News on China's scientific and technological development.

China's latest and most-advanced rescue medical helicopter




The latest model of a rescue medical helicopter is seen aboard the hospital ship Peace Ark of the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) prior to its takeoff during an exercise in the Indian Ocean on Sept. 14, 2010. The helicopter made its first debut on Monday after successfully landing on the Peace Ark. (Xinhua/Zha Chunming)


Two Chinese soldiers pilot a newly-designed rescue medical helicopter during an exercise in the Indian Ocean on Sept. 14, 2010. (Xinhua/Zha Chunming)


Mr. Liu Bingli, head of a medical team on the latest rescue medical helicopter, participates in an exercise in the Indian Ocean on Sept. 14, 2010. (Xinhua/Zha Chunming)


A member of a medical team, on the newly-designed rescue medical helicopter, checks equipment while participating in an exercise in the Indian Ocean on Sept. 14, 2010. (Xinhua/Zha Chunming)

Ethnic Chinese Guo "boosts the overall efficiency of LCDs by more than 400 percent"



"A Simple Filter Could Make LCDs More Efficient
The new approach wastes far less light, saving energy.

By Katherine Bourzac
Technology. Published by MIT Review.
Monday, August 30, 2010

A new type of color filter could significantly increase the energy efficiency of liquid-crystal displays (LCDs), which dominate the market in everything from televisions to cell phones.


Color filter: The grating shown in the top image filters different colors of light depending on the width of its slits, and the distance between them. The bottom image shows the colors produced by the filter when it’s illuminated with white light.
Credit: Nature Communications

The best LCDs today only emit about 8 percent of the light produced by their backlights. This means that they drain batteries in portable electronics and ramp up electricity bills in homes (the California Energy Commission estimates that televisions consume 10 percent of the electricity in homes).

Normally, LCDs use several layers of optical devices to colorize, polarize, and shutter light from a backlight, and inefficiencies emerge at every step. Now researchers at the University of Michigan have made an optical film that promises to boost the overall efficiency of LCDs by more than 400 percent--so that 36 percent of light makes it through. The new optical film was developed by researchers led by L. Jay Guo, professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at the university. The film colors and polarizes the light that passes through an LCD more efficiently than conventional components can.

The color filter is a three-layer sandwich of an insulating material in between two layers of aluminum; the entire stack is less than 200 nanometers thick and is etched with periodic slits, like a grate. The distance between the slits and their width determines the color they'll produce when illuminated by a white backlight. This is because the grating patterns are on the same size scale as the wavelength of visible light. In a paper published online last week in the journal Nature Communications, the Michigan researchers show that they can make a rainbow of colors using such a filter.

As well as being more efficient, the filter is also simpler to make than current LCDs, says Guo. It is possible to create red, blue, and green subpixels by patterning gratings of differing widths side by side in a single manufacturing step. Conventional LCDs use pigments to define the red, green, and blue subpixels that filter light from the backlight. Each of these colorants is deposited one at a time and then patterned to make a subpixel. The new gratings transmit more light than colorant-based filters; whereas a traditional green filter transmits about 40 percent of the light; a green, grating-based filter transmits 60 percent. Other colors have similar efficiency advantages.

The gratings also polarize the light very efficiently. This is vital, because the liquid-crystal shutters that open and close to let light from each pixel through only work with polarized light. Conventional displays use polarizing filters that absorb half the light--the portion with the wrong polarization. Guo's gratings let light of the right polarization pass though, but they don't absorb the other 50 percent--instead, this light is reflected back in the other direction. A mirror reflects this light and flips some of its polarization, allowing more light to pass back through the gratings.

Other researchers have made similar grating structures for focusing light or getting more light out of displays or solar cells. "It's a very easy structure to build and pattern," says Peter Catrysse, a researcher at Stanford University. He adds that Guo's color filter and polarizer shows versatility and tunability, a sign that the field is "getting closer to building components that can be used for practical purposes."

