China's Achievements in Science, Technology and Infrastructure

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1Summary 重點摘要

China's achievements in technology and infrastructure are striking: the world's longest high-speed rail network with Fuxing trains at 350 km/h; Shenzhou crewed spacecraft, Chang'e lunar missions and the Tiangong space station reaching for the stars; BeiDou navigation serving the globe; and the HZM Bridge spanning the Lingding waters. They make Hong Kong proud and touch Hong Kong closely.

2Vocabulary cards Vocabulary

3Step by step Steps

1. Step 1: Know the high-speed networkExample: China's high-speed rail runs over 40,000 kilometres, the longest network in the world — long enough to circle the Earth's equator. The Fuxing train covers the some 1,300 kilometres from Beijing to Shanghai in barely four hours, leaving in the morning and arriving the same day. High-speed rail shortens the distance between cities, making business trips, family visits and tourism easier, and it also drives the economies of the towns along the lines. The technology has also gone abroad: Indonesia's Jakarta–Bandung line opened in 2023 as Southeast Asia's first high-speed railway, with trains and building know-how from China — a calling card of technological cooperation.
2. Step 2: Recall crewed spaceflightExample: in October 2003 Shenzhou 5 carried astronaut Yang Liwei into space; after fourteen orbits of the Earth he returned safely, making China the third nation to master crewed spaceflight on its own. The Shenzhou series has kept advancing, with astronauts walking in space and living and working in orbit. Crewed spaceflight embodies the devotion of countless scientists and marks a great leap in the nation's technological strength. Astronauts have also taught science classes from Tiangong, streaming experiments such as water spheres to pupils across the country; Shenzhou missions pass the baton on, crews shuttle regularly between Earth and orbit, and the station is crewed all year.
3. Step 3: Learn the Moon and the stationExample: in 2020 Chang'e 5 completed its lunar mission and brought back about 1,731 grams of lunar soil — the first new Moon samples returned by humankind in decades. The Tiangong space station orbits about four hundred kilometres above the ground, circling the Earth every ninety minutes or so, where astronauts live for long periods and run scientific experiments. Lunar exploration and the space station show the nation's ambition reaching from near-Earth into deep space. In 2024 Chang'e 6 went one step further, bringing back about 1,935 grams of samples from the far side of the Moon — the first ever collected — adding another achievement to the lunar programme.
4. Step 4: See what BeiDou doesExample: the BeiDou navigation system is made of dozens of satellites offering positioning, navigation and timing services. Fishing boats far out in the South China Sea fix their position with BeiDou and send distress messages; drones over farmland sow seeds and spray automatically by it; and the map navigation on our phones uses BeiDou too. BeiDou is closely tied to daily life and is also key national space infrastructure. In 2020 the BeiDou-3 system was completed, extending service from the Asia-Pacific to the whole world; its short-message function can send text where no signal reaches, invaluable for rescue work and far-sea operations.
5. Step 5: Live the mobile-payment lifeExample: in mainland cities, buying breakfast, riding the bus and paying utility bills all happen with one scan of a QR code, without carrying much cash. Behind mobile payment stands a huge network and data system that records each transaction within seconds. To help elders, many apps offer simplified modes. Experiencing this way of life shows how technology changes the small details of every day. The mainland has also been trialling the digital yuan, whose transactions are recorded by a central system — another innovation in the form of money; knowing such changes helps us see how money keeps evolving.
6. Step 6: Link it to Hong Kong's transportExample: board the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong express rail at West Kowloon — about nineteen minutes to Shenzhen North and forty-eight to Guangzhou South — and join the national network, reaching major mainland cities within a day. The HZM Bridge and the border crossings also keep the two places closely connected in every direction. With Hong Kong woven into the nation's transport network, people and goods flow freely, bringing convenience to the economy and daily life. West Kowloon station uses co-location arrangements: passengers finish both Hong Kong and mainland immigration inside one building without changing trains, making connections to long-distance services to Beijing or Shanghai much easier.
7. Step 7: Link it to Hong Kong's scienceExample: research teams at several Hong Kong universities take part in studying lunar soil and propose designs for national space experiments; secondary students who enter space-experiment design competitions may also be selected to fly their projects. Hong Kong's basic research strength is recognised by the nation, and its youth can join the space endeavour in person. Learning about these achievements inspires pupils to dream their own scientific dreams. When China recruited its latest astronaut batch, Hong Kong residents were for the first time invited to apply as payload specialists; with a solid grounding in science, local youth too can hope to join space missions.

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8Recap Recap

• China's high-speed rail spans over 40,000 kilometres, the world's longest, with Fuxing trains at 350 km/h.
• Space achievements include Shenzhou crewed craft, Chang'e lunar missions, Tianwen at Mars and the Tiangong station.
• BeiDou completed its global constellation in 2020, serving fisheries, farming and everyday navigation.
• Mobile payment and 5G digitalise mainland life, with online shopping and delivery reaching city and village.
• The express rail plugs Hong Kong into the national network, and Hong Kong science joins national space programmes.