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CHINA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER
The Ministry of Science and Technology
People's Republic of China
N0.306 September 10,2002
IN THIS ISSUE
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*
Three Major Strategies for International Competition
* More Cooperation with International Communities
* Robotic High Tech Industry Development
*
Improved Test-tube Baby Technology
* Mainland Animals
Walked to Taiwan
* China Resources II Works Properly
* The World Science Park Conference in Beijing in
2004
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SPECIAL
ISSUES
Three Major Strategies for
International Competition
Xu Guanhua, the
Chinese Minister of Science and Technology recently pointed
out that China's accession to WTO was of close relationship
with its S and T development. On the basis of commodity
trade regulated by WTO, S and T competition will find its
expression in service trade and intellectual properties. In
this sense, the economic competition in today's world is S
and T competition. In this context, the Chinese Ministry of
Science and Technology will practice three major
corresponding strategies.
The human resources
strategy. China will strive to win over international high
caliber talents. China will reform its personnel recruitment
system by public bidder for major positions such as head of
academy or institute and academic leaders; reform its S and
T evaluation system. National S and T programs and projects
shall make discovering, training and stabilizing high
caliber personnel as one of their major check-up indicators;
reform S and T management system, establish open, mobile and
competitive mechanism and increase the proportion of funds
allocated for mobile personnel in the total R and D budget;
according to the needs for implementing major dedicated
projects, enhance the recruitment of overseas top notch
personnel and make all possible supporting conditions
available for them; encourage high tech businesses to reform
their personnel recruitment and compensation system; explore
different incentive means including equity and futures
holding so as to fully reflect the innovation values of R
and D personnel and management.
The patent
strategy. China will strengthen its management of
intellectual properties. At present we shall not only
enhance our awareness of protecting intellectual properties
but more importantly we shall establish the mechanism
encouraging the creation, protection and application of
intellectual properties. Major national R and D programs
such as 863 shall make patent as a goal and approval
indicator. Before establishing a project and in the middle
of implementation, intellectual property status both at home
and abroad shall be analyzed and relevant approaches to
overcoming patent barriers proposed.
The
technical standardization strategy. China will perfect its
technical standardization system. Firstly, China will pay
great attention to the changes and development tendency of
the world wide technical barriers and track after current
technology policies of the major developed and developing
nations and their potential development; secondly, by way of
reform, China will support relevant authorities to establish
national standardization research institute and organize and
coordinate social forces such as enterprises, universities
and research institutes to study standardization issues ;
and lastly China will establish dedicated standardization
projects among the current 12 national major programs under
implementation and firmly support relevant authorities to
develop and work out high tech standards to China's
advantage and in China's advantageous fields.
More Cooperation with International
Communities
Xu Guanhua, the Chinese Minister
of Science and Technology expressed at the annual meeting of
China Association for Science and Technology held recently
that China would strengthen its opening to the outside world
while doing so domestically. The Chinese Ministry of Science
and Technology (MOST) has decided to support the increasing
involvement of Chinese research institutions in
international multilateral cooperation, including
international human genome project where China has already
been a part and European global positioning system project,
controlled nuclear fusion project and other projects related
to global environment changes that China will be part of. In
the meantime, MOST will encourage international academic
organizations to set up their representative offices in
China. Mr. Xu added that there are currently 3000
international academic institutions in the world while less
than 10 of them have opened their offices in China. MOST
will provide necessary operational funds and other favored
policies to support international academic organizations to
set up their offices and run their academic activities in
China. In addition, MOST will encourage more and more
Chinese scientists to work for international academic
institutions so as to share fund support and carry out
academic exchanges.
Robotic High Tech
Industry Development
On Sept. 6, 2002 the
spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Science and
Technology disclosed at a press conference held in Xiamen
that through a decade effort, China's high tech R and D and
associated industrialization have healthily gone into fast
gear. As a result, China has witnessed the emergence of its
domestic industries with proprietary competitiveness and
more and more high tech businesses of competitive innovation
capability mushroomed.
In the field of
information technology, the research and development of
super computers have realized a great leap from individual
computer units to super computer network system. At present
the Chinese home-made computer systems have found extensive
applications in the fields of research and development and
automation. The successful development of large digital
switching system has made the home-made switchers enjoy
dominating market share and their products are heading for
international market. The extensive commercial applications
of optic-fiber telecommunication system have laid technical
foundations for the construction of high speed information
highway in China. China's proprietary third generation
mobile telecommunication technology has applauded for its
remarkable progress and its TD-SCDMA standard has become one
of the three international standards for the third
generation mobile telecommunication.
