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

Top Ten Domestic S&T Events for 2005 Unveiled

Top ten domestic S&T events for 2005, initiated by the S&T Daily Press, and selected by invited academicians and news media, was unveiled on December 26, 2005 as follows:

1)    The Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party makes proprietary innovations a strategic base point for the nation’s S&T development.

On October 11, 2005, a proposal on preparing the 11th Five-year plan (2006-2010) for the national economic and social development was adopted at the 5^th Plenary Session of the 16^th Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party. The Proposal clearly indicates that a full-fledged scientific development shall count on an increasingly raised capacity for proprietary innovations. It stresses that proprietary innovation capacity building shall become a strategic base point for S&T development, and is a key link in deepening restructuring efforts, and in raising the nation’s competitiveness.

2)    Chinese Antarctic Expedition Team Conquered Ice Cap

On January 18, 2005, the Chinese Antarctic Expedition Team made its first landing on the Ice Cap of the Antarctic Pole. The Antarctica has four wonders for conquering: polar point, ice point, magnetic point, and polar ice cap. The first three have been visited by the United States, France, and the former Soviet Union respectively.

3)    Two S&T Findings Won First Prize of National Technology Invention Award

On March 28, 2005, a national S&T awarding event was staged to confer first prize of the National Technology Invention Award to two S&T findings: preparing technologies for high performance charcoal/charcoal braking materials for aviation applications, and applied technologies for composite ceramic materials featured with high temperature endurance, longevity, and anti-oxidation.  Before this, first prize for the award had selected no winners for 6 consecutive years.

4)    64-bit Dragon Chip II Developed in Product Series  

On April 18, 2005, a meeting was called to announce the debut of Dragon Chip II and the establishment of an associated industrial base. According to experts’ validations, the general performance of Dragon Chip II has reached an internationally advanced level around 2000. On the same day, the Institute of Computing Technology, a part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, signed a strategic cooperation accord with Jiangsu Menglan Group on constructing an industrial base for manufacturing the chips. A number of enterprises have reached agreements with the Institute on Dragon Chip II based CPU applications. An industrial chain for Dragon Chip II applications has been preliminarily shaped up.

5)    China’s First Proprietary Digital TV Chip by Hisense

On June 26, 2005, the Hisense Group made the debut of China’s first proprietary digital TV chip named HIVIEW. The new chip is of a complete intellectual property with a proprietary design.

6)    University of Science and Technology of China Made Substantive Progresses in Single Molecule Bond Selective Chemistry

The National Laboratory for Microscale Matter Science, a part of the University of Science and Technology of China, successfully manipulated the world’s first chemical reaction within a single molecule, by changing and directing the physical properties of the molecule using local chemical reactions. The development marks an important physical effect that creates a new approach for preparing single molecule based functional components. The findings promise a new broad perspective for single molecule studies.

7)    Chinese Mountaineers Remeasured the Everest Peak

On October 9, 2005, the Chinese State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping announced the remeasured peak height of the Mount Everest: 8844.43 meters. The preceding 8848.13 meters announced in 1975 ceased to be in effect. Chinese mountaineering scientists started the remeasuring efforts from March 15, 2005, and reached the peak on May 22, 2005, where they collected needed data.

8)    Chinese Enterprise Developed World First Endostatin Anti-Cancer Drug

On October 2005, the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration approved the recombinant endostatin injection, the world’s first endostatin based anti-cancer drug, a class I new biological drug. The event secures China’s leading position in the area.

9)    Shenzhou 6 Capsule Completed a Perfect Mission

On October 12, 2005, Chinese astronauts FEI Junlong and NIE Haisheng entered space aboard Shenzhou 6 capsule. Two astronauts safely returned to Earth on October 17, 2005, after successful completing the prescribed space experiments. The development applauds another splendid space accomplishment China has achieved following the maiden manned space flight in 2003.

10) China Developed a Practical Fiber Optical Quantum Ciphering System that Travels the Longest Distance in the World.

A research team of the Key Lab for Quantum Information, a part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has found solutions to addressing stability problems in distributing quantum-keys, and realized a 125-km one-way quantum-key distributing process via a real optical telecommunication line. The effort makes the longest distance in the world covered by a practical fiber-optic quantum ciphering system.   

