15 Ways China Is Leading The Technology Field And Leaving The World Behind

Technology is advancing more and more but the way society adopts it is the real measure of how it is progressing. And there is no country that is willing to adapt and be the pioneer in this field than China, even if, it is for suppressing and surveillance purposes.

1. Growing cotton on the far side of the Moon

In January 2019, China became the first nation to land a spaceship on the far side of the Moon. It seemed like that achievement was not enough, they proceeded to grow crops there for experimenting purpose. The lander carried with its a container inside of which was soil, cotton, and potato seeds. At first, the cotton seed was sprouting but due to the harsh environment, it died.

2. National social rating

In 2019, China carried out a new system called “social rating system.” However, this one seems to be a dubious initiative of the government to control its citizens. Each point is awarded based on the residents’ social contributions, credit rating, and more. Whereas, those that are publicly against the government, or commit crime are penalized. The government uses the score to control its citizens’ access to loans, travel tickets, permits, etc.

3. Cockroaches used for waste disposal

This one is actually a pretty cool but gross idea. China is facing a severe air pollution problem. Therefore, management companies are trying to look for alternative methods for burning waste. One of them is building cockroach plants where every day, a billion of the insects devour an amount of approximately 50 tons of kitchen waste. Dead cockroaches are crushed and used as a protein source.

4. Space solar power plant

This one is still in its planning phase. From 2021 to 2025, China has plans on putting solar farms in the stratosphere. There, the solar panels can gather energy and beam it back to Earth while not being obstructed by cloud cover, nighttime or smog.

5. Gene-edited babies

A Chinese doctor has succeeded in gene-editing a pair of twin girls while they were still in the embryo stage, making them immune to AIDs and HIV. However, it is still unclear if there were any side effects as a result of this research. By carrying out this project, the scientist was going against the country’s strict law.

6. 3D-Printed concrete bridge

Also in this year, China revealed the first ever 3D-printed concrete bridge in the world. It was not the whole bridge that was printed but rather parts of it. And then they were assembled together. The bridge was completed in just 450 hours, which is a record time.

7. Gait-recognition AI

The country is trialing a new kind of AI surveillance system which can identify an individual’s identity based on their walking posture. It is capable of identifying people from a distance of 50m. The question here is how the government can gather such a database for this surveillance system to work. Maybe it will be used for cases where the government is looking for wanted criminals.

8. Smart highway

China Mobile is constructing a smart highway which has built-in 5G technology in Wuhan city. Some of the features are real-time traffic data, smart toll stations without human operators, AI-powered traffic predictions, and assistance for autonomous vehicles.

9. Cloned police dogs

Researchers are carrying an experiment with which they believe can boost the efficiency and cut down cost for the canine units of the local police. The conducted research is on cloning the best sniffer dog in service. The cloned dogs are then trained for duty. The idea behind this is to get rid of the breeding and selecting process, which is considered as time-consuming. Instead of having to go through these processes, researchers plan to raise the entire group of the same dogs which inherit the capabilities from the best service dogs.

10. Facial recognition assisting desk at airports

Chinese airports have figured out how to save time for travelers. Instead of having to look at the constantly changing digital boards to search for their flights and gates, travelers can now get help from help desks with built-in facial recognition system. These desks will scan your face and automatically give you your flight details and direct you to your gate within seconds.

11. AI-powered TV news anchors

Xinhua, a state-run news agency has discovered how to have anchors on standby all day long without having to pay them a dime. So instead of hiring different anchors for different shifts, they are now working on AI-powered anchors which based on a system similar to deepfakes. This system modifies pre-recorded footage of anchors from a database to make them read the latest news.

12. 5G remote brain surgery

China just proved the importance of 5G technology in the future. With the help of 5G, a doctor successfully performed brain surgery on his patient remotely. At the time of the operation, he was over 3,000km away. The remote surgery happened with almost no lag.

13. Night vision mice

Biological researchers from China carried out an experiment on mice so that they could see in the dark. What they did was giving them nanoparticles injections which provided them with night vision for a maximum of 10 weeks. And because this procedure was a non-invasive and non-surgical one, it might be possible to give humans the same ability.

14. Extremely nimble robots

The robot, which was from a Chinese company, made its debut at the MWC 2019 in Barcelona. The company called it an “intelligent servant robot” which could carry out tasks including dancing, getting a glass of water. The robot was even able to hold a raw egg and didn’t break it.

15. Vertical forest city

A Chinese real estate developer is working on building something called a “vertical forest city,” which is a complex built along the Liujian river. The project is set to be complete in 2020. The entire complex will have apartments, schools, offices, etc. The company behind this project plans to grow around 40,000 trees inside the building. These plants will become a giant air filter for the whole building as it is built in a highly polluted region.