"Chang'e 6 is the first moon back sampling, the Dreamliner explores the ocean, the Shenzhong Channel steps on the waves and the sky, and the Qinling Station in the Antarctic rises in the ice field, demonstrating the lofty aspirations of the Chinese people to pursue the dream of stars and the sea."
These significant achievements mentioned in President Xi Jinping's New Year's message for 2025 have linked the imprint of China's scientific and technological innovation development in 2024.
Cutting edge fields are blossoming at multiple points, and major projects are breaking records. In 2024, China will accelerate its journey towards achieving high-level technological self-reliance and building a strong technological country, with vigorous progress and steadfast steps!
The foundation of technology is more solid
In the past year, there have been frequent good news about the "national treasure".
As of November 2024, the number of pulsars discovered by China's FAST telescope has exceeded 1000, surpassing the total number of pulsars discovered by other international telescopes during the same period;
China's High Altitude Cosmic Ray Observatory "Lasso" has confirmed the world's first super cosmic ray source, accelerating the process of unraveling the century long mystery of the origin of high-energy cosmic rays;
The Chinese Spallation Neutron Source, known as the "super microscope" for exploring the microstructure of materials, has successfully produced beams from high-resolution and high-pressure neutron diffractometers, significantly enhancing the multidisciplinary research capabilities of Chinese Spallation Neutron Sources
The Third Plenum of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed to strengthen the forward-looking and leading layout in the fields of basic research, cross cutting frontiers, and key areas. Over the past year, a large number of technology workers have devoted themselves to basic research and set multiple new records.
In September 2024, the water-cooled magnet independently developed by the High Magnetic Field Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences, successfully produced 420200 gauss steady magnetic field, broke the world record set by the U.S. National High Magnetic Field Laboratory for water-cooled magnets in 2017, and became a new milestone in the development of international high magnetic field water-cooled magnet technology;
In March 2024, Cell magazine published a new achievement online in the form of a cover article, marking that Chinese scientists have solved the world-renowned problem of constructing the chloroplast gene "transcription machine" and added the last piece of the puzzle of the cell "CPU";
In the same month, a Chinese research team successfully deciphered the genetic mystery of "three grains and one cluster" in compound rice, providing a new theoretical basis and path for cultivating high-yield rice varieties. The results were published in the journal Science.
On the journey of exploring cutting-edge science, Chinese scientists have never stopped, making significant progress and achieving several "world firsts": the first to achieve fractional quantum anomalous Hall states of photons, the first to obtain atomic level resolved images of hexagonal ice surfaces, and the first to achieve precise gene writing using RNA as a medium
The 2024 Statistical Report on Chinese Scientific and Technological Papers shows that China continues to rank first in the world in terms of the number of papers published in the most influential journals in various disciplines, the number of papers published in high-level international journals, and the number of citations. As of July 2024, China has 2071 hot papers, accounting for 48.4% of the total number of hot papers in the world, and maintains its first place in the world ranking. The number of highly cited articles in China is 65700, accounting for 33.8% of the world share.
Basic research is steadily advancing, and the 'technological foundation' is constantly being strengthened.
Major projects climb to new heights
At the end of 2024, the "lunar back specialty" brought back by Chang'e-6 brought surprises to the world one after another. In November 2024, Chinese scientists used Chang'e-6 lunar back samples to make two independent research results, which were published in the journals Nature and Science respectively, revealing for the first time that young magma activity still existed on the far side of the moon about 2.8 billion years ago; In December 2024, Nature reported that our scientists obtained the first human lunar back paleomagnetic field information by analyzing samples from the lunar back of Chang'e-6.
In June 2024, Chang'e-6 completed the world's first lunar far side sampling and return mission, which is a major breakthrough in China's lunar exploration project. Over the past year, China's aerospace industry has continued to write brilliant achievements and handed over impressive results.
The Chinese space station has undergone two in orbit "crew changes", with six astronauts entering the "Space Home" one after another; Tianzhou-7 and Tianzhou-8 cargo spacecraft have successfully completed their missions, ensuring the stable operation of the 'Tiangong'; The first reusable return type technology experimental satellite in China, the Practice-19 satellite, has been successfully recovered, marking another leap forward in China's aerospace technology
Looking up at the sky, Chinese power flies to the sky, embraces the moon, and pursues dreams and stars; Looking down upon the vast land of China, its speed is also steadily increasing.
30 Minutes! The Shenzhen Zhongshan Expressway was officially opened after 7 years of construction, shortening the travel time between Shenzhen and Zhongshan. At the end of 2024, the Huangmaohai Cross Sea Road will also be officially opened, adding a "key cross river and cross sea transportation network" to the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area.
22.13 kilometers! The world's longest highway tunnel, the Tianshan Victory Tunnel, has been successfully completed. After the opening of the road, driving through the steep mountains of Tianshan will be shortened from the original 3 hours to 20 minutes.
400 kilometers per hour! The prototype of the CR450 high-speed train, which is the fastest operating train in the world, has been released in Beijing, with a test speed of 450 kilometers per hour and an operating speed of 400 kilometers per hour. Multiple key indicators are internationally leading.
The fruitful results are not limited to this.
China's first ocean drilling vessel, the "Dream", has officially entered service, with the potential to turn humanity's dream of "penetrating the earth's crust and entering the depths of the earth" into reality; The opening of China's fifth Antarctic research station, Qinling Station, will help further improve China's polar research support system; The first scientific exploration well in China to break through the 10000 meter mark has been born, once again breaking the record for the deepest well in Asia
Data shows that in the first half of 2024, the cumulative R&D investment of central enterprises reached 434 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.7%. China has 26 of the world's top 100 technology innovation clusters, ranking first in the world for two consecutive years.
From exploring the microscopic world, to rushing towards the stars and the sea, from uncovering the mysteries of nature, to creating great miracles, standing at the new starting point of 2025, the surging power of innovation is ready to take off, and is about to write a new chapter in the history of China's scientific and technological achievements.