Marine Industry: New Economic Growth Point
Last year had witnessed a relatively high growth rate for China＇s marine economic sector with a total volume of RMB 335 billion (11.6% higher than last year) even though the country was also under the impacts of financial turmoil in Southeast Asia.
1998 is an international marine year during which Chinese National Bureau of Oceanography prepared “Chinas Marine Business and Its Development” and published it on May 29 as a policy white paper of State Council. The Paper stresses that the development of Chinas marine business is a national strategy, elaborates Chinese Governments position and policy in dealing with international marine affairs and provides policy evidence for realizing sustainable utilization of marine resources and coordinated development of marine businesses. On June 26, 1998, Law on Subordinated Economic Zone and Continental Shelf was approved by the Standing Committee of Chinese National Peoples Congress for the enforcement, which demonstrated Chinas firm stand on safeguarding its national legal marine interests and rights. The said two documents have caught the world attention to China＇s marine business development and protection of its marine interests and rights.
Chinas major provinces of marine businesses have kept a growth rate above 10%,regardless of financial turmoil in Southeast Asia. A number of provinces including Shandong, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi have made decisions to accelerate their marine business development. As a result, marine economy has become an economic growth point in coastal areas as well as in the country.
China also applauded for its new progress in revitalizing marine businesses withscience and technology through establishing 16 demonstration bases and 8 technology spin-off centers in the country. National Bureau of Oceanography has supported a number of technology diffusion projects such as raising Mexican scallop and American red fish , which promoted the economic development of demonstration zones and created new marine businesses. The annual output value of Guangdong based Shanwei Demonstration Base has reached USD 46 million.
Since 1984 China has launched 15 Antarctic expeditions with the last one traveling 1100 km into the deep domain of the pole. Chinese expedition team members braved the extreme coldness of -40°C and reached the top of the polar ice cap at 4000m above sea level, which made China leading in the world Antarctic expedition efforts. It is reported that China will organize Arctic Expedition in the future.
China's Talents Absorption and Nurturing System
Along with the full-fledge implementation of “Chinas Action Plan to vitalize Education in 21st Century”, “Senior Creative Talents Project”, one of China＇s important endeavors to attract and nurture talents, has been put on the stage.
Aiming at establishing an integrated system of attracting and nurturing great talents, the project will make the country in a position to possess a strong contingent of high-level talents. Educational authorities in the country said that the competition for comprehensive national strength, in the final analysis, is the competition for talents. It has become an urgent task to create more favorable conditions in higher learning system to attract and nurture talents.
China＇s Action Plan to vitalize Education in 21st Century has listed “Senior Creative Talents Project” as one of its top priorities with the following initiatives:
1.Higher learning institutions shall trace after international cutting edge scientific development and become the base of knowledge innovation and nurturing high quality creative talents. A group of internationally advanced talents shall be absorbed both from home and abroad to be academic leaders. The state will provide priority finance package to them in the principle of recruiting one when a qualified one is found.
2.From 1998, special professor positions have been created for selected disciplines in higher learning institutions so as to attract young and middle-aged special talents both from home and abroad.
3.Universities in the country will screen out qualified teachers through competition and optimization and enhance the input in scientific research through increasing state appropriations and funds raised independently so as to improve research and teaching quality and update facilities. Starting from 1999, a hundred young teachers who are under 35 years old and have made major achievements in research and teaching will be selected and rewarded with enhanced budget support for their research and teading in five consecutive years.
4.Universities will practice the visiting scholar system for its national key labs and open labs so as to improve openness of major disciplines and overall professional level of teachers.
5.Further improve the nurturing quality of doctorate students. Starting from 1999 each year a hundred creative and innovative doctorate theses will be screened out. The awarded doctorates who have been chose to teach at the university will be financed for their research and teaching efforts in 5 consecutive years. The number and scale of post doctorate mobile stations will steadily be increased and expanded.
6. Strengthen internationally academic cooperation. In addition to continuously dispatching visiting scholars to study abroad, senior visiting scholars will be selected to conduct international academic exchanges with the first-class universities abroad as planned. Renowned overseas scholars will be invited to conduct short-term academic exchanges and students studying abroad are encouraged to return to serve their homeland.
