April 05, 2010
Chinese Offshore Wind Farm Shows Benefits of Cooperation & Trade
A 102 Megawatt offshore wind farm will begin operating by the end of April in the delta lands off Shanghai. Chinese wind turbine developer Sinovel installed 34 wind turbines in the muddy waters, the first installation in a plan to get over 500 Megawatts of wind power generation off the Chinese east coast. Each Sinovel SL3000 turbine contains core electrical components created and supplied by American Superconductor (NASDAQ:AMSC).
AMSC initially struck a deal to supply electrical components to China via its Chinese subsidiary WindTec. But in January 2010 Beijing's National Development and Reform Commission lifted the 70% domestic components requirement for wind energy development. This move will allow foreign companies much greater access to the fast growing clean energy sector in China.
This June Shanghai will host Offshore Wind China 2010 organized by Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association, the Global Wind Energy Council and others....
Labels: alternative energy, clean tech, foreign trade, free trade, tech stocks, technology
February 02, 2010
Chinese Researchers Use Acupuncture for Cancer Detection
Chinese scientists at the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, one of the most advanced super X-ray centers in the world, discovered evidence of the existence of acupuncture points - micro-vessels and mineral concentrations in several well known points used in acupuncture. Researchers used these points and micro-vessels in conjunction with super X-rays to detect cancer tumour cells overlooked by traditional scans. The Shanghai synchrotron opened last May and by 2030 will be one of the largest in the world allowing 1,000 scientists simultaneous access....
Labels: high-tech, technology
December 18, 2009
French-Chinese Helicopter Maiden Flight
The EC-175 helicopter was successfully tested yesterday in the skies above France. Jointly developed since 1995 by aerospace conglomerates Eurocopter and AVIC (of China), the EC-175 is a medium-lift twin-engined helicopter that can hold up to 16 passengers depending on configuration. The helicopter is the "product everyone is waiting for" in the civil aviation market according to Eurocopter spokesman. Both China and France have a production line and expect deliveries to begin in 2012. Although originally intended for the oil and gas industry, the EC-175 is being marketed for search and rescue missions and could easily have military application....
Labels: foreign investment, france, military, technology
December 17, 2009
Guangzhou-Wuhan High Speed Rail Opens
A successful trial run of the new Guangzhou to Wuhan high-speed railway has cleared the way for regular service to begin December 26 betweeen the capital cities (respectively) of Guangdong and Hubei Provinces. Both cities are major industrial centers and travel time is now reduced from 10 (or more) hours by train to 3 hours. The trains will travel at an average speed of 350 kilometers or well over 200 miles per hour and make 15 stops at major points including Changsha. The high-speed rail corridor is part of the larger Beijing to Guangzhou high speed rail line under construction....
Labels: investment, technology
December 03, 2009
China Plans Nuclear Container Ships
At a confab around the Marintec China 2009 convention, currently underway in Shanghai, Wei Jiafu - head of Chinese shipping giant COSCO (China Ocean Shipping Group Comany, Ltd.) - revealed to reporters that the company was working with Chinese nuclear authorities to explore developing nuclear powered container ships. Captain Wei Jianfu gave a grim outlook for traditional ship orders saying he believed 40% of backorders will be cancelled or postponed. In other news, Chinese, Taiwan, and Korean shipping companies will respond to the slowdown in global trade by literally slowing down and employ "super slow steaming" a method begun by the Maersk Line for greater fuel efficiency and reduce emissions....
Labels: chinese trade, nuclear, shipping, technology
November 09, 2009
Chinese Fighter Jets to Have Stealth Capability
Dressed in a crisp but drab army green Mao jacket, Chinese President Hu Jintao observed the 60th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army Air Force on Sunday. Hu called for a new era in Chinese fighter jet technology. He Weirong, Lieutenant General of the PLA Air Force said on Chinese television the air force would have stealth capability within 8 to 10 years. China continues to develop the J-10 its indegenous fighter jet that is considered similar but inferior to the American F-16. China exports the J-10 and has a joint venture with Pakistan to build an updated version, the J-10B. Even with new capabilities Chinese fighter planes are well behind the USA and Russia. Only the USA has a so-called fifth generation fighter in service, the F22 Raptor, produced for the Pentagon by perennial military-industrial-complex suppliers Lockheed-Martin and Boeing. The USA is further ahead with developing the F-22 Lightning II while Russia is placing its hopes on the T-50 tactical fighter....
Labels: aircraft, high-tech, military-industrial complex, technology
November 02, 2009
China Second to USA in Research
According to a Thomson Reuters report that tracks scholarly and research journals around the world, China published 112,000 research papers in 2008 second only the USA. Research in physical sciences including medical sciences and agriculture are leading to innovation breakthroughs by Chinese scientists. And China and America are growing closer in research collaboration with nearly 9% or 39,000 papers involving Chinese and American researchers. The increase in research may be a reflection of the many thousands of Chinese who received doctoral degress in physical and biological sciences in the USA during the '80s and '90s....
