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CNN —China is making “significant progress” building the country’s fifth research facility in Antarctica after a several years-long lull in construction, according to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The site – a research station China has hailed as a means to expand its scientific investigation in the Antarctic – could also be used to enhance the country’s intelligence collection, according to CSIS. In February 2020, a team of US inspectors visited the station, where they were hosted by station leader Wang Zhechao of the Polar Research Institute of China. China has established four scientific research bases in Antarctica since 1984, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Under the 1959 treaty Antarctic Treaty, to which China is party, activities on the continent are restricted to “peaceful purposes.”Military personnel are allowed to conduct scientific research, but may not set up bases, test weapons of carry out maneuvers.

☆ Analysis: China's 'atypical' deflation cycle gives central bank a headache
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Kevin Yao | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

China GDP"China is entering an 'atypical' deflation cycle, which means deflation amid economic recovery," said Jinyue Dong, senior economist at BBVA research. China's new bank lending hit an all-time high in the first quarter. The central bank cut lenders' reserve requirements ratio (RRR) for the first time this year in March. But analysts say that is largely due to last year's low base caused by COVID-19 curbs that hit consumers the hardest, rather than underlying household demand. Reuters GraphicsNew household loans, mainly mortgages and consumer loans, accounted for 16% of total new loans in the first quarter, despite a jump in mortgages in March, while corporate loans made up for the rest.

☆ China could start building a moon base with lunar-soil bricks in 5 years, amid NASA fears of a moon territory dispute
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Marianne Guenot | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

China could be ready to start building its lunar base within five years, scientists said. China has made major strides in space exploration, recently launching its own crewed space station. "We will be using real moon soil to make the first brick right there on the moon," he added, per SCMP. These could be used to make habitats on the moon using traditional Chinese building techniques, he said. The agency wants to build its own station orbiting the moon, as well as an Artemis lunar base.

☆ China wants to start using moon soil to build lunar bases as soon as this decade
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING, April 12 (Reuters) - China wants to start building a lunar base using soil from the moon in five years, Chinese media reported, with the ambitious plan kicking off as soon as this decade. Ding Lieyun, an expert from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said a team is designing a robot named "Chinese Super Masons" to make bricks out of lunar soil, according to Changjiang Daily. China previously retrieved soil samples from the near side of the moon with its Chang'e-5 mission in 2020, state media reported. The country has stated that it wants its astronauts to stay on the moon for long periods once it establishes a lunar research station. Reporting by Ethan Wang, Bernard Orr and Ryan Woo; Editing by Kirsten DonovanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The moon could have up to 297 billion tons of water stored in tiny glass beads on its surface, scientists say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Researchers say glass beads found on the moon's surface could contain billions of tons of water. The scientists say the water was created from solar winds, which blow hydrogen — one of the two elements in water — onto the lunar surface. The glass beads themselves form when small meteorites hit the surface of the moon and melt with material on the surface, per the study. Hu said the water extracted from the glass beads shows promise that it could be used in future lunar missions. NASA also plans to once again send astronauts to the Moon in 2025, 50 years after man last set foot on the lunar surface.

☆ China tackles chip talent shortage with new courses, higher pay
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Josh Horwitz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

China faces a shortage of an estimated 200,000 industry workers this year, according to a white paper jointly published by the China Center for Information Industry Development, a government think tank, and the China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA), a trade group. A 2022 survey from Chinese research firm ICWise found more than 60% of students studying chip engineering in China graduate with no internship experience in the field. In Taiwan, top chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) (2330.TW) has established research centres at four universities. Its largest chip foundry, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) (0981.HK), in 2021 announced a jointly-established School of Integrated Circuits at Shenzhen Technology University. "If I didn't switch to chip engineering, I would probably have to find a job in a traditional manufacturing industry like cars or machinery," he said.

☆ Intriguing moon water source found in glass beads from impacts
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The researchers see promise in obtaining water from the glass beads, perhaps through a heating process to release vapor that would then turn into liquid through condensation. "We can simply heat these glass beads to free the water stored in them," said planetary scientist and study co-author Hejiu Hui of Nanjing University in China. The glass beads were found to hold a water content of up to about 2,000 parts per million by weight. Hu said he believes that such impact glass beads are a common part of lunar soils, found globally and spread evenly. The interaction of the solar wind with lunar surface materials could sustain a water cycle on the moon, with the glass beads absorbing the water and acting as a repository for it, the researchers said.

☆ China to raise retirement age to deal with aging population - media
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, March 14 (Reuters) - China is planning to raise its retirement age gradually and in phases to cope with the country's rapidly aging population, the state-backed Global Times said on Tuesday, citing a senior expert from China's Ministry of Human Resources. Jin Weigang, president of the Chinese Academy of Labor and Social Security Sciences, said China was eyeing a "progressive, flexible and differentiated path to raising the retirement age", meaning that it would be delayed initially by a few months, which would be subsequently increased. "People nearing retirement age will only have to delay retirement for several months," the Global Times said, citing Jin. China has yet to formally announce a change to its retirement age, which is among the lowest in the world at 60 for men, 55 for white-collar women and 50 for women who work in factories. The state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences sees the pension system running out of money by 2035.

