Peace Ark
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''Daishan Dao'' is a
Type 920 hospital ship The Type 920 hospital ship (NATO reporting name: Anwei) is a class of hospital ship operated by the People's Liberation Army Navy of China. History (or ''Peace Ark''), the lead ship, commissioned in 2008, was the "center of China's maritime ...
of the
People's Liberation Army Navy The People's Liberation Army Navy, also known as the People's Navy, PLA Navy or simply Chinese Navy, is the naval warfare military branch, branch of the People's Liberation Army, the national military of the People's Republic of China. It i ...
of the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. ''Daishan Dao'' is also known as ''Peace Ark'' during peacetime, and has received
NATO reporting name NATO uses a system of code names, called reporting names, to denote military aircraft and other equipment used by post-Soviet states, former Warsaw Pact countries, China, and other countries. The system assists military communications by providi ...
Anwei class (meaning comfort). It is stationed at Zhoushan Naval Base,
Zhoushan Zhoushan is an urbanized archipelago with the administrative status of a prefecture-level city in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. It consists of an archipelago of islands at the southern mouth of Hangzhou Bay off the mainland c ...
and is part of the East Sea Fleet ''Daishan Dao'' is the first Type 920
hospital ship A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating healthcare, medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navy, navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or ...
and was once the only ship of this class until around 2023, when a new ship of the same class, ''Silk Road Ark'', was built and carried out its first medical mission in 2024.


