At just 33, Zhan Chunpei has already achieved several significant milestones in her maritime career. She is the captain of the Haixun 01, a 5,000-ton patrol vessel belonging to the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration, and manages a 35-person crew, making her the first female captain of a public oceangoing ship in China, and she has participated in 20 major search and rescue missions, including the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

"I call myself a real 'sister who makes waves'," she tells China Daily in an exclusive interview, referring to the popular reality show Sisters Who Make Waves, in which female celebrities, mostly over the age of 30, are challenged to stage performances that defy Chinese showbiz stereotypes about age.

Zhan began her maritime career at the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration after graduating from the Shanghai Maritime University in 2013. Despite having a variety of opportunities open to her, she chose to dedicate herself to life at sea.

When she heard that the Haixun 01, one of the country's largest and most advanced maritime patrol and rescue vessels at the time, was being commissioned, Zhan set her sights on it.

"I requested a shipboard position several times until a chance finally opened up," she says.

Her opportunity came in 2014 when the Haixun 01 was dispatched as command ship for the Chinese fleet taking part in the search for Flight MH370 in the southern reaches of the Indian Ocean. The ship was in urgent need of rescue personnel and Zhan volunteered, becoming a trainee third officer. The experience gave her a passion for maritime rescue operations.

"I would say the starting point of my maritime rescue career was quite high," she says. "As the on-site command ship for the Chinese fleet, we demonstrated China's technical prowess, and our commitment to international search and rescue efforts."