This Day, That Year

Item from March 4, 1996, in China Daily: Technicians in Northeast China's Shenyang Automation Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences examine a robot that can assist with research work 6,000 meters under the sea. The technology makes China one of the few countries in the world that can produce this kind of cableless robot.

China has been ramping up its deep sea exploration in the past few years, with its manned submersible Jiaolong setting a record dive of 7,062 meters below sea level in 2012.

The feat marked the country's growing capability to explore most of the world's ocean bed.