Home > Announcement Board
No.244

 
 
 


CHINA  SCIENCE  AND  TECHNOLOGY
NEWSLETTER
The Ministry of Science and Technology
People's Republic of China



N0.244 December 20,2000
 
IN THIS ISSUE
    * Foreign Scientists Participate in China's Major S&T Program 
      for the First Time
    * ChinaFrance Joint Geophysics Studies
    * China's Wetland Protection Action Plan
    * China's First Wetland Protection Information System
    * Enhanced Neutral Beam Injection 
    * China's Rice Remote Sensing Technology Goes Abroad


 
 
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
 

Foreign Scientists Participate in China's Major S&T
Program for the First Time

It is disclosed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) that Chemistry of Molecular Aggregates, a basic research project under the national key basic R&D program jointly applied for by Tong Zhenhe with CAS' Institute of Physical and Chemical Technologies, Jiang Xikui, CAS' Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry and Shen Jiacong of Jilin University (all of them are CAS' academicians) and two German and one Dutch scientists have recently won the approval of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology for the implementation of the project. It is reported that this is the first of its kind in the country in terms of the involvement of foreign scientists in China's major S&T program.

As agreed upon by the signatories, Ministry of Science and Technology will grant research funds to Chinese scientists and European Union will provide matching support to the three scientists under its banner. Both Chinese and foreign scientists will work on the project in the spirit of equal participation, joint application and research and results sharing. So far the preparations for the project have gone smoothly.

ChinaGermany Manipulated Biological Molecules

A research project jointly undertaken by CAS' Shanghai Institute of Atomic Nucleus and German Sal University has successfully produced three letters DNA with individual DNA molecules. This is the first time for the mankind to conduct nanometer manipulation of large individual biological molecules after California based IBM Lab have worked out IBM letters with individual atoms.

By taking advantage of molecule manipulation techniques, scientists straightened out the individual DNA molecules in dually spiraled structures and made them in to 2D network structures. With the assistance of atomic strength microscope of a magnifying power of 100 million times and needle probe nanometer manipulation techniques, they cut, bent and stretched the DNA molecule chains and made them constitute three letters of DNA on an extremely smooth mica. The peripheral size of
each letter is only one five hundredth of human hair. At present stage, both sides are jointly applying for the international patent right for the result.

ChinaFrance Joint Geophysics Studies

As disclosed by the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources on November 15, 2000 that Chinese and French scientists would conduct joint studies on a number of important topics such as the water resources and ecological assessment over Ningxia desertified areas, pollution control of large urban areas, dynamics of QinghaiTibet Plateau and its impacts on resources environment.

The other new cooperative projects jointly defined by Chinese Ministry of Land and Natural Resources and French National Scientific Research Center are: satellite remote sensing based geographic disaster prediction, studies on the mechanism damaging the land over large mines, technologies of analyzing and measuring rock mines, technologies for prospecting the mineral resources over ocean floors, studies on water resources in karst areas and studies on the paleoclimate variations in Precambrian age.

It was also reported that the scientists of both countries had jointly carried out geophysical studies on Kunlun Mountains, Bayankala Mountains, Aljin Mountain and Qilian Mountains in the north of QinghaiTibet Plateau in the last two decades and achieved important results.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
China's Environmental Protection in the
10th FiveYear Plan

Zhu Guangyao, Deputy Administrator of Chinese Environmental Protection Agency pointed out recently that China's environmental protection activities in the 10th FiveYear period would concentrate on five major areas: industrial pollution control and environmental protection in urban, ecological, rural and marine sectors. To combat against the industrial pollution, the socalled meetingthestandards project will be implemented to control the pollutants emission while suspending and outdating the businesses, facilities and technologies which have caused serious pollution, promoting the restructuring and sectional upgrading, advocating clean production and strengthening the nuclear safety control and monitoring nuclear radiation environment. Referring to the improvement of the urban environmental quality, the target will be on protecting human health and promoting the rationalization of industrial structures and distribution in agreement with urban development strategy and increasing the use of clean energy and accelerating the construction of environmental protection facilities. As far as the ecological environmental protection is concerned, the surveys of China's ecological environment will be paid more attention to and the definition of ecological functional zones in the country quickened. In the meanwhile, it is planned to establish a number of national ecological function conservation zones, and to select the areas whose natural resources development are to be placed under major monitoring efforts and to further accelerate the construction of nature conservation or ecological demonstration zones. To protect the rural environment, the construction of ecological demonstration sites and ecological farming shall be promoted by taking advantage of the opportunities of agricultural restructuring and of accelerating the construction of small township and farming. Aquatic pollution shall also be placed under control. In the field of marine environment protection, the priority shall go to the implementation of the Blue Sea Action Plan for Bohai Sea in order to the source and aquatic culture pollution.

