The “Tanhai No.1” continental shelf scientific drilling platform is a self-elevating shallow sea geological drilling platform, with a hydraulic lifting system as its core part, which realizes the lifting and lowering of the platform by placing piles, inserting piles, and pulling piles. The system consists of four sets of independent hydraulic lifting devices. When working, each set of hydraulic lifting device is instructed by the operating console, the hydraulic drive system provides power, and the lifting barrel performs the action. The coordination of these three parts ensures the effect of performing the action. In this paper, the performance, structure, working principle, operation and other aspects of the hydraulic lifting system are described in detail. In view of the shortcomings found in practical application, the direction of optimization and improvement is put forward.