The honor, bestowed by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council, was announced Friday at an award ceremony jointly held by the State Oceanic Administration and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

Jiaolong completed a dive of 7,062 meters in the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench during its trial operation in June 2012, enabling China to conduct deep-sea scientific research and resource exploration in 99.8 percent of the world's oceans.

The crew behind Jiaolong's record dive were honored as a "Heroic Group".

Prior to the ceremony, President Xi Jinping met with representatives of the honored units and individuals, expressing congratulations and greetings to all science and technology workers as well as officials who helped make the achievement possible.

Also at the ceremony, the administration and the ministry gave the "Advanced Group" title to 22 units behind the research and development of the project, with 19 people each honored as an "Advanced Individual". (Xinhua)

Editor's Note: Among the seven hero oceanauts, three are from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Besides, four units and four people of CAS were honored "Advanced Group" and "Advanced Individual" respectively.

The China's manned submersible Jiaolong has three world's leading technology advantages, which are high-speed underwater acoustic communication (acoustic systems), automatic navigation and hover positioning (control systems) and large capacity oil-filled silver-zinc storage batteries. The first two were developed by CAS. Wherein, the control system task was assumed by the Shenyang Institute of Automation, CAS and the acoustic systems were completed by the Institute of Acoustics, CAS.

During the dive, the acoustic systems designed and integrated by the IACAS provided a strong guarantee for the success. Sounds, images, letters and other signals instantaneously transferred between the mother ship and the sub were clear and smooth. The high-speed underwater acoustic communication played an indispensable role throughout.