Scientific projects propel nation's growth
By Cui Ning (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-10-05 16:28

A high-quality large container inspection system has been used by customs in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Dalian and 11 other cities. The system has greatly improved the checking efficiency and accuracy and helped crack down on smuggling activities.

The system, developed by Tsinghua Tongfang Co, a company attached to Tsinghua University, is a part of the country's National Key Technologies Research and Development Programme.

Using radiation imaging technology, the system can see the contents inside containers without opening them.

It has also been exported to such countries as Australia, Iran, United Arab Emirates, the Republic of Korea, Turkey and Venezuela.

In addition, the system has helped seize dozens of big smuggling caches involving drugs, ivory and cigarettes in the customs of Qingdao, Xiamen and Shanghai, and in Australia and United Arabs Emirates.

The National Key Technologies Research and Development Programme is the country's mandatory plan which was initiated in 1982 and readjusted every five years, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The sixth five-year plan (1982-86) for the National Key Technologies Research and Development Programme focused on agriculture, consumption commodity industry, energy-saving, machinery and electronic equipment, transportation, new technologies and social development.

The seventh five-year plan of the programme (1986-1990) marked the official start of the country's scientific system reform, bringing China to the implementation of many significant scientific plans.

During this period, the output of grain, cotton and cash crops was increased more than 10 per cent.

The eighth five-year plan for the programme (1991-95) scored more than 60,000 scientific achievements, covering such fields as agriculture, transportation, energy resources, modern communication technology, technology to treat environmental pollution, remote-sensing technology, difficult diseases prevention and family planning.

During this five-year period, scientists developed 473 new varieties of grain and vegetables. New seeds of rice, wheat and maize have been spread on 80 million hectares of cropland, increasing a total of 6 billion kilograms of grain and doubling farmers' incomes.

Computer-aided design methods were introduced to many industrial sectors, saving 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) in construction funds throughout the country.

In social development areas, remote-sensing technology was used in flood prevention and mineral resources exploration. The technology helped Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region find 64 additional mineral resources areas.

The ninth five-year plan for the programme (1996-2000) put more efforts to agricultural development, in order to increase the varieties of agricultural products, approach a balance of demand and supply and further approach sufficient outputs of agricultural products.

Efforts have paid off during this five-year period - the country has shifted from the concentration of pursuing grain quantities to today's improving agricultural products qualities, now that grain output can basically meet demand, according to the Department for Rural and Social Development of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Large projects such as the Three Gorges Dam in the Yangtze River Area, nuclear power stations in East China's Zhejiang Province and Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province, were carried out during the period.

Massive studies were kicked off in the fields of health care, environmental protection, earthquake prevention, explorations on ocean and polar regions.

Now the ministry is heading for the 10th five-year plan of the National Key Technologies Research and Development Programme (2001-2005), aiming to further upgrade the country's scientific power by 2005.

From 2001 to 2002, 87 projects had been implemented covering such aspects as information technology, new materials, energy, transportation, agriculture, biological medicine, natural resources development and environmental protection.

In the area of natural resources development, scientists have found large oil deposits in at least six areas around the Shengli Oil Field in East China.

The new findings will considerably help ease the country's oil shortage and especially sustain the better developed eastern areas, sources from the ministry said.

Over the past two decades, the country has also carried out two other important scientific plans: the "863 Programme" (a national high-tech plan initiated in March 1986 aiming to enhance the country's overall power) and the "973 Programme" (a plan started in March 1997 to improve basic scientific research).

Under the umbrella of "973 Programme," scientists have built up a large database which is helpful for 13 provinces or autonomous regions in North China to rationalize land use and social development in the next 10 to 50 years.

Based on studies of the database, scientists can analyze environmental changes in arid areas, and approximately estimate the use of water resources and output of main crops in the future. Thus they can help provide a guideline for human activities for regional policy-makers.

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