Recent
years have witnessed the fast development of China's
telecommunication market. As of April 2002, China's mobile
telephone subscribers have reached 167 million in number and
fixed telephone subscribers 191 million, ranked the first
and second place respectively in the world. The huge market
potentials have constituted great stimulus to the
development of China's telecommunication technologies and
associated industries.
In the field of
biotechnology, major achievements have been made in
agricultural biotechnological developments such as bi-linear
hybrid rice and pest resistance cottons. China became part
of international human genome project and finished its
sequencing assignment as scheduled. In addition, China have
worked out ten new genetic engineering drugs or vaccines and
made them available in the market.
In the area
of automation, computer assisted design and integrated
manufacturing techniques have found extensive demonstration
and applications, which greatly upgraded the integration
level and products' design, development and manufacturing
capacity of Chinese businesses. China has developed its own
robot series that are well serving auto manufacturing,
petrochemistry and other areas. In the field of new
materials, Chinese scientists have landed new findings on
non linear optical crystal, nanometer and superconductor
materials.
It is briefed that since 1991,
China has established 53 high tech industrialization parks
at national level. In 2001, the total revenues created by
these high tech parks reached RMB 1,192.8 billion with a
total industrial output of RMB 1,011.7 billion. These high
tech giants have recorded an average annual growth of 60% or
above simply in a time period of one decade. High tech parks
have become the major bases for developing and nurturing
China's high tech businesses as well as R and D
entrepreneurs and modern management personnel.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Improved Test-tube Baby Technology
Recently the People's Hospital under Wuhan
University has successfully performed its 4th generation
test-tube baby technique. The new development is a desirable
progress for contriving female patients who are of limited
ovulation function but with poor quality or activity eggs
due to the reasons of aging or poor health. The new
technique may allow scientists to replace the patient's
ovoplasm with the one collected from another healthy woman
through microscope technology so as to enhance the activity
of eggs and improve the success of test-tube process. The
treated egg cells will be married with sperms externally and
be injected into the body of the contriving woman. Thus it
is also named the ovoplasm replacing technique.
It is briefed that the women with poor quality
and activity eggs are only recorded with a 10 percent
success rate for getting pregnant with old test-tube
techniques. Now the improved technique may make the same
indicator go up to 40% or above.
When being
asked about the possible social and ethic arguments such as
who will be the mother of the baby, experts expressed that
the matter determining genetic features are the chromosomes
of sperm and egg cells rather than ovoplasm which is only
responsible for nurturing cell nucleus and keeping cells
alive. The replacement of ovoplasm will not change any
genetic information and the egg cells will fully represent
the genetic features of the contrived woman.
Mainland Animals Walked to Taiwan
The latest archaeological studies have shown
that in the remote ancient time, Zhoushan Archipelagoes were
physically connected with Taiwan and some ancient animals
originated from Beijing Zhoukoudian made their migration to
Taiwan via Zhoushan.
Not long ago,
Hu Lianrong, Director of Zhoushan Municipal Museum took a
number of ancient animal bones unearthed in Zhoushan
seashore area to Peking University and the Chinese Academy
of Sciences (CAS) for verification. Prof. Qi Guoqin and
others of the Institute of Paleovertebrate and
Paleoanthropology under CAS confirmed on the basis of their
study of these bones that they were the ivory of ancient
elephant dated back to 25,000 years ago and lower jaw bones
of buffalo and rhinoceros and head bone and horns of water
deer.
Prof. Qi expressed that in the late
1960s, similar ancient animal bones were unearthed in
Taiwan. In 1995, he went to Taiwan and made studies of
ancient animals and men there for three years. He said the
findings collected from both mainland and Taiwan presented
us a basic road map showing the migration route of the
remote ancient animals from the north to the south.
It is briefed that these ancient animals who
lived over Beijing Zhoukoudian area and Huaihe River Valley
were forced to migrate southward as climate became warmer in
the Quaternary Ice Age. They traveled over the coastal
plains and eventually reached Taiwan via Zhoushan.
