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The Star
20-07-2025
- Science
- The Star
60-year-old farmer in Anhui province, China builds submarine by hand
Zhang Shengwu and his submarine, "Big Black Fish". - Photo: CCTV News BEIJING: Zhang Shengwu, a 60-year-old farmer from Maanshan, Anhui province, successfully built a submarine by himself, which has drawn widespread attention. The 5-metric-ton home-built submarine, named "Big Black Fish", can dive to 8 meters, CCTV News reported. Zhang is a villager from Zhangdu village in Maanshan, Anhui province. He has been fascinated by invention since childhood. Over the years, Zhang has worked in carpentry, welding, and the shipping industry. Over 20 years ago, he returned to his hometown and built a wharf to sell sand, where he spent his days watching cargo ships come and go. Zhang Shengwu's first-generation submarine. - Photo: CCTV News In 2014, Zhang saw a person build a submarine through a TV programme, this inspired him to build one by himself. Despite his family's concerns over the cost and risk, Zhang insisted on building his own submarine. Drawing on his practical experience with boats and handcrafting, Zhang spent about 5,000 yuan (US$700) on materials. It took him six months to build his first submarine, which is 6 meters long, 1.2 meters high and weighs 2 tons. Although his first submarine suffered from sealing issues during submersion, the invention earned him a utility model patent. This submarine earned Zhang a national utility model patent. The only fly in the ointment is that it leaks when submerged. In 2016, he developed a surface vessel that generated minimal waves while in motion. This invention also received a utility model patent. However, this grassroots inventor had a bigger dream, his most ambitious project is the current new generation submarine. He invested over 40,000 yuan ($5,570) into its construction. This new submarine has a length of 7 meters, a height of 1.8 meters, and weighs 5 tons. It can dive to 8 meters, holds a capacity for two people and travels at a minimum speed of 4 nautical miles per hour. To improve its stability, Zhang poured about 2 tons of concrete into the bottom of the submarine and added two ballast tanks at both ends. "There are two ballast tanks, water fills the tanks to dive, and drains to the surface. The concrete provides weight to maintain stability," he explained. He also reinforced all weld points and used silicone and adhesive for watertight sealing. Watching his submarines grow larger and his techniques improve, he dreams of building an even larger, fully functional one. "Only when you try and succeed, you do realize what you're truly capable of," Zhang said. - China Daily/ANN
Sydney Morning Herald
18-07-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Xi whiz! Australia's finally maturing as an international player
In Albanese's talks with China's president, he did not shrink from the difficult topics. He chided Xi for failing to give Canberra any notice of China's naval exercises and live-fire drill off the Australian coast earlier this year. He urged Xi to allow more Australian investment. He asked for the release of the detained Australian writer and onetime Chinese diplomat Yang Hengjun, under a suspended death sentence. Loading On Xi's part, he showered Albanese with every favour. The Chinese Communist Party has an elaborate system for managing foreigners, 'waishi', designed to achieve Mao Zedong's aim to 'make the foreign serve China'. Nothing is left to chance. 'It's increasingly clear that Chinese President Xi Jinping's preferred Western leader is Anthony Albanese,' the ABC's Bang Xiao concluded. 'The evidence? A six-day trip across China. A private lunch with Xi. The decision to prioritise Albanese over the foreign ministers of India and Russia, and more than four minutes of prime-time coverage of his visit on the 7pm CCTV News.' Further, Xi was punctiliously polite and calculatedly warm. From what we know, he chose to sidestep Beijing's gripes against Australia. For example, most Australian media outlets whipped themselves up into a lather anticipating that Xi would scold Albanese for daring to force the Port of Darwin out of Chinese ownership. The Chinese leader didn't mention it once. Much of the Aussie media wanted a drama. Xi had decided to give them only a romance. It was to be a happy visit for the Australian leader. Why was Xi so determined to hand Albanese a diplomatic bouquet? Three reasons. First, on the specifics of the Darwin Port, it's trivial in China's formulations. Beijing is manoeuvring to cement state shareholding in a portfolio of some 50 ports worldwide, all