Labels: foreign relations, high-tech, technology
Tsien Hsue-Shen Dead at 98
Tsien Hsue-Shen or (pinyin) Qian Xuesen known as the father of China's missile program has died in Beijing at 98. A world expert physicist, Qian's long and eventful life was turned completely upside-down when he became a victim of Senator Joseph McCarthy's witch hunt against alleged Red Chinese communist spies in America. A detailed obituary can be found here (link). Some highlights of Qian's fascinating life include:
- 1935: Qian Xuesen (usually printed Tsien Hsue-Shen) leaves Shanghai for graduate studies at MIT and later, at the urging of renowned rocket scientist Theodor Von Karman, himself only recently arrived in the USA from Hungary, continuing studies and research at Cal Tech. Not long afterward, Von Karmen and his collegues, including Qian, founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
- 1945: Qian Xuesen and Von Karmen went to Germany at the end of World War II and helped coordinate "Operation Paperclip" that brought the Nazi rocket scientists, particularly the famous Werner Von Braun, to the United States. Von Braun and his proteges had surrendered to American troops in advance of the Russian front. The Russians, however, "inherited" the production crews of the Nazi rocket and aerospace industries. The Nazi regime in Germany had by far the most advanced technology. Many of Qian's theories were tested and proven by the Nazi scientists. Qian assimililated much of the Nazi expertise and quickly became the foremost theoritician in rocket and jet propulsion in the USA.
- 1950: Both the USA and the Soviet Union were actively experimenting with modified Nazi V-2 rocket designs with many successful launches. By 1950 the USA had established what would become the Cape Kennedy space center in Florida. At the same time, the USA and China entered a long period of bitterness over the collapse of the USA backed regime headed by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek and the victory of the Communist Party in China. A sudden and still little-understood chain of events led to the Korean War, the creation of a protectorate for the failed Chiang government, and an anti-communist hysteria that would ultimately engulf the USA. A victim of this unhappy period was Qian Xuesen who became a virtual prisoner after he was accused of being a communist conspirator.
- 1955: Qian Xuesen is deported to the People's Republic of China. He is welcomed as a hero and quickly put in charge of China's rocket programs.
For more check out the Sinomania! page on the Chinese space programs....
Labels: missiles, space program, technology
October 30, 2009
China Supercomputer Petaflops
Technicians at China's National University of Defense Technology have built a supercomputer that achieves a petaflop - 1 quadrillion calculations per second. The supercomputer named Tianhe or Milky Way would be the 4th fastest in the world by last year's ranking data. The supercomputer uses Intel and AMD chips. It will be moved to a location in Tianjin and further enhanced. According to Xinhua Tianhe will be used for bio-medical, oil exploration, and aerospace research....
Labels: high-tech, technology
August 21, 2009
China-Denmark Scientists' Nano-Chips Could Replace Silicon
Chinese and Danish chemists in a collaboration between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Nano-Science Centre of the University of Copenhagen have created "nano-chips" that use nano wires created from organic and inorganic materials. The new material is a replacement for silicon and the nano-chips appear to be an improvement upon silicon-based microchips. China is fast emerging as a major global innovator in nano technologies....
Labels: high-tech, technology
August 14, 2009
Closing the Gap in US-China Trade
President Obama has tasked the National Economic Council and the National Security Agency with a review of the USA's export control system. The Aerospace Industries Association welcomed the news and will work with the effort. Readers will recall that during the USA-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue lessening restrictions on certain high technology products (super computers, satellites, etc.) exports to China was discussed. The effort is a first step in undoing the restrictions placed on exports to China during former President Clinton's first term in response to the shameful Cox Committee investigations into whether technology "secrets" had been given to China.
Exports of high-value technology products to China could well become a potentially huge and lucrative new market for an American industry that still has an advantage and help close the gap in the US-China trade deficit....
Exports of high-value technology products to China could well become a potentially huge and lucrative new market for an American industry that still has an advantage and help close the gap in the US-China trade deficit....
Labels: foreign trade, obama, technology
August 07, 2009
Battle for China 3G Market Heats Up
China Mobile (NYSE: CHL), the world's largest mobile phone operator, and Lenovo (formerly IBM PC unit) will begin sales next month of the "O" Phone - a Chinese version of the iPhone that uses the China developed TD-SCDMA 3G standard. Details on the "O1" can be found at the link.
China Unicom (NYSE: CHU) and China Telecom (NYSE: CHA) offer 3G services that use international standards and handsets. Executives of Apple are in China this week to negotiate the long anticipated debut of the iPhone in a partnership with China Unicom....
Labels: chinese stocks, listed companies, technology, Telcom
June 11, 2009
IBM Opens New Innovation Center in Beijing
IBM, one of many American multinationals banking on Chinese economic growth to fuel future earnings, opened a Global Railway Innovation Center in Beijing to collaborate on high speed rail and other rail technologies. Railway building is a major component of Beijing's stimulus plans and 70 railways are planned for 2009 with over 5,000 km of track. Alsthom of France and the German firm Siemens - both leaders in rail technology - are active in China and parties to several joint ventures....
Labels: high-tech, investment, technology
January 05, 2009
China 3G License Selection
According to leaks, the new 3G licenses for Chinese mobile phone operators will be WCDMA for China Unicom, CDMA2000 for China Telecom, and China's native TD-SCDMA standard to China Mobile. Speculation is China Mobile could see slower growth given the unproven technology.
Labels: technology, Telcom
December 17, 2008
Apple Plans 2009 iPhone Launch in China
Apple may begin offering the iPhone in China sometime next year according to reports using China's home grown TD-SCDMA standard and possibly China Mobile as the carrier. China Mobile has well over 300 million subsribers so this could be big news for Apple.
Labels: technology, Telcom
December 16, 2008
Chinese Scientists Achieve Bose-Einstein Condensation
A project team of the Chinese Acadamy of Sciences succeeded in putting ultracool atoms on a chip and achieving Bose-Einstein Condensation (BCE) becoming only the 5th nation in the world to perform this feat. BCE was first recorded in the USA in 1995. China is the second Asian country after Japan to develop the technology. Applications including precise atomic time keeping and quantum information storage.
Labels: technology
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