Nicholas Fang, a professor of mechanical science and engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, sees other directions for the work. He notes that Qualcomm is working on even lower-power reflective displays. Combining this type of display with the new filter could eliminate the backlight altogether. "There's a possibility of building this [grating] as a reflective-based color filter," he says.

The Michigan researchers are now focused on making the filters "production worthy," or compatible with the machinery used to mass-produce displays, says Guo. Last year, his group demonstrated a way to use the same nanopatterning techniques over large areas at high speed on roll-to-roll printers. "We have used continuous roll-to-roll manufacturing to make very similar structures," he says. "The individual elements are there, and now it's a matter of integration."

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger checks out China's high-speed rail




California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger inspects a China's high-speed train at Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai, China, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010. Schwarzenegger is riding the rails, China's new high speed train lines, engaging in a little window shopping while peddling Californian exports and tourism in the world's second-largest economy. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)


California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, center, walks next to a high-speed train Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010, at Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)


California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, left, is briefed as he tours China's high-speed train at Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai, China Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)


California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks next to a China's high-speed train at Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai, China, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)


California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger attends a meeting with China's Ministry of Railways Vice Minister Lu Chunfang Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010, at Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)


California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, left, looks at China's Ministry of Railways Vice Minister Lu Chunfang, right, speaking Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010 at Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

"Schwarzenegger checks out China's high-speed rail

By ELAINE KURTENBACH (AP) – 3 days ago

SHANGHAI — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is engaging in a little window-shopping of China's new high-speed train lines while peddling Californian exports and tourism in the world's second-largest economy.

His own state budget $19 billion in the red, Schwarzenegger says he is hoping for some "creative financing" from Asia to help lower costs and get California's proposed high-speed rail lines up and running.

Industry experts say cash-rich China may be best placed to help with funding, and less risk averse than others whose banks are still recovering from the financial crisis. That could prove a key competitive advantage as it goes head-to-head against better established high-speed rivals rail in Asia and Europe.

"That is something very attractive about the Chinese which the Europeans will find very difficult to compete with," said Michael Clausecker, director general of Unife, the Association of the European Rail Industry. "Even in America, finance is a scarce resource. Rail investments need a lot of investment up front."

China has invested huge prestige, and tens of billions of dollars, in its high-speed rail industry — building on mostly European know-how acquired in joint ventures with Siemens AG, Alstom SA and to a lesser extent Japan's "Shinkansen" bullet train operators. It is gearing up to fight for a chunk of what Unife estimates to be a 122 billion euros ($155 billion)-a-year global market for railways.

Schwarzenegger posed for photos Sunday on a high-speed train in Shanghai, after spending Saturday, the first day of his weeklong trade mission of nearly 100 business leaders, hobnobbing in Hangzhou with Jack Ma, founder of Internet trading behemoth Alibaba.com, and other Chinese entrepreneurs.

"Today what I have seen is very, very impressive. We hope China is part of the bidding process, along with other countries around the world, so that we can build high speed rail as inexpensively as possible," he told reporters.

He also announced a plan for Silicon Valley to bid for the 2020 World Expo, which would be California's first time to host the event since 1940.

The governor will also check out high-speed rail in Japan and South Korea — two others among at least seven countries that have officially shown interest in helping develop California's system — assuming the state can find the money.

"There is great potential over there and in Japan and Korea, when it comes to building our high-speed rail and also providing the money for building the high-speed rail," Schwarzenegger told reporters before leaving California.

The fact-finding mission is also aimed at better understanding the technologies on offer.

"He will learn a lot from that," said T.C. Kao, director of the Railway Technology Research Center at National Taiwan University, who has introduced many U.S. delegations to the technology.

"They get the impression, 'We need it.' They feel behind," he said. "You have to experience it to understand."

The U.S. is the world leader in freight railway technology but has almost no high-speed rail expertise. It will have to import the technology for the 13 regional projects that have won $8.5 billion in initial federal funding, with $2.5 billion more to come this year and hundreds of billions needed before lines are up and running.