currently owned by CK Hutchison. This would give China's state-owned Cosco a stake in ports from London to Germany, from South Korea to Jakarta, from Mexico to Malaysia, and dozens more including ports in Sydney and Brisbane. Why make a fuss about Darwin? The second reason, and by far the most important, is that Xi and Albanese were acutely conscious that they were playing their parts in a pregnant moment: the reordering of global power. Xi has long said that 'the East is rising, and the West is declining'. But Donald Trump is accelerating the West's decline at a rate Xi could not have dreamt in his wildest fantasies. Xi is portraying China today in studied counterpoint to Trump's America. Where Trump is alienating allies, Xi is extending the hand of friendship. Where Trump is imposing tariffs, China is offering new deals. Where Trump is madly erratic, Xi is projecting calm stability. Loading One striking indicator of how Xi's China is offering benefits to other countries in contrast to the brickbats from Trump's America: The Griffith Asia Institute reports that Xi's Belt and Road initiative has entered into $US124 billion in new deals with other countries in the first six months of 2025. That is its fastest pace yet. Xi is determined to capitalise on the opportunity that Trump presents. Xi's lovemaking to Albanese this week was intended as a showcase moment for the rest of the world. And it worked for Albanese politically. With Trump refusing to meet him, he's demonstrating that Australia has other options, that Australia will continue to deal with the world without reference to the US. Besides, Australia has had a deal on the table in Washington for over three months now. Among other things, it's an offer to give the US guaranteed security of the supply chain of Australian critical minerals. The Trump administration hasn't bothered to respond. With no interest from Washington, Albanese proceeded to Beijing where a different deal, and potentially an enormous one, was on offer. It's the potential for Australian and Chinese companies to partner in the production of green iron. Australia's biggest existing export – iron ore – is facing a serious squeeze. Andrew Forrest's Fortescue is leading a push to create new trade: to process the ore into green iron in Australia, for export to China. Albanese promoted the plan this week; Beijing is interested. If it proceeds, it could be two to three more times as valuable to Australia as its current rock-based export trade. Economist Ross Garnaut advised Bob Hawke in how Australia could take advantage of China's nascent boom in the 1980s. This week, Garnaut told me that Albanese's 'trip is as important as Bob Hawke's trip to China in 1984 that set up the iron ore trade. It's the future of the Australian economy.' China and Australia are practising mutual geopolitical pressure, and mutual economic release. In 2014, I wrote a paper for the Lowy Institute titled 'The Adolescent Country'. It argued that Australia's foreign policy was parochial, US-dependent and immature. Albanese is showing evidence that it's maturing. He's not kowtowing to Beijing nor fearing Washington. Loading It's an improvement. But much more remains to be done. How would Australian foreign policy experts encapsulate the country's international stance today in a book title? I asked the heads of four research centres. The US Studies Centre's Mike Green, referencing Geoffrey Blainey's famous Tyranny of Distance, proposed The Tyranny of Disinterest. Why? He suggested that Albanese lacks interest in the China threat and that Trump lacks interest in the liberal world order. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute's Justin Bassi came up with Letting Others Decide. Why? 'Avoiding hard conversations with Trump,' he elaborates. 'Avoiding criticism of Beijing. Avoiding investing in defence that would actually give us some leverage. That means we're drifting, neither to safety nor nowhere but into rocky trouble.' Drift was also on the mind of Rory Medcalf of the ANU's National Security College. His title: Continental Drift. The Lowy Institute's Michael Fullilove, in counterpoint to Blainey's book, proposes The Predicament of Proximity. Meaning? 'We are closer to the world's booming markets – and closer to the world's future crises. We are less isolated – and less insulated. We have to decide whether we want to be a spectator or a participant.' It's striking that all four see a country that is too inert, a government that must get more active. One of Mao's catchphrases: 'World in great chaos – excellent situation.' Only for those able and willing to take advantage. That's pressure with no clear release.
