China's Shenzhou-19 astronauts return home after forced landing site switch
China's three-person Shenzhou-19 crew successfully landed at a new site in the Inner Mongolia region on Wednesday, after poor weather delayed their return from the Tiangong space station.
The crew's commander Cai Xuzhe and astronauts Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze – the country's third female astronaut and the only female space flight engineer – were originally supposed to make their return one day earlier.
The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said on Wednesday that the return of the Shenzhou-19 crew – including the youngest Chinese astronaut so far – was delayed by strong winds at the original landing site.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
The agency added that the landing would be moved to the eastern section of the Dongfeng landing site where the meteorological conditions met requirements. It marked the first time a crew would land in this area, it said.
'Faced with new situations and new challenges, the entire project team worked closely together, linked up with the ground and the sky, and quickly formulated response measures to ensure the success of the mission,' the CMSA said in a social media post.
The Shenzhou-19 crew began their six-month mission at the space station on October 29, completing tasks like compiling and sending remaining experimental data before returning to Earth, according to the CMSA.
Ahead of their departure, the astronauts handed over the reins to the Shenzhou-20 crew, who arrived at the space station on April 24.
At a press conference the day before the Shenzhou-20 launch, CMSA deputy director Lin Xiqiang said that the Shenzhou-19 crew took part in 88 research projects – in the fields of microgravity, life sciences, aerospace medicine, and materials science – while on board.
This included the world's first in-orbit demonstration of artificial photosynthesis technology, which produced oxygen and ingredients necessary to make rocket fuel.
Cai, the crew's commander, performed five activities outside the Tiangong, making him the Chinese astronaut with the most extravehicular activities. Cai and Song also set a new world record for the longest spacewalk, at nine hours and six minutes, Lin said.
The new crew is expected to continue the work of the Shenzhou-19 astronauts, including running science experiments and performing extravehicular activities. They will also begin new experiments, including studying space tissue regeneration.
More from South China Morning Post:
For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Borneo Post
3 days ago
- Borneo Post
'More advanced than imagined': Archaeologists tracing origins of Chinese civilisation at Mount Tai
An aerial drone photo shows the Dawen River (upper left), Dawenkou Site Museum (upper right) and the core area of the Dawenkou site in Tai'an, east China's Shandong Province. – Xinhua photo JINAN (June 1): At the foot of Mount Tai in east China, archaeologists work carefully in fields abloom with flowers, gently brushing soil from exposed ruins. The remnants are vestiges of a once-great civilization that prospered approximately 6,100 to 4,600 years ago. This is part of a new phase of excavations at the Neolithic Dawenkou site. The dig, launched in 2024 and set to continue through 2028, will help archaeologists uncover more information about how early human communities lived, worked, and built their societies, said Zhang Baowei, head of the Dawenkou Cultural Heritage Preservation Center. He said the team had already unearthed intriguing discoveries – including an 85-metre-wide trench, possibly used for defense, that could shed light on the early development of social organisation or even statehood. Mount Tai, a Unesco World Heritage Site and one of China's most sacred mountains, has long been culturally and spiritually symbolic. Now, its foothills are offering new insights into the origins of Chinese civilisation. The Dawenkou Culture, which preceded the better-known Longshan Culture, once spread across more than 200,000 square kilometres. It was centered around Mount Tai and Dawen River in present-day Shandong Province. First identified in the 1950s during railway construction, the site has yielded thousands of artifacts over the years – from pottery and jade to burial sites and dwellings. Some items are marked with symbols that some researchers believe may be early precursors to Chinese writing. Archaeologists have marveled at the sophistication of the Dawenkou Culture. Liu Yunlong, an archaeologist working at the site, said patches of red burnt earth uncovered were believed to be the remains of collapsed house walls. According to Liu, these walls may have been deliberately fired in their entirety to enhance structural stability, suggesting that people at the time had already mastered the ability to control extremely high temperatures. In modern attempts to replicate the technique, Liu added, archaeologists fired a similar structure continuously for four days at nearly 800 degrees Celsius – but were unable to reproduce the same result. 