China already has the world's longest high-speed rail network, about 4,300 miles (6,920 kilometers) of routes, including nearly 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) that can run at top speeds of 220 miles per hour (350 kph). It aims to develop 9,900 miles (16,000 kilometers) of such routes by 2020.

All of that construction involves "highly sophisticated work on infrastructure, on rails and design of track structure," says Chris Barkan, director of the Railroad Engineering Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, who recently toured facilities in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

A visit to a mammoth manufacturing plant in the eastern city of Qingdao "absolutely blew me away," he says.

Having already build up a huge capacity for manufacturing trains and the systems to serve them, China is looking for a chance to prove it has the wherewithall to export the most advanced technology.

"China now owns the most advanced high-speed rail technology and winning contracts in the U.S. would surely help it to sell more to other countries," said He Xin, an industry analyst at Donghai Securities in Beijing.

Other industry experts say it is difficult to know just how much China has achieved on its own. Both European and Japanese industry officials have expressed skepticism.

But Chinese officials insist the technology they plan to export is truly their own. They also have hired American lawyers to check for potential intellectual property problems, says T.C. Kao, director of the Railway Technology Research Center at National Taiwan University.

"China is probably pretty sure it can pass the test on IP," says Kao, former vice president of Taiwan's high speed rail company. "China has copied, yes, but it has improved on the technology. Many things have been altered."

Kao and other experts say that as newcomers, the Chinese would face logistical and regulatory challenges in entering a brand new market, compared with companies like Siemens, Alstom SA and Canada's Bombadier Inc. which already have train factories in the U.S.

But China's experience in gradually raising the speeds of its train systems and then adding high-speed rail, sometimes on dual-use tracks, may give it an edge in designing systems suitable for the U.S., which in most areas plans a similar incremental approach.

South Korea's KTX high-speed rail, which is based on France's TGV technology, shares the same advantage, said Kim Seok-gi, director of the international railroad division at South Korea's Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.

South Korea is "absolutely interested" in California's projects and meanwhile is preparing a bid for a high-speed rail project in Brazil linking Rio de Janiero, Sao Paulo and Campinas, he said.

For Japan, which pioneered high-speed rail in 1964, billions in contracts would be a welcome boost to the faltering economy. But its bullet trains, despite their impeccable record for safety and efficiency, run on dedicated tracks.

California and other states will eventually have to adapt whatever systems they choose to local conditions, and step up training of engineers and other personnel needed to build and run those trains by "orders of magnitude," said Barkan from the European rail industry group.

"We're not going to be able to pick up train technology from elsewhere, drop it down in the United States and expect it to work perfectly," he said. "The question is where is the intellectual talent to build all these systems?"

AP Business Writer Kelly Olsen in Seoul and researcher Ji Chen in Shanghai contributed to this report."

Chinese navy hospital ship Peace Ark arrives in Gulf of Aden




The Chinese navy hospital ship Peace Ark sails in the Indian Ocean on Sept. 13, 2010. (Xinhua/Zha Chunming)


The ship on Wednesday arrived in the Gulf of Aden to provide medical service for the Chinese escort fleet, as its first overseas medical mission. (Xinhua/Zha Chunming)


Medical workers transfer mock wounded people into a rescue medical helicopter during an exercise aboard the Chinese navy hospital ship Peace Ark on Sept. 15, 2010. (Xinhua/Zha Chunming)


Medical workers treat mock wounded people during an exercise aboard the Chinese navy hospital ship Peace Ark on Sept. 15, 2010. (Xinhua/Zha Chunming)


Medical workers treat mock wounded people during an exercise aboard the Chinese navy hospital ship Peace Ark on Sept. 15, 2010. (Xinhua/Zha Chunming)



"Chinese navy hospital ship to tour Gulf of Aden
English.news.cn 2010-08-30 19:55:41

BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese navy hospital ship will leave China for the Gulf of Aden on Sept. 1 to offer medical services to Chinese escort missions in the waters, the Chinese Defense Ministry said here Monday.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) hospital ship Peace Ark will also provide medical services to officers and soldiers of other countries conducting anti-piracy activities in the waters.

The ship will also call at Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, the Seychelles and Bangladesh.

During the visits to the five countries, the ship will offer medical treatment to local people and carry out medical exchange."

Microfluidic chip device identifies bacteria types



"Microfluidic chip device identifies bacteria types

By Bridget Borgobello
06:06 September 16, 2010


A team of biomedical engineers at Taiwan's National Cheng Kung University has created a new on-chip method to identify bacteria

A team of biomedical engineers at Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University has created a new “on-chip” method to identify bacteria. By creating microchannels between two roughened glass slides containing gold electrodes, the researchers are able to sort and concentrate bacteria. A form of spectroscopy is then applied to identify them, providing a portable device that can be used for tasks like food monitoring and blood-screening.

The team, led by Hsien-Chang Chang, a professor at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute of Nanotechnology and Microsystems Engineering.

A tiny electric field is applied to the specially designed microfluidic chip to separate the bacteria (a phenomenon known as dielectrophoresis). A roughened metal shelter in front of the trapping electrode enhances the collection process.

The identification technique relies on “surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy”. Raman spectroscopy. In layman terms, when electrically stimulated, the different components on the surface of a bacteria strand attach themselves to the gold electrodes, creating different wavelength peaks which then form a spectral signature.

This spectral signature or “fingerprint” can then be used to identify different strands or families of bacteria. "In the future, different species of fungi could also be sorted based on their different electrical or physical properties by optimizing conditions such as the flow rate, applied voltage, and frequency," continued Chang. "This portable device could be used for preliminary screening for the pathogenic targets in bacteria-infected blood, urethral irritation, and of raw milk and for food monitoring."

The report on Professor Chang’s new microfluidic chip was published in the American Institute of Physics’ (AIP) journal Biomicrofluidics."

World’s first directly solar powered air conditioning system unveiled in China



"World’s first directly solar powered air conditioning system unveiled in China
By Shane McGlaun on Friday, Sep 17th 2010

In many southern states like Texas, we have the opposite problem that folks in northern states with respect to keeping our homes at a tolerable temperature. In the summer the heat reaches such high temperatures that, a home without air conditioning can literally kill people. In the north, the cold winters can kill. In Texas, the cost of running an AC system in the hot months of the summer can run hundreds of dollars for cooling alone.


China's VICOT solar air conditioning

A new directly solar powered air conditioning system has been unveiled in China that has the potential to not only make cooling a home green, but also save homeowners a huge amount of money at the same time. The machine is made by a company called Vicot.

The machine claims an 85% thermal cooling conversion efficiency and it can utilize solar energy at 27 times what a typical water-heating unit is able to do. The system allows for 24/7 cooling, heating, and a supply of hot water with natural gas used to supplement when needed. The company claims that in 3.5 years, the initial investment for the system can be recovered and in 6.7 years, the entire investment in the system can be recovered. The downside is that the cooling system appears to be too large for most residential home and price is unknown.

Via VPO (Membership required)"

Love your Posts Martian. keep Them up

Huge amount of good work posted Martian, you must have a whole database!

China's High-Speed Rail nationwide network

Gentlemen, you are too generous in your praise. I am glad that you enjoy the posts and share my hobby of China-watching. One of the more exciting technological developments in China is the construction of a nationwide High-Speed Rail (i.e. HSR) network.

We will take a look at the formerly-completed Wuhan-Guangzhou HSR. Next, we will take a peek at the recently-completed Nanjing-Shanghai HSR. Finally, we will check on the progress of the Beijing-Wuhan HSR that is slated for completion next year in 2011. Let's start with a review of the Wuhan-Guangzhou HSR railway station.

