Abstract: We trained the Chinese river dolphin fron April 1982 to April 1983. The purpose of the training was to study the detection, discrimination and recognition abilities of the sonar system of the dolphin, and to compare the dolphin's abilities with those of the ideal system. During the training period, we also carried out a preliminary target recognition. The training results showed that the dolphin was willing to content the trainer and had a good memory. It was verified that the dolphin could be trained. The results provide basis for advanced researches on the dolphin's acoustic behaviour and sonar system.