During the said period, the pollution controls for the major areas defined in the 9th FiveYear Plan shall be continued with Yangtze River Three Gorge area and its upper reaches and Xiaolangdi reservoir area of Yellow River and its upper reaches as the new targets under the national environmental protection. In the meanwhile, the cities under priority environmental protection will go up to 100 in number from the 47 in the 9th FiveYear Plan period.

China's Wetland Protection Action Plan

China's Wetland Protection Action Plan masterminded by China's State Forestry Administration and supported by 17 other governmental agencies such as Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State Development Planning Commission, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Water Resources was published on November 8 for the implementation. It will take 5 years for the new action plan to curb the degradation trend of natural wetlands contributed by anthropogenic activities, establish the management order for protecting wetlands and rational utilization,and work on the experimental restoration of damaged wetlands. During the period from 2006 to 2020, the deteriorated and lost wetlands will be gradually recovered or restored and the management of China's major wetlands and nature conservation zones will be improved so as to place China's natural wetlands and their biodiversities under effective protection.

The action plan will in the first place tilt to 39 projects such as the protection and rational development and utilization of China's mangrove, the protection of China's wetland birds, the restoration and reconstruction of wetlands over the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River and the sustainable development of Yellow River Delta wetlands and their ecological system. The Government will play the major role in financing the wetlands protection while encouraging the input of major social investment bodies. So far the Action Plan has secured international funds of USD 40 million.

China is abundant in wetland resources totaled 65.94 million hectares, ranking the fourth place in the world. Up to date, China has preliminarily established the legal system for the wetlands protection and their rational utilization and created organizational system for protecting and managing wetlands composed of 263 wetland based nature conservation zones in the country.

China's First Wetland Protection Information System

A wetland information system capable of demonstrating and analyzing the evolution, the power of floods, degradation and restoration of Dongtinghu Lake Basin made its debut not long ago in Changsha. Being the first of its kind in the country, the system was jointly developed by Nanjing Institute of Geography and Lakes subordinated to Chinese Academy of Sciences. It is briefed that the system has collected and consolidated the data on the natural terrain, ecological environment, social and economic development and hydraulic projects in the basin and established numerous application models such as hydraulic dynamic model for the middle reach of Yangtze River and Dongting Lake area, sediment model, regional ecological model,
embankment area economic model, urban planning model, spatial database and information system.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Enhanced Neutral Beam Injection

In the physical experiments recently made by New Number 1 China Circulator at Southwest Institute of Nuclear Physics, the one on neutral beam injection at MW level has produced 1.1 MW of plasma beam that doubles plasma temperature reading in the device. The new development has indicated a major breakthrough in China's neutral beam injection technology.

China started its extensive neutral beam injection studies two decades ago. Under the support of national 863 program, the scientists of the Institute have been in recent years working on the improvement of neutral beam injection to MW level. Thanks to their fiveyear efforts, Chinese scientists have eventually landeda substantive breakthrough by the applications of new technologies such as the ones improving power source properties, monitoring the system dynamic vacuum parameters and making computer based discharging simulation.

Now China is constructing its new generation nuclear fusion device called No.2 China Circulation A. The device will be used to study high power heating and the physical properties of high plasma density. The said breakthrough has provided effective means for plasma heating in No. 2 China Circulation A and made China's nuclear fusion studies approach internationally advanced level.

China's Key Technologies for Super Integrated Circuits

Recently the "Development and Testing of 0.5 μ Epoxy Plasticizing Materials for Technological Applications" and "Development of 0.35 μ Epoxy Plasticizing Materials for Technological Applications" under the project of epoxy plasticizing materials for super and large integrated circuits in the nation's 9th FiveYear Plan contracted to CAS' Institute of Chemistry have passed their respective verification checks.

The Development and Testing of 0.5 μ Epoxy Plasticizing Materials for Technological Applications has found the technological solutions to the preparation, trialmanufacturing and facility wornout reduction of such materials with three products yielded and two invention patents granted. In the trial production workshop covering 2000 and more square meters physically located in Changping, Beijing, an experimental production line with a capacity for 1500 tons designed and developed by Chinese scientists have been put into operation earlier this year with the performance of its products reaching internationally advanced level. The superintegrated circuits applied with the said plasticizing materials have passed all the testings under NEC standards. The development of 0.35 μ epoxy plasticizing materials for technological applications has found the solutions to three key technologies on the preparation of high filling plasticizing materials, low absorption and organic silicon based resin preparation and this project has developed two products whose major performance indicators reach internationally advanced level and it has applied for one invention patent.

