China Science

China's wild Asian elephant population has grown from about 150 in the 1980s to nearly 400 today, according to a recent report that credits decades of habitat protection and conservation efforts in the country's southwestern province of Yunnan.

Two AI-powered optical satellites, Dongpo-13 and Dongpo-14, part of a nine-satellite launch on Wednesday, delivered high-definition remote-sensing images just 1.5 hours after reaching orbit, setting a new speed record for Chinese private satellites. The achievement beats the previous benchmark of under two hours set in May. The faster turnaround highlights growing responsiveness and technology strengths in China's commercial remote-sensing capabilities.

Innovation fuels China's supercomputing rise China's domestically-developed LineShine supercomputer took the No. 1 spot on the 67th edition of the TOP500 list released at the International Supercomputing Conference High Performance 2026 in Hamburg, Germany. With sustained performance exceeding 2 EFLOPS, a self-developed LX2 central processing unit (CPU), and the world's first fully liquid-cooled computing cabinets, these impressive specifications mark a new benchmark for China's supercomputing capabilities. A supercomputer is a high-performance computing system comprising thousands or even tens of thousands of processors, capable of tackling large-scale, complex computing tasks beyond the reach of conventional computers and servers. In the 1970s, China managed to import a supercomputer through multiple channels, only to face stringent restrictions imposed by the supplier. The machine had to be housed in a transparent computer room, and the keys remained in foreign hands. From relying on foreign technology to successive breakthroughs with the Yinhe, Tianhe, and Sunway series, and now to LineShine outperforming existing exascale supercomputers worldwide, generations of Chinese scientists have forged a path of independent innovation despite technological blockades and supply chain restrictions. Read full: en.people.cn/n3/2026/0723/c…

In the AI era, Changzhou 'transforms' into a global computing power hub Lorenzo Arribas, a first-year university student from Spain, did not come to China for travel, but to gain a deeper understanding of the development of China's new energy industry through an internship at Jiangsu Huapeng Transformer Co., Ltd. (Huapeng), located in Liyang, Changzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province. As an important hub for China's power transmission and transformation industry, Changzhou boasts a complete industrial chain cluster and has earned the reputation of "world capital of transformers." In the first half of 2026, Changzhou's transformer exports grew by more than 60% YoY. Leveraging its industrial chain advantages, Chinese manufacturing is providing important support for the global energy transition through international industrial cooperation. Read full: en.people.cn/n3/2026/0723/c…

China aims to advance the inheritance and innovation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as part of a new five-year plan for TCM development, expecting TCM to achieve breakthroughs in addressing some major health challenges by 2030, including cardiovascular and cerebrovascular conditions, cancer, kidney disorders and infectious diseases. The plan also calls for improving high-quality TCM service networks, enhancing whole-life-cycle health care capabilities, and promoting the high-quality integration of TCM and Western medicine, among other key tasks.

Chinese mathematicians Deng Yu and Wang Hong were awarded the Fields Medals at the 2026 International Congress of Mathematicians, which opened in Philadelphia, the United States, on Thursday, marking the first time Chinese mathematicians have won the prestigious honor. Deng won the medal for his work in partial differential equations (PDEs), while Wang won the medal for her work in harmonic analysis and geometric measure theory.

China on Friday launched a Lijian-1 Y15 carrier rocket from Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone in northwest China, successfully sending five satellites into the preset orbits.

China on Thursday successfully sent the Tianlian II-06 satellite into its planned orbit via a Long March-3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, marking the 658th flight mission of the Long March carrier rocket series. Tianlian II-06 is primarily used to provide data relay and TT&C (telemetry, tracking and command) services for crewed spacecraft such as spaceships and space stations, for medium- and low-Earth-orbit resource satellites, and TT&C support for spacecraft launches.

China’s domestically developed S1000 unmanned helicopter successfully completed a firefighting test at an altitude of 180 meters in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, on Tuesday, opening new possibilities for high-rise fire rescue. Capable of carrying up to 500 kilograms, the S1000 climbed to 180 meters, held its position with centimeter-level accuracy despite aerial challenges, and precisely sprayed water onto a simulated fire window via a ground-based high-pressure firefighting system, showcasing the potential of unmanned technology in emergency response.