☆ Scientists have created mice with two biological fathers. They say the technique could one day be replicated in humans.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Speaking at a conference, they said they made female eggs from male cells. He then used that technique to make female eggs, called oocytes, from male cells and fertilized them to create seven mice with two biological dads. REUTERS/Alan Trounson/California Institute for Regenerative Medicine/HandoutThey then deleted the Y chromosomes in the cells and duplicated the cells' X chromosomes, before prompting the cells to turn into egg cells with two X chromosomes. The technique could also help women and people with two X chromosomes who have a genetic issue with one of the X chromosomes to have children, he said. Human reproductive cells are very complex and much less well-known than mice cells.

☆ Analysis: China's chip sector needs more than state money to dull impact of US restrictions
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Josh Horwitz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The government has earmarked $140 billion that could include subsidising the purchase of domestically produced chipmaking equipment, Reuters reported in December, likely benefiting manufacturers such as China's sole semiconductor lithography specialist, Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group (SMEE). Just as in the aviation industry, chipmaking equipment manufacturers work closely with clients, offering long-term services including installation, calibration, maintenance and repair of machines that can cost over $100 million each. Another former top staffer at a Chinese chipmaking equipment manufacturer recounted how while working to master the etching procedure for 3D NAND Flash, the company could not perfect a critical element, namely the channel hole, or hole size. The situation could be worsened for Chinese companies should Japan and the Netherlands agree with the United States to also restrict exports of chipmaking equipment to China. "When the sanctions came out, all the American companies followed," an engineer at a Chinese memory chipmaker told Reuters.

☆ Alibaba and Ant venture to launch RISC-V chips for payments
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The development comes as Chinese companies continue to invest heavily in chips, in the wake of U.S. export restrictions targeting China's semiconductor sector. Alibaba is one of several Chinese tech companies to pour research and development resources into RISC-V, an alternate chip architecture. The open-source nature of RISC-V's design in theory makes it less susceptible to export restrictions. In 2019, Washington imposed export restrictions on China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd (HWT.UL), which threw the company's access to ARM designs in limbo. In late 2022, the United States launched similar export restrictions on Chinese chip fabs and research labs.

☆ China leads US in global competition for key emerging technology, study says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) said its study showed that, in some fields, all of the world's top 10 research institutions are based in China. The study, funded by the United States State Department, found the United States was often second-ranked, although it led global research in high-performance computing, quantum computing, small satellites and vaccines. "Western democracies are losing the global technological competition, including the race for scientific and research breakthroughs," the report said, urging greater research investment by governments. The report called for democratic nations to collaborate more often to create secure supply chains and "rapidly pursue a strategic critical technology step-up". The study recommended visa screening programs to limit illegal technology transfers and instead favour international collaboration with security allies.

[1/7] Farmer Wang Zhanling sits next to his wife in their house in Quansheng village, Heilongjiang Province, China, February 8, 2023. The state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences sees the pension system running out of money by 2035. "If the pension system does not change, this is unsustainable," said Xiujian Peng, senior research fellow in the Centre of Policy Studies at Victoria University in Australia. The province has the lowest birth rate in China, with just over 100,000 births in 2021 and 460,000 deaths. Many experts, including Macquarie's chief China economist Larry Hu, suggest implementing a unified national pension system, backstopped by the more resourceful central government rather than cash-strapped local administrations.

HONG KONG, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The world should "calm down" about the possibility of new COVID-19 variants circulating in China, leading Chinese scientist George Gao said. "The world should completely calm down from the fear that there are new variants or special variants circulating (in China)," Gao, professor at the Institute of Microbiology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and former head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told Reuters. The variants causing infections in China were the same Omicron sub-variants - BA.5.2 and BF.7 - seen elsewhere in the world, he said by email. Gao said China was continuing widespread viral genomic sequencing, and would identify any new variants if they emerged. A total of 13 cases of variants were found, including 1 case of XBB.1, 5 cases of BQ.1.1, 1 case of BQ.1.1.17, 4 cases of BQ.1.2 and 2 cases of BQ.1.8.

HONG KONG, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The world should "calm down" about the possibility of new COVID-19 variants circulating in China, leading Chinese scientist George Gao said. "The world should completely calm down from the fear that there are new variants or special variants circulating [in China]," Gao, professor at the Institute of Microbiology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and former head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told Reuters. The variants causing infections in China were the same Omicron sub-variants - BA.5.2 and BF.7 - seen elsewhere in the world, he said by email. Gao said China was continuing widespread viral genomic sequencing, and would identify any new variants if they emerged. The authors said there were some limitations to the study, including China's decision to end large-scale mandatory testing.