National S&T Congress Opened

The National S&T Congress lifted its curtain on January 9, 2005 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Chinese President HU Jingtao made an important speech, and Chinese Premier WEN Jiabao read to the meeting a decision by the State Council on conferring national S&T awards for 2005. HU conferred award certificates and bounties to co-winners of the Top National S&T Award: YE Duzheng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and honorable Director of Institute of Atmospheric Physics, CAS, and WU Mengchao, Dean of Eastern Hepatobiliary Hospital affiliated to No. 2 Military Medical School. Then, HU and other senior state leaders conferred award certificates and bounties to the winners of the National Natural Science Award, National Technology Invention Award, and National S&T Advancement Award.  Delegates, winners of national S&T awards, and representatives from Beijing S&T community attended the event.

China’s S&T Service Improved

Since the implementation of the 10th five-year plan, China’s S&T intermediary services have entered a new development phase. With more than 70,000 S&T intermediary services and a staff over 1.2 million, China’s service capacity for innovation activities has been noticeably enhanced.

China has more than 500 service centers working for high tech spin-offs, ranking second in the world. China’s 33,213 incubators, cradles for small and medium-sized S&T businesses, have secured a total revenue of RMB 148.11 billion, with 11,718 graduated enterprises on a combined basis.

1,218 productivity promoting centers in the nation have provided services for 92,133 enterprises in 2004. Their services added RMB 64.2 billion to industrial sales revenues, and RMB 8.8 billion to earnings and taxes paid, in addition to 1.75 million jobs created.

China has 42 national campus S&T parks, from which graduated 1,256 enterprises, with a total industrial output of RMB 13.1 billion. In 2004, 5,037 enterprises were incubated in campus S&T parks, produced a total revenue of RMB 23.5 billion, and taxes paid RMB 1.2 billion.

China’s technology market has witnessed 990,000 technology contracts inked on a combined basis, with a total volume of RMB 408.5 billion, or 250% up compared with the preceding 5-year period. S&T evaluation organizations in the country have augmented to 100 in number, with a working population approaching a thousand. China’s S&T consulting industry also enjoys a boom that resulted in a working population of hundred thousands and an annual revenue over RMB 30 billion. 

National Enterprises Build Research Institutes

LI Rongrong, Chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), a part of the State Council, said recently that the industrial enterprises under the direct jurisdiction of the central government have established 476 institutes working on technological innovations, with a working staff of 276,000 people. All these enterprises have their own research institutes at the national level.

LI briefs that 17 central S&T enterprises have been honored with 5 second prizes of the National S&T Progress Award and 108 awards at the provincial level in 2005. The enterprises have worked out 20 international standards, 97 national standards, and 127 industrial standards. Having realized a leap-forward development in designing super large hydro generators, through technology import, digesting, and innovation, Harbin Power and East Power successfully won the design contracts of hydro generators for the right bank of the Three Gorge project, bidding with overseas power generator giants. China Space Group has found solutions to numerous internationally acknowledged technical difficulties, through proprietary innovations and system integration of key links, and achieved successful launch and return of the Shenzhou 6 capsule. The event is deemed by HU Jingtao, Chinese President, the nation’s most influential and strategically important S&T activity in the year, as it establishes China’s strategic position in the high tech world.

LI also underlines seven major activities that SASAC will push forward in 2006, including proprietary innovation capacity building, overall quality raising, and sustainable development capacity building geared to national industrial enterprises.

China’s First WCDMA Chip

China has landed substantive progresses in mastering core terminal technologies for 3G system. Jiangsu Dongda Telecommunication Corp. has rolled out a Noah3000, the first core chip for 3G mobile phones that observes internationally accepted standards for WCDMA. A systematic test staged not long ago indicates that all its performance indicators have reached international standards.

Made up of 16 international and domestic invention patents, the Noah3000 chip constitutes the core of new generation mobile phones, and marks another major progress following its predecessor CDMA 2000 produced by the same company in 2003.

Dongda Telecommunication is the only domestic vendor possessing both WCDMA and CDMA 2000 chips. As an international standard for upgrading the existing GSM system, WCDMA will eventually take 75%-85% shares of China’s 3G market, promising a broad application perspective. 