The Age
18-07-2025
- Business
- The Age
Xi whiz! Australia's finally maturing as an international player
In Albanese's talks with China's president, he did not shrink from the difficult topics. He chided Xi for failing to give Canberra any notice of China's naval exercises and live-fire drill off the Australian coast earlier this year. He urged Xi to allow more Australian investment. He asked for the release of the detained Australian writer and onetime Chinese diplomat Yang Hengjun, under a suspended death sentence. Loading On Xi's part, he showered Albanese with every favour. The Chinese Communist Party has an elaborate system for managing foreigners, 'waishi', designed to achieve Mao Zedong's aim to 'make the foreign serve China'. Nothing is left to chance. 'It's increasingly clear that Chinese President Xi Jinping's preferred Western leader is Anthony Albanese,' the ABC's Bang Xiao concluded. 'The evidence? A six-day trip across China. A private lunch with Xi. The decision to prioritise Albanese over the foreign ministers of India and Russia, and more than four minutes of prime-time coverage of his visit on the 7pm CCTV News.' Further, Xi was punctiliously polite and calculatedly warm. From what we know, he chose to sidestep Beijing's gripes against Australia. For example, most Australian media outlets whipped themselves up into a lather anticipating that Xi would scold Albanese for daring to force the Port of Darwin out of Chinese ownership. The Chinese leader didn't mention it once. Much of the Aussie media wanted a drama. Xi had decided to give them only a romance. It was to be a happy visit for the Australian leader. Why was Xi so determined to hand Albanese a diplomatic bouquet? Three reasons. First, on the specifics of the Darwin Port, it's trivial in China's formulations. Beijing is manoeuvring to cement state shareholding in a portfolio of some 50 ports worldwide, all currently owned by CK Hutchison. This would give China's state-owned Cosco a stake in ports from London to Germany, from South Korea to Jakarta, from Mexico to Malaysia, and dozens more including ports in Sydney and Brisbane. Why make a fuss about Darwin? The second reason, and by far the most important, is that Xi and Albanese were acutely conscious that they were playing their parts in a pregnant moment: the reordering of global power. Xi has long said that 'the East is rising, and the West is declining'. But Donald Trump is accelerating the West's decline at a rate Xi could not have dreamt in his wildest fantasies. Xi is portraying China today in studied counterpoint to Trump's America. Where Trump is alienating allies, Xi is extending the hand of friendship. Where Trump is imposing tariffs, China is offering new deals. Where Trump is madly erratic, Xi is projecting calm stability. Loading One striking indicator of how Xi's China is offering benefits to other countries in contrast to the brickbats from Trump's America: The Griffith Asia Institute reports that Xi's Belt and Road initiative has entered into $US124 billion in new deals with other countries in the first six months of 2025. That is its fastest pace yet. Xi is determined to capitalise on the opportunity that Trump presents. Xi's lovemaking to Albanese this week was intended as a showcase moment for the rest of the world. And it worked for Albanese politically. With Trump refusing to meet him, he's demonstrating that Australia has other options, that Australia will continue to deal with the world without reference to the US. Besides, Australia has had a deal on the table in Washington for over three months now. Among other things, it's an offer to give the US guaranteed security of the supply chain of Australian critical minerals. The Trump administration hasn't bothered to respond. With no interest from Washington, Albanese proceeded to Beijing where a different deal, and potentially an enormous one, was on offer. It's the potential for Australian and Chinese companies to partner in the production of green iron. Australia's biggest existing export – iron ore – is facing a serious squeeze. Andrew Forrest's Fortescue is leading a push to create new trade: to process the ore into green iron in Australia, for export to China. Albanese promoted the plan this week; Beijing is interested. If it proceeds, it could be two to three more times as valuable to Australia as its current rock-based export trade. Economist Ross Garnaut advised Bob Hawke in how Australia could take advantage of China's nascent boom in the 1980s. This week, Garnaut told me that Albanese's 'trip is as important as Bob Hawke's trip to China in 1984 that set up the iron ore trade. It's the future of the Australian economy.' China and Australia are practising mutual geopolitical pressure, and mutual economic release. In 2014, I wrote a paper for the Lowy Institute titled 'The Adolescent Country'. It argued that Australia's foreign policy was parochial, US-dependent and immature. Albanese is showing evidence that it's maturing. He's not kowtowing to Beijing nor fearing Washington. Loading It's an improvement. But much more remains to be done. How would Australian foreign policy experts encapsulate the country's international stance today in a book title? I asked the heads of four research centres. The US Studies Centre's Mike Green, referencing Geoffrey Blainey's famous Tyranny of Distance, proposed The Tyranny of Disinterest. Why? He suggested that Albanese lacks interest in the China threat and that Trump lacks interest in the liberal world order. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute's Justin Bassi came up with Letting Others Decide. Why? 'Avoiding hard conversations with Trump,' he elaborates. 'Avoiding criticism of Beijing. Avoiding investing in defence that would actually give us some leverage. That means we're drifting, neither to safety nor nowhere but into rocky trouble.' Drift was also on the mind of Rory Medcalf of the ANU's National Security College. His title: Continental Drift. The Lowy Institute's Michael Fullilove, in counterpoint to Blainey's book, proposes The Predicament of Proximity. Meaning? 'We are closer to the world's booming markets – and closer to the world's future crises. We are less isolated – and less insulated. We have to decide whether we want to be a spectator or a participant.' It's striking that all four see a country that is too inert, a government that must get more active. One of Mao's catchphrases: 'World in great chaos – excellent situation.' Only for those able and willing to take advantage. That's pressure with no clear release.
