On November 4, 2023, China’s first domestically built large cruise ship, theAdora Magic City, was officially named and delivered by Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited. This milestone marks China’s achievement of possessing the "three crowns" of shipbuilding—the capability to simultaneously construct aircraft carriers, large liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, and large cruise ships.
During the scientific research, technological攻关, and design and construction of the Adora Magic City cruise ship, Wuhan University of Technology leveraged its distinctive disciplinary strengths. Relevant schools and research institutes collaborated closely with shipbuilding enterprises to tackle key challenges, providing strong technical support. Within this research community, faculty members from the School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Energy Power Engineering—including Qian Zuoqin, Xu Li, and Gan Nianzhong—designed and developed an independent temperature and humidity control air-conditioning prototype cabin platform. This system addresses both comfort requirements and energy efficiency in cabin environments, filling a domestic gap in the design and construction of environmental control systems for cruise ship cabins. Throughout the R&D process, the team engaged in extensive communication and repeated feasibility studies with multiple institutions, including: No. 704 Research Institute of CSSC、 No. 708 Research Institute of CSSC、 No. 11 Research Institute of CSSC、 Harbin Engineering University、 Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.、 CSSC Cruise Technology Development Co., Ltd. These collaborative efforts culminated in the successful development of the cabin environmental control system for the large cruise ship.
