Modern China’s innovations captivate the world

2017-07-26
Xinhua

In the last five years, the pace of innovation across China has notably sped up. The nation’s creativity is leading the world once again. What follows are just a few of China’s recent innovations:

BIKE SHARING

Two Chinese bike-sharing companies Mobike and Ofo each have 100 million registered users and more than 5 million bikes in 100 cities worldwide, with more than 20 million completed rides every day. By the end of this year, they expect to reach at least 200 cities worldwide.

A row of Mobikes are seen in Manchester, Britain on June 29, 2017. Mobike, one of China’s largest bike-sharing companies, launched its service in the Greater Manchester, Britain, on June 29.[Photo/Xinhua]

MOBILE WALLET

Today, technological advancement has enabled China to lead the way as an emerging cashless society. The Chinese now use their phones to buy food, pay bills, ride buses, invest in stocks, purchase insurance and donate to charity. China’s leading mobile payments Alipay and WeChat Pay are making a dent in the global payment market.

WeChat Pay has covered more than 130,000 overseas businesses in 13 countries and regions, supporting settlements in 10 currencies. Alipay has entered more than 200 countries and regions supporting settlements in 18 varieties of currencies with more than 40 million overseas merchants using Alipay for settlement.

A customer gets ready for QR code payment at BingoBox, an unmanned store in East China’s Shanghai, July 21, 2017. The 15-square meter store has no cashier, which accepts self-assisted payments by quick response (QR) codes.[Photo/Xinhua]

HIGH-SPEED RAILWAY

China has built one of the world’s most extensive high-speed rail networks in just a few years. It has even been able to offer quality rail products and supplies to other developing countries.

Photo taken on June 26, 2017 shows the China’s new bullet train “Fuxing” at Beijing South Railway Station in Beijing, capital of China. China’s next generation bullet train “Fuxing” debuted on the Beijing-Shanghai line on June 26. A CR400AF model departed Beijing South Railway Station at 11:05 am for Shanghai. At the same time, the CR400BF model left Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station for Beijing. The new bullet trains, also known as electric multiple units (EMU), boast top speeds of 400 kilometers an hour and a consistent speed of 350 kilometers an hour. [Photo/Xinhua]

E-COMMERCE

The e-commerce industry has experienced a boom in recent years that helped stimulate consumption and investment in China. With Belt and Road Initiative, China’s e-commerce has seen growing interest in products from Belt and Road countries, such as latex pillows and rice from Thailand, and electronics from Israel.

Staff members pack the express packages at JD’s warehouse in the pilot free trade zone in North China’s Tianjin municipality, April 28, 2017. By 2016, JD.com opened 256 major warehouses across the country, covering most of the domestic key cities along the Belt and Road Initiative, including Shanghai, Xi’an and Chengdu. The further opening up to overseas markets has brought the number of product brands available at JD Worldwide Service to over 20,000, covering more than 70 countries and regions.[Photo/Xinhua]

COMBUSTIBLE ICE MINING TRIAL

China completed a 60-day trial of mining gas hydrates, commonly known as combustible ice, in the South China Sea in July 2017, marking breakthroughs in human’s search for alternative clean energy sources.

Photo taken on June 21, 2017 shows the trial mining site in the Shenhu area of the South China Sea.[Photo/Xinhua]

AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

China’s first aircraft carrier Liaoning, a refitted former Soviet Union-made carrier, was put into commission in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy in 2012. In 2017, China launched its second aircraft carrier, the first domestically-built one, in Northeast China’s Dalian shipyard in Liaoning province.

People pose for photos with a navy soldier on the flight deck of China’s first aircraft carrier Liaoning in Hong Kong, South China, July 9, 2017. The aircraft carrier Liaoning was open for the public to visit in Hong Kong on July 8 and 9.[Photo/Xinhua]

QUANTUM COMMUNICATION SATELLITE

China successfully launched the world’s first quantum satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gobi Desert in August 2016. The satellite is nicknamed “Micius,” after a fifth century BC Chinese philosopher and scientist who has been credited as the first one in human history conducting optical experiments.

Quantum communication boasts ultra-high security as a quantum photon can neither be separated nor duplicated. It is hence impossible to wiretap, intercept or crack the information transmitted through it.

File photo taken on July 27, 2016 shows technical staff install solar wing for the experimental quantum communication satellite at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, Northwest China’s Gansu province. According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the quantum satellite will conduct experiments on high-speed quantum key distribution between the satellite and ground stations, as well as explore quantum teleportation for the first time in the world.[Photo/Xinhua]

WORLD’S FASTEST SUPERCOMPUTERS

China’s Sunway TaihuLight and Tianhe-2 are still the world’s fastest and second fastest machines, according to the latest edition of the semiannual T0P500 list of supercomputers released in June 2017.

With processing capacity of 125.436 petaflops (PFlops) per second, which means it can perform quadrillions of calculations per second at peak performance, Sunway-TaihuLight is the first supercomputer to achieve speeds in excess of 100 PFlops.

What’s more, Sunway TaihuLight was built entirely using processors designed and made in China.

Photo taken on June 16, 2016 shows Sunway TaihuLight, a new Chinese supercomputer, in Wuxi, East China’s Jiangsu province. Performing 93 quadrillion calculations per second, Sunway TaihuLight dethroned China’s Tianhe-2 from the top in a list of the 500 most powerful supercomputers in the world. Sunway TaihuLight, with 10,649,600 computing cores comprising 40,960 nodes, is twice as fast and three times as efficient as Tianhe-2, which has a performance of 33.86 quadrillion calculations per second, or petaflop/s. The new system was developed by the Chinese National Research Center of Parallel Computer Engineering & Technology and installed at the National Supercomputing Center in Wuxi.[Photo/Xinhua]