RTHK
07-07-2025
- General
- RTHK
Exhibition marks anniversary of Lugou Bridge Incident
Exhibition marks anniversary of Lugou Bridge Incident An exhibition was launched at the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in Beijing to mark the 88th anniversary of the Lugou Bridge Incident. Image: CCTV China on Monday launched a themed exhibition as part of events to mark the 88th anniversary of the beginning of the full outbreak of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Some 600 people attended a launch ceremony for the exhibition at a museum in Beijing dedicated to the Sino-Japanese War, including representatives of the descendants of wartime military commanders and martyrs, as well as two soldiers who fought in the war. The Lugou Bridge Incident, also known as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, took place on July 7, 1937, when Japanese forces attacked Chinese troops outside Wanping Town on the outskirts of Beijing. It is considered the start of Japan's full-scale invasion and China's whole-nation resistance against the Japanese. The exhibition titled "For National Liberation and World Peace: Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War", features more than 1,500 photographs as well as over 3,200 cultural relics. It showcases how China fought against Japan for 14 years since the Liutiaohu Incident on September 18, 1931, as well as the pivotal role played by the Chinese in securing victory in the World Anti-Fascist War, according to CCTV News. The exhibition open to the public on July 8. Meanwhile, China's Central Archives released to the public a seventh batch of materials, totalling over 57,000 items, including over 40,000 documents specifically related to the Sino-Japanese War.
Gizmodo
29-05-2025
- General
- Gizmodo
Paraglider Defies Death After Freak Updraft Sucks Him 28,000 Feet Into Sky
A Chinese paraglider survived being sucked in by a cloud and flung 28,208 feet (8,598 meters) into the sky—even though he was just testing his new equipment and wasn't intending to take off. On May 24, Peng Yujian, a 55-year-old paraglider, was already roughly 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) above sea level, testing the fit of his new paragliding equipment. About 20 minutes in, a powerful updraft known as a 'cloud suck' shot him about 18,000 feet (5,500 meters) higher. Peng caught the wild event on a camera mounted on his glider, which naturally went viral after being posted on Douyin, China's version of TikTok. The video shows Peng coated in ice and holding on for dear life to the glider's controls. He says he may have lost consciousness during his unexpected descent. 'I felt the lack of oxygen. My hands were frozen outside. I kept trying to talk on the radio,' Peng said in the Douyin video after landing safely 20 miles (33 kilometers) from his launch point, according to Sixth Tone. Peng was in the air for more than an hour, during which he was exposed to temperatures nearing minus 40 degrees Celsius (which equals −40 degrees Fahrenheit). 'Everything ahead [was] a vast expanse of whiteness,' he told Chinese broadcaster CCTV News. Cloud suck is a meteorological phenomenon that can be deadly for paragliders. It refers to a strong upward air movement caused by powerful thermals—columns of rising warm air created when the ground heats unevenly from the sun—feeding into a cumulus cloud. As the updraft gets stronger, it creates a low pressure region at the cloud base, drawing in even more hot air from below. This results in a positive feedback loop that can cause wind speeds of over 1,000 feet (300 meters) per minute. Ewa Wiśnierska, a paraglider from Germany, still holds the dubious record of the highest altitude reached after being pulled by a cloud suck, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. An updraft flung her roughly 33,000 feet (10,000 m) into the sky in 2007. The summit of Mount Everest, the highest point above sea level on earth, is 29,029 feet (8,848 meters) above sea level. The Chinese government grounded Peng after his 'unsanctioned' flight for six months, citing safety regulations, according to a report from the Aero Sports Association of Gansu Province obtained by The Guardian. It's unclear whether that remains in effect, but something tells me he might not want to go paragliding again anytime soon.
