1920s

The research on Amphioxus fisheries in Xiamen was published in Science at the establishment of Xiamen University (XMU), which brought XMU to the international science community.

1930s

The Marine Biological Station was established, making it the first of its kind in China. A series of the Amoy Marine Biological Bulletin were published that same year, indicating the volume of work being done in marine biology and environments.

1980s

Prof. Huasheng Hong led the observation and research on upwelling ecosystems in the Taiwan Strait, and published the first scholarly monograph on the upwelling ecosystem in China.

1990s

With leading by Lin Peng , the academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Xiamen University started the research on mangroves in the Zhangjiang River Estuary.

2002

XMU has established a state-of-art real-time three-dimensional marine environment monitoring and disaster prevention system - Taiwan Strait three-dimensional Monitoring and Disaster Prevention and Mitigation system, which is the earliest operational application.

October, 2008

The mangrove flux tower was put into use, representing the official establishment of Zhangjiang Estuary Mangrove Observation and Research Station (M- ECORS).

2010

Xiamen University, as the main participant, organized and launched the Taiwan Strait open cruise survey for National Natural Science Foundation of China.

April, 2011

The Swire Group Charitable Trust decided to donate 5.6 million RMB to Xiamen University for the construction of a marine station.

June, 2017

The comprehensive building of Dongshan Swire Marine Station (D-SMART) was put into use in 2017.

December, 2018

D-SMART and M- ECORS had been approved as the Fujian Field Observation and Research (O&R) Station.

August, 2019

T-SMART has been approved as a field station of the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China.

July, 2021

The comprehensive building of M- ECORS was put into use.

October, 2021

T-SMART has been approved as a national station of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China.