Chinese scientists have taken a crucial step from "seeing" to "reading" a black hole, unveiling the first spatially resolved spectral index map of the M87 black hole on the event horizon scale, revealing the gradient of the spectral index with distance from the center. Located 55 million light-years away at the center of the M87 galaxy in the Virgo constellation, the M87 black hole, weighing 6.5 billion times the mass of the Sun, made history in 2019 when humanity captured its first-ever image.

Northwest China's first cloned dog and cat have made their public debut in Shaanxi, alongside the introduction of a new cloning method that addresses a key technical bottleneck in similar research worldwide. To overcome the challenges of obtaining dog and cat oocytes, local researchers focused on estrus control, in vitro oocyte culture, and minimally invasive oocyte transplantation to establish a cloning system with greater stability, lower costs, and improved compliance with animal welfare standards.

China on Tuesday delivered the world's first 10,000-vehicle-class car carrier equipped with a photovoltaic power generation system to a South Korean company. The 230-meter-long LNG dual-fuel vessel can carry up to 10,800 vehicles and features a 200-kilowatt peak photovoltaic grid-connected power system capable of generating about 1,000 kWh of electricity per day under an estimated 5.5 to 7 hours of daily sunlight, enhancing energy efficiency and reducing emissions. Following its delivery, the vessel will operate on vehicle shipping routes serving Asia, North America and Europe.

Working together to advance AI for the positive, for good and for humanity On July 17, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony of the 2026 World AI Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance in Shanghai and delivered a keynote speech. In the speech, he put forward four observations on global AI development and governance, comprehensively outlining China's policy positions and guiding principles on AI development and governance. The international community has spoken highly of China's contributions to global AI governance. Many observers noted that China's proposals offer a clear vision for the future of the global AI industry, while its commitment to openness and shared development will help ensure that AI benefits all humanity. They believe Xi's initiatives provide a Chinese solution for narrowing the global digital and AI divide and promoting AI development for good and for all. Read full: en.people.cn/n3/2026/0723/c…

China's plateau mountain wind power project with the largest single-unit capacity recently began full-capacity power generation in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province. Situated at an average altitude of 3,239 meters and with a total installed capacity of 158.22 MW, the wind farm is expected to generate about 462 million kWh of clean electricity each year to power some 180,000 three-person households, saving 140,000 tonnes of standard coal and cutting CO₂ emissions by 380,000 tonnes annually.

"Space factory" mass produces satellites in east China Inside a dust-free, noise-free smart workshop beside Taihu Lake in east China's Jiangsu Province, technicians in anti-static suits assemble satellites on automated production lines. Home to Jiangsu's largest and most intelligent satellite mass-production base with a total investment of 1 billion yuan (about 147 million U.S. dollars), Guoyu Starry Sky Technology Co., Ltd. in the city of Wuxi, a fully-owned subsidiary of Beijing Minospace Technology, can churn out more than 150 satellites annually. The satellites each weigh 200 to 500 kilograms, covering optical remote sensing, SAR radar, low-orbit communication and navigation enhancement models. Read full: en.people.cn/n3/2026/0722/c…

Aboard China's Tiangong space station for nearly two months, the Shenzhou-23 crew has completed emergency decision-making assessments and tests on emotional states, as part of a broader effort to study how long-duration spaceflights affect behavior.

New hope for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): Chinese scientists have developed RAG-17, a new drug targeting ALS caused by gain-of-function mutations in superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1). It rescued motor neuron degeneration, delayed disease progression, preserved motor function and extended survival in preclinical experiments, even during advanced-stage treatment. The new drug demonstrated acceptable safety and tolerability in the first-in-human clinical trial, with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) SOD1 reduced by 56~69%, and plasma neurofilament light chain lowered by 52~62%. @NatureMedicine nature.com/articles/s4159…

China's fleet of new energy heavy-duty trucks is expected to exceed 1.6 million by 2030 as the country intensifies efforts to promote the shift to low-carbon energy sources in transport, a transport official said Tuesday. In the first half of 2026, sales of new energy heavy-duty trucks reached about 140,000 units, jumping 78.6% year on year.

A new drug for "sudden sleep attacks," jointly developed and submitted for marketing approval globally in China, the US, Japan, and other countries, has been approved first in China for market launch. Designed for type 1 narcolepsy patients aged 16 and above, the orexin receptor 2 (OX2R)-selective agonist can alleviate core symptoms of the disease and is expected to become a first-line treatment option in the future.

Brain-controlled bionic hands are here! Powered by AI, what once seemed like sci-fi is becoming reality, dazzling audiences at the 2026 World AI Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai.