China in Africa

Based on ground observation data and satellite remote sensing, the Tsinghua team found that, compared to 2013, the average PM2.5 concentration in Hebei fell by 39.6%, in the Yangtze River Delta by 34.3%, and in the Pearl River Delta by 27.7%, Through implementation of the “Air Pollution Action Plan” of 2013 and other measures,, nationwide sulfur dioxide emissions were reduced by 16.4 million tons, nitrogen oxides by 8 million tons, and primary PM2.5 by 3.5 million tons. Improvements in industry standards such as ultra-low power conversion and improvements in key industries such as steel and concrete, countermeasures for coal-fired boilers, delayed production capacity dredging, and clean-up of civilian fuels to improve air quality, PM2.5 exposure levels across the country were reduced down to 2.2 micrograms per cubic meter.

https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/11/12/1907956116

At the 1st China Fusion Energy Conference held in Leshan, Sichuan, it was announced that “Chinese Circulator No. 2M”, a next-generation tokamak device located in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, will start operation in 2020. “China Circulator No. 2M” adopts advanced structure and control method, and the plasma temperature is expected to reach more than 200 million degrees Celsius. The equipment will participate in related experiments and operations of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).

Japan JST China news, November 27, 2019

LING Yueming, vice minister of natural resources, said at the ongoing 10th China-ASEAN Mining Cooperation Forum and Exhibition that 100 students from ASEAN countries will come to China to pursue a master’s or doctoral degree in geosciences, mining or related technologies. The country will also offer 500 short-term research and training opportunities to ASEAN countries, Ling said. At the event, about 5.29 billion yuan (about 752.19 million U.S. dollars) of deals on mining projects were made.

Xinhua news release, November 15, 2019

Oligomannate (GV-971: sodium oligomannurarate) developed by Shanghai Green Valley Pharmaceuticals was approved by the NMPA as a drug to improve cognitive improvement of patients with moderate Alzheimer disease (AD). The multi-center randomized Phase III study which led to the approval was done for 36 weeks at 34 first-class hospitals in China on a total of 818 patients with mild to moderate AD between ages 50 to 85. The results showed that oligomannate produced a statistically significant improvement in cognitive function after 4 weeks of administration, and the effect persisted. Oligomannate is thought to improve cognitive function by improving dysbiosis of intestinal microbiota, suppressing abnormal increase of intestinal bacterial metabolites, regulating inflammation of the peripheral and central nervous system, and by reducing excessive phosphorylation of tau, resulting in less deposits of amyloid protein. GV-971 was co-developed by Ocean University of China, CAS Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (PI GENG Meiyu) and Green Valley Pharmaceutical Co.

Japan JST China news, November 12, 2019 

Xinhua news release, November 5, 2019

The group of ZHU Yuming has developed a one-pot two-enzyme system. It is based on a new type of exo-inulinase derived from Bacillus velezensis, which achieves efficient hydrolysis of inulin with a hydrolysis efficiency of 98 %, followed by epimerization with D-allulose 3-epimerase from Ruminococcus sp., which was coexpressed with the exo-inulinase as a recombinant extracellular enzymes in B. subtilis. Based on the two inexpensive enzymes, the ratio of D-glucose, D-fructose, and D-allulose in the product was approximately 1:3:1, and the yield on JA powder was 67%. 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procbio.2019.10.006

China has established two offices to develop 6G technology, one at the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), the other as an group of 37 experts from colleges, research academies and enterprises. Most of the 6G performance indexes will outnumber those of 5G by 10 to 100 times, with a maximum transmission speed of 1Tbps, meaning a high-definition movie can be downloaded within a second. Extended reality (XR) which combines AI and AR is expected to create virtual objects in physical reality, changeable at will. It will enable people at different geographic locations to feel like they were actually in the same space, with a seamless connection between devices and senses.

Xinhua news release, November 7 and 11, 2019

According to China’s National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), China has formed an innovation alliance to foster the research and application of extracting uranium from seawater. The alliance, led by CNNC, comprises about 20 research institutions and universities, and will focus on the technology and products used in the extraction process. It is estimated that seawater contains about 4.5 billion tonnes of uranium is, about 1,000 times of the land proven reserves. However, concentration is extremely low, making it a huge challenge to develop cost-effective seawater uranium extraction technology.