'Our Neolithic ancestors were far more advanced than we imagined,' he said, noting that even the layout of the dwellings showed signs of deliberate and sophisticated design. Excavations indicate that the Dawenkou people had already engaged in barter trade, and early handicrafts such as brewing, pottery-making, and textile production were beginning to emerge. Photo shows pottery displayed at the Dawenkou Site Museum in Tai'an, east China's Shandong Province. – Xinhua photo Artifacts found in burial sites suggest the presence of social stratification and a clear division of labour. Some graves contain a wealth of goods, implying the emergence of private property, social classes, and even rudimentary forms of royal authority. These burial practices also reveal the existence of ritual systems aimed at regulating interpersonal relationships – an early form of what later became known in Chinese history as 'Li'. Zhang noted that the Dawenkou ritual system likely influenced other civilisations of that time, as well as those of the later Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600BC – 256BC). After being systematised by Confucius (551 BC-479 BC), these rituals continue to profoundly shape Chinese civilisation to this day. The ongoing excavations are also part of China's broader effort to explore the origins of its ancient civilisation. Around the same time of the Dawenkou Culture, multiple early cultures developed across the vast land of China, contributing to a pluralistic yet unified framework that underpins the origins of Chinese civilisation. In the 21st century BC, China's first dynasty – the Xia – was established, whose existence has been confirmed through archaeological findings. Before the Xia Dynasty, the Liangzhu Culture, which emerged in the south, is also believed to have exhibited features of an early state. The Dawenkou Culture represents another prominent example of early social complexity, shedding light on the origins of Chinese civilization. Shan Jixiang, former curator of the Palace Museum, once remarked that the discovery of Dawenkou relics pushes the origins of Chinese civilisation back by 2,000 to 3,000 years. 'The remarkable achievements of ancient Chinese civilisation make people today feel proud,' said Zhang. Photo shows a zun, a type of Chinese ritual ceramic wine vessel with a vase-like form, displayed at the Dawenkou Site Museum in Tai'an, east China's Shandong Province. – Xinhua photo China places great importance on the protection and transmission of its ancient culture. With a history that spans thousands of years, Chinese civilisation represents the unique spiritual identity of the nation, serves as the cultural foundation of contemporary China, and remains a vital link connecting Chinese communities around the world. It is also a rich source of inspiration for cultural innovation, he said. Experts note that the significance of archaeology goes beyond understanding the past; it also holds relevance for modern life. In 2016, the Dawenkou national archaeological site park was established, serving as a base for historical and cultural education as well as youth programmes. The park receives nearly 100,000 visitors annually. 'It is a source of pride to live on the land of our ancestors,' said Zhang Yiqiang, Party secretary of Dawenkou Township. 'The perseverance and creativity of early peoples inspire us to do better.' In recent years, Dawenkou has developed an industrial park and launched pilot projects for high-yield farmland, helping raise local incomes. At the foot of Mount Tai, a company draws inspiration from traditional culture to develop health products made from polygonatum, a traditional Chinese herb. The business of Taishang Polygonatum Biotech Co Ltd has helped lift more than 40,000 farmers out of poverty. 'What our ancestors left us is more than physical nourishment; it is a spiritual and civilisational legacy,' said Wang Qian, the company's executive vice general manager. – Xinhua ancient archaeology China Chinese civilisation Mount Tai Xinhua
The Star
3 days ago
- The Star
China unveils world's first AI nuke inspector
Chinese scientists have developed an artificial intelligence system that can distinguish real nuclear warheads from decoys, marking the world's first AI-driven solution for arms control verification. The technology, disclosed in a peer-reviewed paper published in April by researchers with the China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE), could bolster Beijing's stance in stalled international disarmament talks while fuelling debate on the role of AI in managing weapons of mass destruction. The project, which is built on a protocol jointly proposed by Chinese and American scientists more than a decade ago, faced three monumental hurdles. These were – training and testing the AI using sensitive nuclear data (including real warhead specifications); convincing Chinese military leaders that the system would not leak tech secrets; and persuading sceptical nations, particularly the United States, to abandon Cold War-era verification methods. So far, only the first step has been cleared. 'Due to the classified nature of nuclear warheads and component designs, specific data cannot be disclosed here,' the CIAE team wrote in their Atomic Energy Science and Technology paper. The admission highlights the delicate balance between scientific transparency and inevitable opacity around nuclear arms control efforts. The AI verification protocol, dubbed 'Verification Technical Scheme for Deep Learning Algorithm Based on Interactive Zero Knowledge Protocol', employs a multiple-stage process blending cryptography and nuclear physics. Using Monte Carlo simulations, researchers generated millions of virtual nuclear components – some containing weapons-grade uranium, others disguised with lead or low-enriched materials. A many-layer deep learning network was trained on neutron flux patterns, achieving extremely high accuracy in distinguishing real warheads. To prevent the AI gaining direct access to top-secret nuclear weapon design, a 400-hole polythene wall was erected between the inspection system and real warhead, scrambling neutron signals and masking warhead geometries while allowing radiation signatures to pass. If inspectors and host nations engage in several rounds of randomised verification, deception odds can be reduced to nearly zero, according to the study. The system's linchpin lies in its ability to verify chain-reaction capability – the essence of nuclear weapons – without exposing design details. The AI knows nothing about the warhead's engineering, but it can still determine authenticity through partially obscured radiation signals. CIAE, a subsidiary of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), serves as a critical research hub for nuclear weapons technology. Yu Min, a nuclear physicist from the institute, pioneered groundbreaking advancements in miniaturising China's nuclear arsenal, devising unique technical solutions that earned him the revered title of 'Father of China's Hydrogen Bomb'. The disclosure arrives amid frozen US-China nuclear negotiations. While US President Donald Trump repeatedly sought to restart talks, Beijing has resisted, citing disparities in arsenal sizes (China's estimated 600 warheads vs America's 3,748) and distrust of legacy verification methods. 