Abstract: The present state of research in ship and ocean engineering in China is briefly reviewed in the paper. The paper then focuses on several important mechanics problems we are facing, such as: ship stability, locomotion and drag analysis of propeller,hydrodynamics of ship and ocean structures, static and dynamic strengthanalysis. At the same time, probability methods of stochasticresponse and reliability analysis for the above-mentioned structuresare examined. Finally, some challenging problems in this field for the new century are pointed out.