History

The ship was launched in 2007 with the stated intention of giving China a platform to provide a better means to providing quicker humanitarian response to disasters around the world, but others contend it also allows China to extend the navy's
blue water Maritime geography is a collection of terms used by naval military units to loosely define three maritime regions: brown water, green water, and blue water. Definitions The elements of maritime geography are loosely defined and their meanings hav ...
capabilities. ''Peace Ark'' is primarily engaged in China's international humanitarian medical relief efforts, known as "Mission Harmony." On 1 September 2010, the hospital ship embarked on a three-month Mission Harmony-2010 to the
Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden (; ) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channel, the Socotra Archipelago, Puntland in Somalia and Somaliland to the south. ...
with a total of 428 officers including 100 medical workers. ''Peace Ark'' visited Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, the Seychelles and Bangladesh. It provided medical services to 17,345 outpatients and performed 97 surgeries. After sailing across the Pacific Ocean and passing through the
Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...
for Mission Harmony-2011, the ship arrived in the Caribbean Sea, where it visited Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Costa Rica. It provided outpatient services for 11,446 people and 118 surgeries are performed. The ship returned to Southeast and Southern Asia for Mission Harmony-2013, visiting Brunei, the Maldives, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indonesia and Cambodia. It provided services to 30,713 people and 293 surgeries were performed. In November 2013, she was deployed to
Tacloban Tacloban ( ; ), officially the City of Tacloban (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city on Leyte island in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, Tacloban has a popu ...
, Philippines to assist in the recovery from
Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, was an extremely powerful and catastrophic tropical cyclone that is among List of the most intense tropical cyclones, the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded. Upon ...
. ''Peace Ark'' also participated as part of the Chinese contribution to Exercise
RIMPAC The Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC) is the world's largest international maritime warfare exercise. RIMPAC is held biennially during June and July of even-numbered years from Honolulu, Hawaii, with the exception of 2020 where it was held ...
2014 in addition to the United States hospital ship . After the Rim of the Pacific 2014 exercise which ended on August 3, ''Peace Ark'' immediately switched to the Mission Harmony-2014. The vessel visited Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea, where it provided medical services to 22,456 people and 212 surgeries were performed. The following year during Mission Harmony-2015, ''Peace Ark'' visited Australia, Barbados,
French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...
, Grenada, Mexico, Peru, and the United States. It provided medical services and physical examinations for 17,838 people and performed 59 surgeries. In 2017, ''Peace Ark'' traveled to Africa for Mission Harmony-2017, pausing at Djibouti (treating 7,841 Djiboutians), Sierra Leone, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo (treating 7,508 Congolese), Angola, Mozambique (treating 9,881 Mozambiquans), and Tanzania (treating 6,421 Tanzanians). On June 29, 2018, ''Peace Ark'' set sail from a military port in
Zhoushan Zhoushan is an urbanized archipelago with the administrative status of a prefecture-level city in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. It consists of an archipelago of islands at the southern mouth of Hangzhou Bay off the mainland c ...
,
Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...
, to provide humanitarian medical services to 11 countries including Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Colombia, Venezuela, Grenada, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, and Ecuador, to carry out Mission Harmony-2018. It was also invited to Chile to participate in the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the founding of the
Chilean Navy The Chilean Navy () is the naval warfare service branch of the Chilean Armed Forces. It is under the Ministry of National Defense (Chile), Ministry of National Defense. Its headquarters are at Edificio Armada de Chile, Valparaiso. History Ori ...
. On August 9 ''Peace Ark'' left the port of
Suva Suva (, ) is the Capital city, capital and the most populous city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rew ...
, ending its 8-day visit to Fiji. On September 22, it arrived at the port of
La Guaira La Guaira () is the capital city of the Venezuelan Vargas (state), state of the same name (formerly named Vargas) and the country's main port, founded in 1577 as an outlet for nearby Caracas. The city hosts its own professional baseball team i ...
and began an eight-day visit to Venezuela. On November 15, it arrived at the port of
Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...
for an eight-day visit to Ecuador. On December 8, the visit to Chile ended and the ship left the port of Valparaiso to return home. On December 29, the Navy awarded ''Peace Ark'' a collective first-class merit. During the visits, a total of 50,884 people were diagnosed and treated, 26,231 people were assisted in examinations, 288 surgeries were performed, more than 20 joint emergency medical rescue drills, academic exchanges, and cultural exchanges were held with foreign parties, and multiple teams were sent to local hospitals, communities, military camps, etc. to carry out diagnosis and treatment services and environmental disinfection. On January 18, 2019, ''Peace Ark'' which completed Mission Harmony-2018, arrived at the military port of Zhoushan. The mission lasted 205 days, with a total voyage of . On November 2, 2022, ''Peace Ark'' sail from a military port in Zhoushan, Zhejiang, for Mission Harmony-2022, visiting Indonesia and planning to provide medical services in
Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...
for 7 days. The ship's maritime hospital was composed of 111 medical staff drawn from the Naval Medical University, with a total of 14 clinical departments, 3 auxiliary departments and a pharmacy, and carried a ship-borne rescue helicopter. On the morning of November 29, ''Peace Ark''successfully completed Mission Harmony-2022 and returned to China. On July 3, 2023, ''Peace Ark'' set sail from a military port in Zhoushan, Zhejiang, to carry out Mission Harmony-2023. It paid friendly visits to five countries, namely Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and
Timor-Leste Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...
, and provided humanitarian medical services. From July 15 to 22, it visited Kiribati, providing medical services to local people and overseas Chinese. The main platform treated 5,095 patients, performed 20 surgeries, and conducted 94 health examinations. It also actively carried out health education activities. During the period, the hospital ship's medical staff delivered a baby for local people. Kiribati President Maamau personally named it "Akendari", which means "Peace Ark" in Kiribati. The hospital ship also sent 7 medical teams totaling 46 people to conduct medical rounds in local hospitals, communities, elderly associations and outer islands, serving 1,538 local people. On August 4, the visit and medical services to Tonga ended. On August 8, the ship arrived in Port Vila, Vanuatu, and began a 7-day visit and provided humanitarian medical services. On August 19, ''Peace Ark'' arrived in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands. On September 3, the vessel began a 7-day visit and humanitarian medical services to Timor-Leste. In September, ''Peace Ark'' returned to a military port in Zhoushan after successfully completing Mission Harmony-2023. The mission lasted 79 days, with a total voyage of more than , and treated 41,358 people from various countries. ''Peace Ark'' carried out Mission Harmony-2024 from mid-June 2024 to mid-January 2025. It visited 13 countries including Seychelles, Tanzania, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa, Angola, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Cameroon, Benin, Mauritania, Djibouti and Sri Lanka, and provided medical service to local people. It also made port calls to France, Algeria, Singapore and Greece. As of June 2024, ''Peace Ark'' has traveled abroad 11 times, sailed more than , served 45 countries and regions, provided medical services to more than 290,000 people, and performed more than 1,400 surgeries. On 21 December 2024, ''Daishan Dao'' (''Peace Ark'') arrived at the
Port of Colombo The Port of Colombo , (known as Port of Kolomtota during the early 14th Century Kotte Kingdom) is the largest and busiest port in Sri Lanka and the Indian Ocean. Located in Colombo, on the southwestern shores on the Kelani River, it serves as a ...
, Sri Lanka, for an official visit under the command of Captain Deng Qiang. As part of the official visit, the hospital ship, in collaboration with the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Sri Lanka, provided medical treatments and clinics onboard. These services were conducted by the vessel's medical staff in partnership with the
Sri Lanka Navy The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) (; ) is the navy, naval arm of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and is classed as the country's most vital defence force due to its island geography. It is responsible for the maritime defence of the Sri Lankan nation and its ...
medical department. The vessel departed the island following the conclusion of the visit on 28 December 2024. On 7 January 2025, ''Daishan Dao'' arrived at
Changi Naval Base Changi Naval Base (CNB), officially known as RSS ''Singapura'' – Changi Naval Base, is a naval base of the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN). Located about 1.5 kilometres east of Changi Air Base (East) and 3.5 kilometres east of Singapore Ch ...
for a 5-day visit.


Characteristics

''Daishan Dao'' is the sole ship of its class, and is assigned pennant number 866. She is assigned to the South Sea Fleet and based out of Zhoushan in Zhejiang province. She has a capacity of 300 beds, 20 ICU beds, 8 operating theatres, and can perform 40 major surgeries a day, in addition to X-ray, ultrasound, CT, hypothermia, hemodialysis,
traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence ...
, and dental facilities. She is also equipped with a remote networking and communications system to allow teleconferencing with doctors and specialists on land. In accordance with the
Geneva Conventions upright=1.15, The original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are international humanitarian laws consisting of four treaties and three additional protocols that establish international legal standards for humanitarian t ...
, ''Daishan Dao'' and her crew do not carry any offensive weapons, while the ship is painted white with red crosses to mark her as a hospital ship.


Gallery

File:Chinese Navy hospital ship Peace Ark (866) departs Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam following the conclusion of Rim of the Pacific 2016. 160805-N-AI605-055.jpg, ''Peace Ark'' during Rim of the Pacific 2016. File:Navy_Surgeon_General_Visits_the_Peace_Ark_140702-N-UD469-146.jpg, The computerized tomography (CT) scan aboard the ''Peace Ark''


Similar vessels

* Other PLAN hospital ships: ** 832 ''Nanyun'' and 833 ''Nankang'' - two Nankang-class hospital ship are 2150-ton modified Qiongsha class attack transport ships built in the 1980s and similar size to small passenger ships; has a helipad at the stern; built in Guangzhou and remains in service in the South Sea Fleet ** Y832 (''Bei Kang'') and Y834 (''Dong Kang'') - stationed at North Sea Fleet and East Sea Fleet ** 82 ''Shichang'' - 9 500 ton part-time hospital ship built in 1997 as multi-role aviation training ship and can be reclassified as hospital ship/defense mobilization ship with modular units added; deck space can accommodate modular units for treatment centre and wards; supports two helipads ** 865 ''Zhuanghe'' - (approximately 30,000 ton) converted container ship with 14 modular medical units, heli pad and control tower; likely based at Sanya, Hainan Island ** Project 320 Ob' Class Hospital Ship - a retired Russian hospital ship (1980–1997) was purchased in 2007 with plans to restore it for PLAN service as hospital ship; built at Adolf Warski Shipyard in the 1980s *
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
70,000 tons : ** **


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daishan Dao Ships built in China 2007 ships Hospital ships of China Auxiliary ships of the People's Liberation Army Navy