This paper is to briefly introduce: (1) several main results from various studies on gas hydrates recovered from the Blake Ridge, West Atlantic, by the Ocean Drilling Program Leg 164; (2) the new results of studies on gas hydrates from the Hydrate Ridge, Northwest Pacific, recovered by Erwin Suess and his colleagues working on the international program “TECFLUX”.

WORK DONE BY CHINA DURING THE FOUR YEARS SINCE CHINA JOINED ODP IN 1998;

ODP AND GEOCHEMISTRY OF OCEAN -RARE ELEMENTS AND ISOTOPE GEOCHEMISTRY RECORDS OF MARINE GEOLOGIC ENVIRONMENTS;

It is emphasisedthat deep-sea hydrothermal activity, as the study of sea-floor spreading , mantle materialupwelling, new ocean-floor formation and volcanic activities, has been one of the core as-pects in the Ocean Drilling Project.

The development status of mining coring, water well drilling, oil and gas drilling, continental scientific drilling, ocean drilling, polar drilling, star drilling, and tunneling, in and out of China, is discussed with emphases.

Achievements made by Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) and Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) in the Antarctic and Arctic regions are the focus of world attention, opening a new insight for the past global change study.

Studies of the rapid climate changes through highresolution deepsea sequences represent an important legacy of the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) and related International Marine Global Change Study (IMAGES).

Over the past 11 a, the Ocean Drilling Program has completed 66 internationally staffed expeditions.