Head of Zhoushan Municipal Museum briefed that
about 15,000 and 20,000 years ago, Zhoushan's sea level was
130m lower than its current level. The study made by Wang
Pinxian, an academician and marine geologist working for
Shanghai Tongji University also demonstrated that Zhoushan
was 470 km away from shoreline and the ancient river bed of
Yangtze River went from Zhoushan into the sea. The repeated
discovery of ancient animal bones in Zhoushan proved that
Zhoushan used to be a plain close to sea at that time and
was physically connected with Shandong, Jiangsu, Fujian and
Taiwan.
Ancient Matters Telling
Life Origin
The research team headed by Prof.
Li Jianghai of Peking University has recently found the
so-called black chimney rock samples dated back
to 2.5 billion years ago. These samples have gained the
acknowledgement of the U.S. and Canadian scientists, which
means scientific community has obtained the ancient matters
to verify life origin.
The so-called black
chimney is a pillar shaped vertical mound cumulated by
sulfides such as pyrite, blend and brass. Surrounding the
black chimney is the only habitat where self-support living
creatures can grow and the hot fluid exhausted from the
chimney may turn the ocean floor gas into biochemical
energy.
Prof. Li believed that black chimney
serves as natural lab for studying internal earth and life
evolution and is of important impacts on global climate
change, sea water chemistry and ocean heat balance. The
obtained geological records of ancient black chimney are of
important scientific and economic values. His team will
analyze and test the rocks from different disciplinary
angles so as to understand the earlier geological evolution
of the oceans, look for relevant record on ancient life and
test the scenarios such as that life originates from the
adjacent areas of black chimneys on sea floor.
It is reported that a cross area sitting
between Wutai Mount and Taihang Mount has preserved a
complete geological record of such black chimneys which are
made of sea floor sedimentary layer, sulfide cumulating for
the formation of black chimneys, mineral fluid path and
serpentinite. With complete rock types and intact
structures, the black chimney will be of great values for
unveiling the life origin and evolution in earlier oceans,
earlier earth heat releasing mechanism and formation of
metallic ores.
NEWS BRIEF
China Resources II Works Properly
September 1 is the birthday marking the
two-year age of China Resources II, a Chinese satellite with
a designed life for two years. It is briefed that so far aml
the systems aboard the satellite are running properly and
smoothly with stable performance and the satellite will
continue its operation in space though it has already gone
beyond its designed life-span.
China Resources
II is China's first generation remote sensing satellite
designed mainly for national land mapping, urban planning,
crop yield estimation, disaster monitoring and space
scientific experiments.
Launched on Sept.
1,2000 from Taiyuan Satellite Launching Center, the
satellite started to work and send its pictures back to the
earth station in the following day. During its two-year
in-the-orbit flight, the satellite has worked properly and
sent huge amount of satellite images to the earth receiving
station. These pictures are sharp clear and carrying rich
information, satisfactory to the designing requirements.
China Resources II is a solar synchronous
public satellite platform of broad application perspectives.
Its service systems such as power source, internal
management, heat control and measurement capability have
demonstrated fine reliability, full function and strong
performance with their indicators reaching internationally
advanced level, though its effective payload system sits at
domestic top level.
The World Science Park
Conference in Beijing in 2004
At the 19th
World Conference of International Association of Science
Park held in Quebec, Canada on Sept. 5, 2002, Beijing
Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park successfully won
its sponsorship for the 21st World Conference of the
Association.
Founded in 1984 and headquartered
in Spain, the Association is aiming at promoting the
exchanges and cooperation among the science parks in
different countries. Up to date, the Association has 200 and
more members with 16 of them from China. The Association has
also opened its representative office in Beijing. The 19th
session of the Association's World Conference opened on
Sept. 3 2002 in Quebec with the participation of 400 and odd
representatives from 54 countries. The representatives from
Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen were also present on the
occasion.
China's New S and T Hall
It is reported that China will make the debut
of its new Science and Technology Hall at Beijing Olympic
Park in the year 2006. As is revealed by Wang Yusheng,
Director of current Chinese Science and Technology Hall, the
new Hall is designed with a floor space of 120,000 square
meters and functions for exhibition, experiment and
training. The new Hall will not only make all its exhibits
the world first class but also make experimental and
training areas available for visitors.
In the
meantime, the new Hall will be equipped with recreational,
shopping, catering and parking sections.
It is
briefed that the new Hall will break its ground in 2003. The
construction of its major structures and development of
exhibits will be kept abreast so as to make the Hall come
into service in 2006. Meanwhile, the new Hall will retain
some space for the use of the Organizing Committee of 2008
Olympic Games. The old Hall will remain open to the public
while the new one is being under construction.
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