Network Virus Killer

Equipped with the inventive concept of "distributive screening and integrated control", a powerful antivirus system developed by Liu Xu, a Chinese computer security expert and his colleagues has led to the solutions to three major computer security headaches: tight security based high efficiency, security based intelligent functions and local prevention based net wide management and the birth of the net version for Ruixing Virus Killer. The system realized a major breakthrough in the world wide network virus killing technology.

The said technology has allied the builtin virus killing software of individual computers to constitute an agreeable 3D filtering system. The network operator may through the control board monitor the real time virus attacking data at each spot and remotely direct the application of relevant software in killing the discovered viruses. The socalled distributive screening makes the system manager do a thorough clearing of the discovered or hidden viruses by mobilizing individual computer's builtin virus killing software, which greatly enhances the efficiency and helps to eradicate the possible reattacks of residual viruses usually
left over by separate cleaning actions. Ruixing network virus killer is of full range working functions such as the integrated management, automatic installation, intelligent upgrading, remote setting, warning and virus killing, making network virus killing technology leap to a new stage.

China's Green Pesticide

The Institute of Organic Chemical Elements of China's Nankai University has recently worked out a highly efficient green pesticide. It is reported that the said pesticide is made of a semisynthesized antibody formula enjoying numerous merits such as super efficiency, little toxin, no pollution, high mortality on dual insects and free from environment implications. Comparing to other similar products, its killing effect on lepidopteron, a kind of difficult pest threatening crops has lifted by 1 to 3 times, suitable for the applications over vegetables, tobacco and tea plants.

China's Rice Remote Sensing Technology Goes Abroad

The Institute of Remote Sensing of Chinese Academy of Sciences have achieved creative results in rice remote sensing techniques with its design concept and technical approaches for radar based rice growth watch being used by rice producing countries such as Japan, Korea and India in their agricultural statistics systems. Recently the US has invited China's radar remote sensing experts to use China's radar remote sensing technology to calculate rice grown areas and watch rice growth in the United States.

Studies have shown that radar based remote sensing technology is able to provide information sources for crops growth and distribution watch, yield prediction, dynamic survey on arable land changing and land use. In addition, it provides other indicators such as crop compositions necessary for agricultural applications and finds the solutions to retrieving information sources on rice watching in cloudy and rainy areas such as south China. The China Farming Condition Remote Watch System developed by the Institute has made the growth watch and yield predictions for winter and spring wheat, corns, soy beans and early, mid and late rice in the country possible and realized the regular growth watch and yield prediction over extensive areas of different crops. The Chinese State Development and Planning Commission has used the information derived from the said watch as important evidences for the preparation of its annual agricultural plan.

New Biological Pesticide

The killing speed of the new biological pesticide developed by Shanxi Ludan Herbal Pesticide Co. Ltd., has been magically reduced from several hours even several days to 10 to 30 minutes. The development has made the further diffusion of biological pesticides in an attractive position. Made of powerful active elements extracted out from more than ten sorts of Chinese traditional herbs with modern techniques, the new pesticide was granted with national patent right in 1993.

It is reported that the new pesticide can be either applied to vegetables and fruits tress in solution form or be mixed with seeds in powder. It is of fine effects on common pests attacking plants such as aphid, cabbage caterpillar, red spiders and etc as well as on cutworm and wireworm in the soil. Now the production of the new pesticide has been industrialized.

China's 3R Garbage Disposal System

The socalled 3R daily garbage disposal system developed by Guangdong based Zhongshan Hongfeng Resources Development Co. Ltd., has smoothly passed the recent technical verification checks on new products and technologies and was granted with national patent rights for both invention and practical new types. The socalled 3R stands for the initial letters of rubbish, resources and recycle. Thanks to their tireless efforts for three years, Hongfeng people have worked out the facilities disposing daily garbage with resources recycling function through absorbing the rational aspects of traditional techniques such as filling up, pilling up and incineration and taking advantage of the new technique called " thermal decomposition and carbonization". Being a 3R system applied with low temperature carbonization and recycling burning techniques, the invention is of numerous merits such as small exhaustive volume, high volumedecreasing rate, less secondary pollution and lower investment and operating costs.


       Comments or inquiries on editorial matters or Newsletter content should be directed to:Mr. Dong Jianlong, Department of International Cooperation, MOST 15B, Fuxing Road Beijing 100862, PR China  Tel: (8610)68512650 Fax: (8610) 68512594, or Mr. Wang Jianping, Editor,NEWSLETTER, 15 Fuxing Road Beijing 100038, PR China, Tel:(8610) 68515544 Ext. 2580

http://www.most.gov.cn/

E-mail:baiyr@istic.ac.cn