Abstract　 　　  

  The James Clerk Maxwell telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, with its 15-m diameter mirror, is the largest single dish submillimeter telescope in the world. China, as part of the new East Asian Observatory, will have the opportunity to lead, and participate in exciting new science with the facility from the first of March 2015. The history and capabilities of the telescope will be presented, along with the science highlights from past years, to demonstrate some of the powerful impacts the telescope has made in astronomy. Its current instrument and operational design will be explained, as well as the plan for how the first observing semesters are to be offered.  Finally, the potential science and instrument opportunities that Chinese astronomers might want to pursue with the JCMT will be presented.