Unmanned Remote Sensing Aircraft

Not long ago, Qingdao Tianjiao Unmanned Remote Sensing Aircraft Co. Ltd. rolled out a TJ-1 unmanned fast remote sensing system at the 50-kg level, the first of its kind in the country. Made up of an unmanned piloting system, flight control system, target sounding devices, ground monitoring system, and data processing and analyzing system, the new remote sensing aircraft has strong features in mobility, reliability, and intelligence, with its performance indicators reaching a domestically advanced level. Having a wing span of 4.2m, body length 2.4m, and height 0.9m, the unmanned aircraft is able to fly a speed at 100 km an hour, with an ascending limit of 3000m and control radius of 100km. Capable of a 4-hour consecutive flight on its own or under control, the aircraft is equipped with color video and still cameras, and a 6-channel full spectrum imager.

Equipped with numerous proprietary technological innovations, the new aircraft can be used to keep a dynamic watch on urgent events occurred in land, oceans, waters, power generation, traffics, urban construction, agricultural and forestry activities, and environmental protection. The development marks a corner stone for China’s civic application of unmanned aircraft in remote sensing activities.

Nickel-Hydrogen Cells Works at －40℃

Jointly developed by Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and others, China’s two proprietary nickel-hydrogen cells that can stand an extreme low temperature of －40℃ applaud a success. The two products can realize a respective discharge of 0.2C5A and 0.4C5A at a temperature environment of －40℃, with their discharging volumes reaching 70% or above, fully met application needs.

The Institute started the development of low temperature nickel-hydrogen cells from September 2000. Thanks to more than 4-year painstaking efforts, researchers have achieved major progresses in selecting the right alloys (non-AB5) that facilitate the diffusion of hydrogen, and an alloy combination that is able to raise the pressure of hydrogen releasing platform. The proprietary non-AB5 alloy materials developed by researchers create an important ground for preparing low temperature nickel-hydrogen cells. The cathode alloy used in the new batteries can realize a maximum discharge of 300mAh/g at an indoor temperature, and reach a discharge volume of 214mAh/g  under －40℃ at 65mA/g, or 15 times the capacity of ordinary cathode materials.

The Institute, in collaboration with other research institutes, landed further breakthroughs in key technologies and techniques for manufacturing low temperature cells, and rolled out high quality low temperature cells of AA and D specifications. Researchers also achieved success in an expanded experiment using 20 kg of alloy cathode materials, which led to the manufacturing techniques and key technologies needed for an annual capacity of 500,000 tons of cathode alloys.

China Possess 100 Proprietary Human Genes

Since the implementation of the National 863 Program, China has harvested nearly a hundred proprietary functional genes that are of application perspectives in disease diagnosing and drug development.

Chinese scientists have developed and perfected platform technologies for screening human functional genes at a scale level, and cloned and identified 1,346 new genes. Of the proprietary genes, some 20 have entered pre-phase studies. 

In the meantime, Chinese scientists have intensified efforts to study functional genes involving tumors and cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension, diabetes, and gerontic diseases. Researchers also cloned a number of genes blaming for genetic diseases, including dentin, children’s cataract, and AF, and identified the genetic areas concerning nasopharynx cancers. Having been reported in the journals of Nature and Science, these original findings constitute a technical foundation for diagnosing and treating genetic diseases.

In addition, Chinese scientists have made substantive progresses in studying rice genome, microbe genome, domestic silkworm genome, and schistosomiasis genome.

China’s R&D Expenditure Makes 1.23% in GDP

According to a bulletin published by the State Statistics Bureau on December 28, 2005, China’s R&D expenditures in 2004 has hit a historical high at RMB 196.63 billion, or 1.23% of its GDP. 

The Bulletin shows that basic research, applied research, and experiments have taken respective shares of 6%、20.4% and 73.6% in the nation’s R&D expenditures of 2004.

In terms of sectional distributions, industrial R&D expenditure makes 66.8% of the nation’s total, or 4.4% higher than the preceding year, showing an enhanced industrial position in technological innovations.

The Bulletin says in 2004 the state treasury made an S&T appropriation worth RMB 109.53 billion, with a growth of 16% compared with the preceding year, or 3.8% in the nation’s total expenditures.  

       Comments or inquiries on editorial matters or Newsletter content should be directed to:

Mr. Mao Zhongying, Department of International Cooperation, MOST 15B, Fuxing Road Beijing 100862, PR China  Tel: (8610)58881360 Fax: (8610) 58881364

http://www.most.gov.cn