Technical Sciences and Communications
by
After the split between China and the Soviet Union, China began to develop its own nuclear weapons and successfully detonated its first nuclear weapon in 1964 at Lop Nur. The launch of the satellite program was a natural result of this, culminating in 1970 with the launch of the first Dongfeng Hong, the first Chinese satellite. This made the People’s Republic of China the fifth nation to launch an independent satellite.
In 1992, Shenzhou’s manned space flight was authorized and after four unmanned tests Shenzhou 5 was launched on October 15, 2003, using the Long March 2F launch vehicle and the Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei, making the People’s Republic of China the third country to send a flight Man is manned into space through her own endeavors. China sent its second manned mission with a crew of two, named “Shenzhou VI” in October 2005. In 2008 China successfully sent the Shenzhou VII spacecraft, making it the third country to have the capability to conduct a spacewalk. In 2007, the People’s Republic of China succeeded in sending the spacecraft Zhang (after the ancient Chinese lunar gods) to the Moon’s orbit to explore it as part of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. China plans to build a Chinese space station in the near future and bring a landing on the moon by Chinese astronauts in the next decade as well as a manned mission to Mars.
China has the second largest research and development budget in the world and is expected to have invested more than $ 136 billion in 2006, more than 20% more than in 2005. The Chinese government continues to focus on research and development by creating greater public awareness of innovation, Financial and tax systems to encourage growth in advanced industries.
In 2006, Chinese President Hu Jintao called on China to make the transition from a single industrialized to an innovation-based economy and the National House of Representatives has approved substantial increases in research funding. Stem cell research and gene therapy, which some in the Western world see as controversial, face minimal obstacles in China. China has about 926,000 researchers, with only 1.3 million Americans ahead of them.
China is currently developing its electronic, semiconductor and energy industries, including renewable energy sources such as hydropower, wind and solar energy. In an effort to reduce pollution from coal-fired power plants, China has been a leader in the deployment of nuclear reactors that are cooler, more secure and have potential applications in the hydrogen economy.
China has the largest number of cell phone users in the world with more than 700 million users in July of 2009. It also has the largest number of Internet users in the world.