JIANGYIN - The Jiaolong, China's manned deep-diving submersible, began its journey on Friday for a 5,000-meter dive in the Pacific Ocean, following last year's successful 3,759-meter dive.

The Jiaolong, designed to reach a depth of 7,000 meters, completed 17 dives in the South China Sea from May 31 to July 18 last year, with the deepest reaching 3,759 meters with three crew members on board.

It makes China the fifth country, following the United States, France, Russia and Japan, to have the technology to send a manned dive over 3,500 meters below sea level.