Combination photo of President Xi Jinping as he talks with astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong. (Photo : Getty Images)
Chinese President Xi Jinping touched on many scientific and technological achievements made in 2016 on his New Year Speech. Moving forward, China wants to become one of the world's greatest innovators in 2017.
These scientific breakthroughs are the FAST or Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, the "Wukong" Dark Matter Particle Explorer Satellite, a quantum satellite, the Shenzhou-11 and the Tiangong-2 space missions.
Li Jian, the head of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, said: "We have made a series of breakthroughs this year and established a set of regulations as well as a quality guarantee system. We have also built a young and capable team."
The FAST is said to be the world's largest radio telescope, measuring 500 meters in diameter. It was put into use on Sept. 25 to observe space and help accelerate the search for extraterrestrial life. This will also help people better understand the structure and the origin of the universe.
The “Wukong” China's first dark-matter detection satellite, was sent into orbit last Dec. 2015. Its purpose is to search for signals of dark matter, which is an invisible material that makes up most of the universe's mass.
China's quantum satellite was sent into orbit last August. It will be an effort for starting "hack-proof" quantum communications through the transmission of uncrackable keys from space to the ground.
The Shenzhou-11 spacecraft launched last Oct. 17 and docked two days later accompanied by Tiangong-2, China's first space lab. Two astronauts lived there for 30 days, which is the longest time that Chinese astronauts have spent in space.
Besides the space technology mentioned above, China also gained global attention in other areas.
The Sunway TaihuLight, China's new supercomputing system, was officially named the world's faster computer at the International Supercomputing Conference last June in Germany.
China's National GeneBank was opened last September. It contains more than 10 million bio-samples, which will help for working on human health research as well as the conservation of global bio-diversity.
As being top in the world in terms of patent applications and one of the world's top 26 innovative economies in the Global Innovation Index, China is ready to make even bigger moves in the future to pursue innovation-driven development.
