Window to China
The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), a single-dish telescope with a diameter of half a kilometer and a receiving area equivalent to about 30 football fields, was officially taken in operation. It is located in a naturally deep and round karst depression in Southwest China’s Guizhou province. Xinhua news release, January 13, 2020
RAO Zihe and WANG Xiangxi from the CAS Institute of Biophysics and BU Zhigao from the CAS Harbin Veterinary Research Institute have determined the structure of the African swine fever virus (ASFV) at a resolution of 4.1-angstroms, using an optimized image reconstruction strategy. The virus’s structural details will provide strategies for vaccine development. CAS news release, January 16, 2020
GAO Hongjun and colleagues from CAS Institute of Physics have achieved atomically precise folding of graphene nanostructures through STM tip-induced manipulation technology. They were able to fold graphene nanoislands in an arbitrarily chosen direction, constructed bilayer graphene stacks withs a tunable twist angle and a tubular edge connection between the layers, and created intramolecular junctions of bicrystal graphene nanoislands. Atomically precise “origami” can be used for the construction of quantum materials and quantum devices. CAS news release, January 16, 2020
The project initiated by LI Can of CAS Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics combines hydrogen production by electrocatalytic water splitting with highly selective, carbon dioxide hydrogenation to methanol. Energy consumption is reduced to 4.0-4.2 kWh / m3 hydrogen. Carbon dioxide hydrogenation to methanol uses a bimetal oxide catalyst (ZnO-ZrO2). Methanol selectivity is greater than 90%, and degradation of the catalyst after 3000 hours of operation is less than 2%. A1,000-ton scale demonstration project was commissioned in the Green Chemical Park in Lanzhou New District. CAS news release, January 17, 2020
The SGR passenger train covers a total distance of 472 kilometres and is the first standard gauge railway completed in Africa. It was designed using Chinese technology, standard, equipment and funding. SGR is run by AfriStar, with 2,248, or nearly 80%, of its employees from Kenya. Four passenger trains run on a daily basis. Since its opening in May 2017, the SGR has carried 4 million passengers, with an average attendance rate of 95%. In addition, 16 freight trains run daily on average, and nearly 6 million tons of cargo was transported in 2019, up 70% compared with 2018. The SGR passes through Kenya’s largest conservation park, Tsavo National Park. Belt and Road news, Jasnuary 12, 2020
The focus will be on hydro projects and the upgrading of technical and vocational training centers. Xinhua news release, December 12, 2019
One of the largest solar farms it Africa, it was designed and built, within one year, by China Jiangxi Corporation for China’s International Economic and Technical Co-operation (CJIC). The annual output is 100,000 MWH and meets the power demand of 70,000 households (some 350,000 people), equivalent to some 50 percent of the population of Garissa. The company says they trained 50 local experts for the installation of solar panels, operation and repairs during the project. Kenya so far is highly dependent on hydropower, which provides about 50 percent of its energy mix. During dry season, the restriction of hydropower generation capacity is affecting the national power supply. Xinhua news release, December 14, 2019
The wide-range multispectral remote-sensing microsatellite donated to Ethiopia was sent into space together with eight other satellites. Weighing about 65 kg and having a design life of two years, the satellite can obtain remote-sensing data for agriculture, forestry, water conservation, as well as disaster prevention and mitigation. About 20 Ethiopian engineers have been trained in China for the operation of the ground station. Xinhua news release, December 20, 2019
According to official sources, the Chinese government has financed more than 4,900 Zimbabwean officers and specialists to attend seminars and training courses in China From the 1990s to the present, the Chinese government has financed more than 4,900 Zimbabwean officers and specialists to attend seminars and training courses in China from the 1990s to the present. In an effort to support Zimbabwe’s aviation sector, the Chinese government sponsored 25 Zimbabweans to attend a three-week training workshop in Qingdao. Xinhua news release, December 21, 2019
At the 4th “Digital Silk Road” International Conference held in Shenzhen from Dec. 17, 2019, it was announced that China’s Earth Big Data will support agricultural disaster countermeasures in African countries. Within the “Digital Silk Road Project” (DBAR), the Chinese Academy of Sciences donated to Mozambique data drafting the country’s arable land at 10-meter resolution. The data are considered to help Mozambique’s ability to respond to disasters such as floods, droughts and crop pests, supporting agricultural development, development of water resources and food security. Japan JST China news, December 19, 2019