☆ Explainer: What we know and don't know about the Chinese balloon
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Here's what we know, and don't know, about the balloon that has triggered a dramatic diplomatic dispute between the two powers:HOW BIG IS IT? WAS IT A WEATHER BALLOON? Other companies that develop stratospheric balloon systems include U.S. space tourism firm World View and French firm CNIM Air Space. AIR is particularly keen on stratospheric balloon technology and has posted several articles on its WeChat account about Aerostar. read moreWhile analysts did not yet know the size of the Chinese balloon fleet, U.S. officials have spoken of dozens of missions since 2018 across five continents, with some targeting Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines.

"(The balloon can) induce and mobilise the enemy's air defence system, providing the conditions for the implementation of electronic reconnaissance, assessment of air defence systems' early warning detection and operational response capabilities," the researchers wrote. Balloons are also used for scientific purposes such as weather monitoring, including by the likes of the China Meteorological Administration. "In response to the growing threat posed by ground-based air defence systems to air attack forces, it is necessary to use cheap air balloons to create active and passive interference to effectively suppress enemy air defence early warning systems and cover air attack forces to carry out their missions," it argued. TECHNOLOGY PURCHASESChinese military units and state-run research institutes have bought high-altitude balloons and related technology in the past two years, a Reuters analysis of government tenders shows, though the documents are heavily redacted. The Aerospace Information Research Institute, part of the official Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), is among state institutions to have shown interest in balloons, frequently publishing articles about high-altitude balloons on an official WeChat account.

☆ China keeps insisting its real-estate market is not in a crisis — even as just about every sign points to the opposite
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The IMF said in a report on China's economy that the country's property crisis remains "unresolved." But China's hit back at that, saying its property market "has been operating smoothly in general, and is not in a 'crisis' situation." China's real estate market has been mired in debt woes for the past few years. The IMF says China's property crisis "intensified" in 2022The IMF said in its Friday report China's property crisis "intensified" in 2022. The debt crisis also had a deep social impact.

October 2022 Wang Linfang,92, molecular biologist Four members of China’s two most prestigious academic institutions died in October – in line with the average in recent years. October 2022 Wang Linfang,92, molecular biologist Four members of China’s two most prestigious academic institutions died in October – in line with the average in recent years. Zhang Guocheng, 91 Zhao Zisen, 90, developed China’s first practical optical fiber Tang Hongxiao, 91 The obituaries began accumulating. October 2022 Wang Linfang,92, molecular biologist Four members of China’s two most prestigious academic institutions died in October – in line with the average in recent years. October 2022 Wang Linfang,92, molecular biologist Four members of China’s two most prestigious academic institutions died in October – in line with the average in recent years.

The “three red lines” policy on debt ratios has begun aggravating market stress and impairing balance sheets. Those on the wrong side of those lines found themselves almost entirely locked out of credit markets. In short there are now more property firms on the wrong side of the red lines than when the policy was first rolled out, and even the most financially healthy are struggling. They are also mulling letting companies in good financial condition raise debt by more than the current 15% annual limit, per Bloomberg. However, the three red lines remain in place for now.

☆ China steps up support for private sector to boost Covid-hit economy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Hong Kong CNN —Beijing has vowed to go all out next year to save its Covid-hit economy by boosting consumption and loosening control over private industry, including the struggling tech and property sectors. Covid infections are surging in China after leaders unexpectedly eased its restrictive Covid policy earlier this month. Stabilizing economic growth is the top priority for 2023, according to an official readout following the conclusion of the Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC), a key annual meeting of top leaders, which ended Friday. “We need to encourage and support the private sector economy and private enterprise in terms of policy and public opinion,” the statement said. A shopping mall is decorated with rabbit stickers to welcome the Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rabbit, on December 10, 2022 in Beijing, China.

☆ China challenges US chip curbs at WTO, citing ‘trade protectionism’
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

On October 7, the Biden administration unveiled a sweeping set of export controls that ban Chinese companies from buying advanced chips and chip-making equipment without a license. The commerce ministry blasted the US move as threatening global supply chain stability and called it “a typical practice of trade protectionism.” The complaint is the first action China has taken at the global trade body against the US chip sanctions. It also comes as the United States is looking to bolster its domestic chip manufacturing abilities, after chip shortages earlier in the pandemic highlighted the country’s dependence on imports from abroad. He called for both countries to boost cooperation in high-tech manufacturing and avoid “the politicization of economic and trade issues.”Chips are a growing source of tension between the United States and China. Before the October sanctions, the US government had already banned sales of certain tech products to specific Chinese companies, such as Huawei.

☆ A 26-story pig skyscraper in China will slaughter 1 million animals a year, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Hannah Williams | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

China's skyscraper pig farm aims to tackle the country's growing pork demands, The Guardian reports. The Guardian reported the new tower in China is the largest "single-building pig farm in the world." Statements on the company's WeChat account analyzed by The Guardian reveal the farm-in-the-sky will house more than 600,000 animals. Animals are automatically fed via buttons in a central control room, and the pigs' waste is used to generate heating and power. Hubei Zhongxin Kaiwei Modern Farming, the company behind the development, has already sent 3,700 sows to the farm, The Guardian reported.

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