Nine Major Discoveries in the
In-depth of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
China has organized geologists from a number of countries to make integrated studies of the Himalayas and the in-depth cross sections of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with the assistance of high technology and cross-disciplinary research methodology. Prof. Zhao Wenjin, chief scientist of the project, told the press at the end of January 1999 that the studies have unveiled nine geological facts unknown to scientists.The Himalayas and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is an area renowned for its largest scale and most complicated geological features with the thickest crust in the world. It is also the youngest Plateau in the world with a rather long duration of continental plate collision (its mountains are still growing). These characteristics have made the area a hot research subject with many edge-cutting issues of geology in the world. In October 1991, China sighed an agreement with the United States of America on joint in-depth and integrated study of the Himalayas and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with an objective to work out an in-depth cross section running through Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Himalayas. Applied with numerous geological and geophysical methods such as deep reflex seismological technique and earth electronic magnetism of super long cycle and isotope, it took them 8 years to build the in-depth cross section of 4000 km running from the foot of the Himalayas to NianqingTanggulashan Mountain. Phase one and phase two investigations have shown that there occurred the phenomena in the south of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau that individual stratum or entire plate underthrust towards Lhasa plate for a number of times, which resulted in the thickening of the crust there and an underthrust area of 150 km long. It is also discovered the first inland underthrust belt which was formed after the collision between Indian continental plate and European and Asian plate, in the south of Yarlung Zangbo River. The other discoveries are: a large melting stratum was formed in the middle crust of deep north of Yarlung Zangbo River with a length of 15-20 km and thickness of20 km; the downhill extension of Kangma rocks within Himalayas tectonics is ofa limited length of 5 to 6 km with the further down part intercepted by high conductivity stratum; the ground surface of Shelluyan area along Yarlung Zangbo River is of high electric resistance with a downhill extension of no more than 20km; within the investigation area, Hohe stratum is of a relatively large in-depth; big differences have been shown in the reflex designs of upper and lower crusts in the south of Yarlung Zangbo River; Nianqing Tangulashan Mountain and Namucuo mainstream are a unified high resistance body; there is a high conducting stratum in the north of Namucuo with shallow depth.
The said nine major discoveries have laid foundations for further addressing international puzzles in the field and creating continental dynamics. In addition,the investigations have resulted in the acquisition of high quality 15 level overlapping sections in 50-second targeting, the deepest in the world and 5 othermethods and techniques. Six papers on the investigation results were published in internationally renowned journals such as Nature and Science. Science also published an article that set a high value on Prof. Zhao Wenjin. This is the first time for China to see so many papers published in world first class academic journals on a single topic. Meanwhile, the investigation was listed as the fifth of the top ten news for Chinas basic scientific research.
Apart from major players of the investigations such as Chinese Academy of Earth Sciences and US Cornell University， scientists from Germany, Canada and other 12 countries were also involved in. It is reported that the nine major discoveries are of great and far-reaching significance to in-depth studies of formation and evolution of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, creating continental dynamic theory, providing in-depth geological information on mineral and energy prospecting and development, environmental protection and prevention of geologically related disasters.
Eccentric Ozone Hole in Antarctic
Chinese scientists have recently discovered for the first time in the world that a rather serious eccentric phenomena existing in the current Antarctic ozone hole, namely the hole is of a slant movement towards Antarctic peninsular. The discovery further proves the new theory proposed by Chinese scientists that “large scale terrain will cause the abnormal variation of ozone concentration.”
The investigation team headed by Mr. Zou Han, at Institute of Atmospheric Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences who joined Chinas Antarctic expedition in 1988 has discovered in their studies of asymmetric feature of Antarctic ozone hole that the marginal area of ozone hole near the Antarctic Peninsular presents an agreement between seasonal variation of ozone concentration in the southwest pole and the center of ozone hole with both of their concentration being the lowest level in October. Relatively normal variations in Southeast pole excludes itself from the hole. Scientists also found that ozone concentrations along the neighboring areas of Antarctic are affected by El Nino phenomena with its oscillation scale reaching 13% of the total ozone concentration in the air.
