A Chinese submarine captain finds his life's work below the waves, Yan Yiqi learns in Ningbo, Zhejiang province.

To regular people, the idea of a submarine might be of a fantastic journey with Captain Nemo at the helm, as described by French writer Jules Verne in his book Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea. But for Hua Ming, a submarine represents the responsibility of guarding the country and also a lifelong love.

"In the first 18 years of my life, the ocean had nothing to do with me," says Hua, who has served in China's submarine unit for 23 years. "But from the day I joined the navy in 1991, my whole life was mixed into the ocean."