'In nuclear warhead component verification for arms control, it is critical to ensure that sensitive weapon design information is not acquired by inspectors while maintaining verification effectiveness,' the CIAE team wrote. 'Current solutions primarily rely on information barrier methods developed by national laboratories in Britain, the United States and Russia. These barriers constitute complex automated systems that process highly classified measurement data during inspections, ultimately displaying only binary 'yes/no' results. 'However, such systems suffer from multiple drawbacks: their inherent complexity demands mutual trust between inspecting and inspected parties against hidden back doors, while excessive dependence on electronic systems creates vulnerabilities for potential exploitation of electronic/IT back doors to illicitly access sensitive information,' they added. To ensure thrust and transparency, the CIAE team said that the AI could be jointly coded, trained and verified by the inspecting and inspected party. Before testing the nuclear warheads, the AI deep learning software 'must be sealed', they said. The technology's unveiling coincides with heightened global anxiety over AI militarisation. While Washington and Beijing have jointly banned AI from nuclear launch decisions, the construction and deployment of large-scale smart defence infrastructure such as the Golden Dome proposed by the Trump administration would inevitably employ AI to guide or even control automated weapons to achieve quick response on a global scale. -- South China Morning Post
Borneo Post
4 days ago
- Borneo Post
Chinese hybrid rice boosts food security in Madagascar
Song (back, third right) poses with local residents in Anosiarivo, Madagascar, on March 25, 2025. – Xinhua photo ANTANANARIVO (May 31): 'Before, our land barely produced enough to feed us. Now, with hybrid rice, we not only eat our fill, but sell the surplus and even save to buy more land,' a farmer called Femosoa Rakatondratsara told me, smiling beside his blossoming rice field. Mahitsy, a town some 35km north-west of Antananarivo, Madagascar's capital, is home to the Chinese Hybrid Rice High-Yield Demonstration Base. In the village of Anosiarivo, another hybrid rice site, vibrant paddies stretched to the horizon under blue skies and fluffy clouds. Ramboasalama Anolalaina Ratsina, an expert from the Ministry of Agriculture, was leading local farmers in pest control. Having twice received planting training in central China's Hunan Province, he is now a key figure in local hybrid rice promotion. 'All my planting skills came from Chinese experts,' he said. Over the years, Chinese experts in Madagascar have not only promoted quality seeds but also passed on knowledge, from hands-on fieldwork to theoretical training. Now, technicians like Ratsina are sharing that expertise with farmers across Madagascar. After Irene Nonenjanahary's first hybrid rice harvest brought in a bumper yield last year, she is more confident than ever. 'We used to rely on the weather,' she said. 'Now we rely on technology.' In 2007, China launched the hybrid rice demonstration center project in Madagascar, led by the Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Yuan's Hi-Tech Seed. It was one of the 10 agricultural technology demonstration centers pledged at the first Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. 'Farmers here relied entirely on the mercy of nature. Poor seeds, limited knowledge, and weak infrastructure meant many couldn't even grow enough to eat,' said Hu Yuefang, a Chinese agronomist. Hu (right) inspects hybrid rice growth with local farmers in Mahitsy, Madagascar, on March 25, 2025. – Xinhua photo 'The first challenge to promote hybrid rice was choosing the right seed,' said Hu. To identify varieties suited to Madagascar's climate and soil, he and his team carried dozens of seed samples across almost every major rice-growing region of the island, eventually developing five locally adapted varieties with high yields, drought tolerance and flood resistance. 'But the real challenge was getting farmers to accept these 'foreign' seeds,' said Chinese agricultural expert Song Chunfang. To prove the benefits, they planted side-by-side demonstration plots – one with local rice, the other with hybrid. Using the same planting methods, the yield of hybrid rice was two to three times that of local varieties. Impressed by the yield, farmers dubbed it 'Tsarabe' – 'the best thing' in Malagasy. Hu recalled living in leaky thatched huts, collecting rainwater to drink, and trekking kilometres for firewood. 'Once, while transforming a swampland, a tree branch pierced my foot. It was the villagers who carried me out,' he said. Farmers walk along the ridges of hybrid rice paddies in Mahitsy, Madagascar, on March 26, 2025. – Xiinhua photo Today, hybrid rice cultivation in Madagascar has reached a cumulative 90,000 hectares, with average yields of 7.5 tons per hectare – two to three times that of local varieties – making it Africa's largest hybrid rice producer by area. 'I hope one day hybrid rice will be planted across Madagascar,' said Eric Laperozy, my Malagasy colleague. 'That way, more families can eat well, earn more, and my country can achieve food self-sufficiency.' – Xinhua China hybrid rice Madagascar Xinhua
