[1][2][3][4] Type 636 hydrographic survey ship and its successor Type 636A are both designed by of 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) Archived 2019-07-06 at the Wayback Machine nowadays.

The ship was built by Wuhu Shipyard and entered service in August 1998.

Construction of the first ship of Type 636A began at Wuhu Shipyard in May 2003 and there are [clarification needed] more than two dozen surveying systems installed on board.

Each ship has two names, one used with the pennant number when on naval service, and another when working in civilian roles.

The former are the names of eminent scientists and the second in a Hai Yang (海洋, "ocean") numbered series.