Inspired by each other: The China-Europe story since reform and opening-up

Inspiration from Europe

Since China's journey toward a market economy began, its interactions with the rest of the world have grown. European experts have been flocking to China to take part in the transformation while Chinese citizens have been going overseas, where they have imbibed knowledge and inspiration and come back home to use the new wisdom for building the nation.

In the early 1980s, a group of Chinese technicians went to work on oil rigs in the North Sea. Jiang Xinsong, then head of Shenyang Institute of Automation (SIA) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was one of them. Jiang was amazed by the robots used in offshore diving operations.

Today, the progress at home is equally amazing. China has set a new record in diving explorations, with SIA leading the efforts, and boasts a formidable array of manned and unmanned submersibles.

Jiaolong, the Chinese manned, deep-sea sub named after a mythical dragon, has the greatest depth range among its contemporaries, while the Qianlong series of unmanned subs have been developed at home to boost deep-sea resource exploration.