China's Nationwide High Speed Rail Network: Now or Never


Wuhan Station with CRH3C in the foreground and CRH2C in the background


Travellers board a high-speed train which heads to Guangzhou in Wuhan, Hubei province



"Comparing Long-Distance High-Speed Rail Routes
Line---------------------------- Distance Travel Time Avg Speed
China: Wuhan-Guangzhou.. 968 km... 2h57........ 328 km/h
Spain: Cordoba-Barcelona.. 966 km.... 4h42....... 206 km/h
France: Lille-Marseille......... 959 km.... 4h40....... 206 km/h
Italy: Turin-Naples............. 900 km.... 5h45....... 157 km/h
USA: Boston-Newport News 1034 km 12h35......... 82 km/h

Published: 28-Dec-2009"

The article "China's Fast Track to Development" provides important insights into China's motivation for building a nationwide high-speed rail system. For your convenience, I have itemized the main reasons. (See )

1) "Moving passenger traffic off clogged conventional rail lines will free up room for an explosion of freight traffic."

2) "Increased freight revenue will pay the capital cost of building the new lines."

3) "By reducing the need for airplanes, cars and trucks to carry passengers and freight, the system will yield big savings in energy intensity and carbon emissions."

"Respected transportation economists Richard Gilbert and Anthony Perl reported that electrified high-speed trains traveling on their own right of way are about 9 times more energy-efficient per passenger mile than private automobiles or domestic jet travel (and hence emit about one-ninth as much pollution as air and auto)." See

4) "Over the next decade, China's Ministry of Railways expects freight carriage to rise 55%, while passenger-miles will double. More miles of track are not a luxury, but a necessity. In addition to the high-speed lines, the ministry plans to lay another 18,000 kilometers of new conventional freight and passenger track by 2020."

5) "In France, Spain or Japan a mile of high-speed track costs triple a conventional mile. But in China, according to World Bank estimates, the cost premium is as low as 20% to 30%. Cheap labor and locally produced equipment help; so does the decision to build much of the network on viaducts, minimizing land acquisition cost. Finally, building an entire network all at once produces massive economies of scale."

6) "This modest cost premium translates into affordable ticket prices—higher than for conventional rail, but lower than for air travel. The average household income in China's 36 biggest cities is now more than $10,000, so tens of millions of Chinese can easily afford high-speed tickets, especially for business trips."

7) "On several recent trips on the Nanjing-Wuhan, Wuhan-Guangzhou and Guangzhou-Shenzhen lines, we found the trains to be about 90% full. The World Bank reckons that in a few years' time the Beijing-Hong Kong line will carry more than 80 million passengers a year, becoming the world's busiest high-speed passenger rail line."

8) "But the really big gain is that by moving most passenger traffic off existing conventional lines, more space is freed up for cargo. China's businesses—ranging from manufacturers to coal mines—have complained for years about the difficulty of securing space on freight trains, which forces them to move a lot of their cargo on more expensive and less efficient trucks. An increase in rail capacity will enable them to put their freight back on trains, generating huge savings. Ton for ton, freight carried by rail costs nearly 70% less than carriage by truck, uses 77% less energy and produces 91% less carbon dioxide emissions."

9) "For one thing, building the network now, when labor costs are still low, is smarter than waiting a decade or two, when higher wages will push the real cost far higher." In my opinion, China has to build a nationwide high-speed rail network now. I don't think labor construction costs will be affordable in another ten to twenty years. Payment for labor is increasing rapidly in China. By the way, Foxconn (e.g. a Taiwanese company) has 800,000 employees in China.


"* JUNE 2, 2010, 8:20 P.M. ET
Foxconn: Production Line Workers In China Get 30% Pay Rise"


"Honda says Chinese labor dispute has been settled

By CARA ANNA (AP) – 9 hours ago

BEIJING — Honda Motor Co. said a labor dispute at a parts plant that crippled the automaker's production in China has been resolved after a wage increase of 24 percent, and the affected assembly plants would be running again Saturday."


"Beijing to Raise Minimum Wage
By REUTERS
Published: June 3, 2010

BEIJING (Reuters) — Beijing will increase the city’s minimum wage by 20 percent, state media reported on Thursday, the latest sign of rising labor costs in the world’s third-largest economy."