Mr. Zou Han believes that the eccentric phenomena of Antarctic ozone hole is caused by uneven distribution of land and sea of Antarctic Peninsular and its adjacent areas. Such unevenness leads to unbalanced ground heating of atmosphere, which in turn triggers abnormal atmospheric fluctuation, fully mixing the air near the peninsular and the air in the center area of the pole and eventually pushing ozone hole deviate toward one side of the peninsular.
Investigators also discovered that the major reason behind the ozone depletion in the northern European region is north Atlantic warm currents heat the air there in winter, which leads to uphill air transmission and thus allows lower level air with insufficient ozone concentration into the higher level air with higher concentration, and eventually results in a dilution of the concentration. The mechanism explained the depletion is similar to that causing the same depletion over Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China.
China Creates General
Differential Expression of Ohm＇s Law
Thanks to his decade efforts, Prof. Liu Shanghe, an expert on prevention of arms electromagnetism with College of Military Machinery Engineering of Chinese
People＇s Liberation Army, has created for the first time in the world the general differential expression of Ohm＇s Law and established mathematical and physical model for fire caused by static electricity of electric-fire products (the products that will start to burn or explode once it is connected to electricity). He also worked out a theoretical system on static electricity prevention to solve the related problems systematically.
Prof. Liu for the first time worked out techniques of changing the properties ofmaterials taking advantages of both physical and chemical approaches and secured a major breakthrough in the field of prevention of static electricity caused damages and created a new approach for people to be safe from static electricity threat.
To eradicate the threat caused by static electricity, one has to acquire accurate data on extreme value of static electricity in human body. Before Prof. Lius study, American and British experts concluded that the value should range from 40,000 to 50,000 volts. Prof. Liu tested himself on the static electricity generator and accurately worked out the extreme value in human body: 71,000 volts.
Unbounded by classical theory of static electricity, Prof. Liu revealed the basic law of matter conductivity under high pressure static electric field through creating general differential expression of Ohms law and establishing mathematical and physical model for static-electricity-caused fire. He has also proposed classified static electricity risk standards and classified prevention measures firstly. Technically he created real static electricity testing methods and developed relevant testing system and equipment.
Applied with his research results, Prof. Liu created the static electricity metrological station and static electricity laboratory, both of which are the soleand the most advanced one in the country. Prof. Liu is also the sole professor in the country who is authorized to teach doctorate students and guide post doctorate students.
China Working on its
Legislature System of Environmental Protection
China will try to finish the construction of its legal system to protect environment and resources in next four years so as to ensure the sustainable economic development with legal means.
Mr. Qu Geping, Chairman of Committee on Environmental and Resources Protection, National Peoples Congress said that in a period of time in the future individual laws on pollution control, resources protection and ecological reconstructionshall be worked out and improved in addition to the drafting of basic laws on environmental and resources protection.
He added that major tasks on legislature of environmental and resources protection in 1999 are: accelerate drafting the amendments to law on marine environmental protection and to law on atmospheric pollution control and prevention, organize debates on creating laws on assessment of environmental impacts, desertification control and prevention and clean production, and promote individual law making process. Mr. Qu said that with the coordinated development of social economy, population, resources and environment as the core, legislature on environmental and resources protection shall always stick to the strategy of sustainable development and guidance principles of vitalizing the country with science and technology so as to make it meet the challenges of socialist market economy and sustainable development. He also said that his committee will extensively solicit the opinions and comments from all walks of life when debate is made on major issues and will learn carefully from relevant experiences and fruits of foreign countries.
The Standing Committee of National People＇s Congress have published 6 laws on environmental protection such as law on environmental protection, law on marine environmental protection, law on polluted water control and prevention, law on atmospheric pollution prevention and control, law on solid wastes environmental pollution control and prevention and law on environmental noise pollution prevention and control. The committee also approved 9 laws on resources management including forest law, pasture law, fishery law, law on mineral resources, law on land management, water law, law on wildlife protection, law on water and soil conservancy and coal law.
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