Xinhua news release, November 12, 2019

The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) has established an extensive network of international collaboration and partnered with agricultural research institutions from more than 100 countries and regions, 40 international organizations, multinational companies and funding units. At the 6th Global Forum of Leaders for Agricultural Science and Technology, held in Chengdu, CAAS announced to invest 10 million U.S. dollars in the coming five years to promote scientific research and innovation in frontier, basic and key fields on global agricultural developments.

Xinhua news release, November 13, 2019

Inspired by natural jellyfish and rotifers such as coelenterates and floating organisms, the group of HUANG Xin at Tianjin University has developed a fully flexible “smart droplet robot” of 150 to 600 microliters size. The ultra-compact and fully programmable liquid smart robot can move, deform and sense under different environmental conditions. It can carry multiple sensors, e. g., for temperature, humidity, optical signals, stress, glucose, food toxins and wireless energy collection. It could be applied to genetic testing, chemical synthesis, and application of drugs, and has the potential to become a “blood vessel doctor” who enters the human body and conducts examinations and treatments.

Xinhua news release, November 12, 2019

On an exhibition area exceeding 140,000 square meters, more than 3300 exhibitors from China and about 100 nations exhibited over 10,000 projects. Apart from the main venue of the Shenzhen Exhibition Center, three sub-venues focused on Human Resources High-Tech,  an Emergency Safety Technology Exhibition, and a Science Promotion Exhibition.

JST Japan China news, November 13, 2019

Porous polyolefins are widely used as barrier against short circuits in commercial lithium ion battery separators due to their excellent electrochemical stability. However, their porous structure results in poor mechanical properties, especially when the diaphragm is subjected to external local impact. A team of the CAS University of Science and Technology of China has substituted the random structured ceramic nanoparticle layer, presently used on top of the separator, by ion‐conductive porous multilayers consisting of highly oriented aragonite platelets. This nacre‐inspired coating can sustain external impact by turning the violent localized stress into lower and more uniform stress due to the platelet sliding, as shown by good cycling stability under external shock.

https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201905711

According to a speech of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China’s 5G construction accelerates, and more than 130,000 base stations will be installed by year’s end. By retrofitting existing 1.97 million site resources and 10 million site class resources, the deployment of a nation-wide 5G network will be greatly accelerated.

Japan JST China news, November 4, 2019

Oligomannate (GV-971: sodium oligomannurarate) developed by Shanghai Green Valley Pharmaceuticals was approved by the NMPA as a drug to improve cognitive improvement of patients with moderate Alzheimer disease (AD). The multi-center randomized Phase III study which led to the approval was done for 36 weeks at 34 first-class hospitals in China on a total of 818 patients with mild to moderate AD between ages 50 to 85. The results showed that oligomannate produced a statistically significant improvement in cognitive function after 4 weeks of administration, and the effect persisted. Oligomannate is thought to improve cognitive function by improving dysbiosis of intestinal microbiota, suppressing abnormal increase of intestinal bacterial metabolites, regulating inflammation of the peripheral and central nervous system, and by reducing excessive phosphorylation of tau, resulting in less deposits of amyloid protein. GV-971 was co-developed by Ocean University of China, CAS Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (PI GENG Meiyu) and Green Valley Pharmaceutical Co.

Japan JST China news, November 12, 2019

Xinhua news release, November 5, 2019

China is experimenting with hi-tech waste containers, partly according to the “trash to cash” principle. In Chongqing, the user identifies himself by facial recognition and thus puts the “wisdom container” into operation, which sorts the waste using AI technology or printed QR codes, e.g. on recyclable plastic bottles. In Shanghai, citizens themselves sort by four color codes for recyclable, hazardous, dry and wet waste. In Nanjing, after facial recognition, users can have recyclables sorted out of their garbage and credited to their cash account according to a points system.

China Times, October 16, 2019

China accounted for about 1.5 million or 46.4% of the 3.3 million patent applications filed in 2018. China also accounted for 96.6% of the 2.1 million utility model applications.

WIPO World Intellectual Property Indicators 2019