Ark. It's China's first military hospital ship.
Over 250,000 patients in 43 countries and regions around the world have been treated here, including seven babies born in the vessel's operating rooms.
XIA RUIXUE Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province "This is the 780-square meter flight deck of the Peace Ark. Even in inclement weather, helicopters can land here to transfer patients."
The hospital equipment at Peace Ark is on par with that in China's top medical facilities.
And its crew includes some of the country's leading medical experts and professionals in fields including neurology, gastroenterology, physiotherapy, traditional Chinese medicine, infectious diseases, reconstructive surgery and burns.
Since the ship was commissioned into service in 2008, it has engaged in ten overseas missions, sailing about 260,000 nautical miles.
It sows the seeds of friendship throughout the world by healing the wounded and rescuing the dying.
XIA RUIXUE Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province "Patients with serious diseases and injuries are treated in this intensive care unit. Twenty beds are spread across two rooms. All heads of state who paid this ship a visit have come to see this area."
JIANG TAO Vice Captain, Peace Ark "Peace Ark serves as a name card of China today. We have told China's stories and showed our spirit to the world through each mission and each tour. This is what President Xi Jinping means when he says build a community with a shared future for mankind."
In the past 15 years, this hospital ship has successfully completed many Mission Harmony tours, along with a number of joint disaster relief drills and joint military medical exercises.
It has saved people's lives, spread China's friendship, and most importantly, demonstrated China acting as a responsible world power with a peace-loving military force. Xia Ruixue, CGTN, Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province.