World's longest and fastest railway goes online in China


Image above: Shanghai South Rail Station (Flickr user XXOM under CC License)


"This is Shanghai’s ultra-modern South Railway station."


"Modern rail travel in China: Wo Ai enjoys some quiche, salad and a cappuccino at Shanghai’s South Railway station while waiting for a train to Hangzhou."


Nanjing-Shanghai high-speed rail opens today (7/1/2010).

Length: 301 km
Stations: 21
Max speed: 350 kph
Travel time: 73 min
Schedule: 92 pairs of trains/day, later raised to 120 pairs/day



"World's longest and fastest railway goes online in China
16:08, July 01, 2010

The Shanghai-Nanjing high-speed railway, the longest and fastest inter-city high-speed railway with the highest standards in the world, started operation at 8 a.m. today.

China currently has nearly 7,000 kilometers of high-speed railways. Its high-speed railway has the longest operational mileage, the highest speed and largest scale in the world.

The Shanghai-Nanjing high-speed railway covers a distance of 301 kilometers with 21 stations and a top speed of 350 kilometers per hour. It links eight cities around the Yangzte River Delta and has become a powerful engine for modernization in that region, said Wang Yongping, spokesman of China's Ministry of Railways.

The railway line crosses the core area of the Yangtze River Delta, China's most dense urban circle group with the most advanced productivity and powerful economic growth. Statistics show that that region creates 22.1 percent of China's GDP, 24.5 percent of its fiscal revenue and 47.2 percent of total imports and exports though it only accounts for 2.2 percent of China's land area and 10.4 percent of population.

In 2009, GDP of the cities along the railway line, including Nanjing, Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Wuxi and Suzhou, amounted to 2.1 trillion yuan (around 306.72 U.S. dollars), accounting for 61 percent of the GDP in Jiangsu province.

The Shanghai-Nanjing railway line, completed in 1908, is one of the earliest major railway arteries in China. It is also one of the busiest railway arteries in China and the world. According to estimates, total traffic in the Yangtze River Delta will exceed 3 billion passengers in 2010, and traffic will reach 5.5 billion passengers in 2020.

China's State Council approved the plan for the inter-city transportation network in March 2005. The Shanghai-Nanjing high-speed railway, with investments by the Ministry of Railway, Jiangsu provincial government and Shanghai municipal government, started construction on July 1, 2008.

After its completion, there will be 120 pairs of high-speed trains arranged to join daily operation. In its initial period of operation, 92 pairs will be put into operation. It will take only 73 minutes from Shanghai to Nanjing. A one-hour urban circle between the two cities will be made.

The completion of the Shanghai-Nanjing high-speed railway meets the requirement of the Yangtze River Delta, taking a vital step in achieving full modernization in China. The railway, along with the Shanghai-Hangzhou high-speed railway, will strongly improve the network level of regional urban systems and modernization. It is critical to speed up the cooperation, linkage and integration process in that region and offer a wider platform for the development of the Yangtze River Delta, said Shen Yufang, professor of the Yangtze Basin Development Institute at East China Normal University.

Yanli, mayor of Suzhou city told reporters that Suzhou's economy is dominated by industry and the service sector only accounts for 39.4 percent of the tertiary industry. After the Shanghai-Nanjing high-speed railway starts operation, it will be more convenient for Suzhou to absorb Shanghai's radiation effects, which will be vital to promote the service industry— especially for high-end and modern service sectors such as finance, consultation and media industries.

The total length of track for China's high-speed railway (including the newly-built high-speed railway and existing railway lines with speeds of over 200 kilometers per hour) will reach 6,920 kilometers after the Shanghai-Nanjing high-speed rail officially joins the operation. China will be the country with the most comprehensive high-speed railway system technology, strongest integrated capacity, longest operation mileage, highest operation speed and largest on-going construction scale of high-speed railways in the world.

By People's Daily Online"

[Note: Thank you to 'marchpole' for finding this story.]