As the world turns to the 21st century, new initiatives in marine scientific endeavors have been taken at several fronts. Many oceanographic disciplines have conducted workshops, reviewing their past advances and projecting their future development. Major international marine research programmes have updated their goals and research objectives, analyzing their past achievements and in light of the needs of the world humanity. China has also drafted a strategy study of the science and technology development for its longterm national plan, in response to the goal of “Building a Modest Prosperous Society in All Respects”. In this paper, we discuss the a new direction for China's research on marine ecosystems, based on considerations of the trends of the ocean sciences, the societal needs in view of China's economic development, and the integration steps taken by major international research programmes.