THE RISE OF CHINA in the 21st CENTURY .

July 1st . China is set to Celebrate 100 years
of its Communist Party .
Already the Propaganda machine is at work,
but the West ( the U.S.) is really 
falling behind ?

(Disclaimer  note . This is not exactly a "praise " of the CCP or endorsement , its for educational purposes to discuss China emerging into the 21st Century ... with American help of course )

CHINA was so ignored by the west before the Coronavirus outbreak . While the focus under Trump's administration was Russia , a wasteful investigation under the Democrats. The specter of China was looming . Over the last 40 years China has demonstrated a shrewd pattern of economic and financial decisions that have positioned the country very well on the world stage. Chinese leadership has been cautious and successful in managing the internal nationalism and American unilateralism, to some degree , now China is a rising star . (1)>>This year China will celebrate it's 100 years under it's Communist Party , to top it off , China has sent astronauts to it's new space station.The year 2020 was the year that China emerged onto the world. A new China like anyone has ever known .If, back in the 1980s and 1990s, the U.S. government, rather than arguing for Chinese economic opening, had prohibited any U.S. company from investing there, China’s rise would have been significantly delayed.  (2)>>BUT America created this new China in a arguable way . While China has retained it's one party system under the CCP it has crafted a new kind of Capitalism , economy that would make Karl Marx roll over twice .Ideology is nothing in China. The people there respect power and wealth, not your Marxist credentials. The Chinese are proud of being Chinese, not of being hardcore Marxists or Freedom-fighters. They want to restore their rightful place under the sun. (3)>>Any reference to socialism et cetera in their vocabulary is just lip-service to a bygone past.  The U.S. and China have been involved in an escalating trade war over the past 15 months under Trump.The U.S. depends heavily on China for providing the low-cost goods that enable income-constrained American consumers to make ends meet. The U.S. also depends on China to support its own exports; next to Mexico and Canada, China is America’s third largest and by far its most rapidly growing major export market. And, of course, the U.S. depends on China to provide funding for its budget deficits. It is the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury securities – some $1.3 trillion in direct ownership and at least another $250 billion of quasi-government paper. A lack of Chinese buying could turn the next Treasury auction into a rout. (4)>>China’s rise has often been presented as a historical inevitability: A decadent America, stretched to the breaking point by its global commitments, and weary of its superpower burdens, will give way to the more focused, organized, and motivated up-and-comer. Pax Americana will join Pax Britannica and Pax Romana in the dustbin of history.  (5)>>The Chinese propaganda machine enjoys reinforcing this perception of American decline. Amid the pandemic and protests, Chinese media have contrasted Beijing’s (supposedly) superior virus-fighting techniques with the enfeebled response of the Trump administration, claiming that Chinese governance is superior to American democracy. Adding in the tumult caused by the death of George Floyd, the Global Times, a Communist Party–run newspaper, wrote that (6)>>“Chinese analysts” were warning that “the U.S. has become a ‘failed state.’”The Chinese government has made innovation a top priority in its economic planning through a number of high-profile initiatives, such as (7)>>“Made in China 2025,” a plan announced in 2015 to upgrade and modernize China’s manufacturing in 10 key sectors through extensive government assistance in order to make China a major global player in these sectors. However, such measures have increasingly raised concerns that China intends to use industrial policies to decrease the country’s reliance on foreign technology (including by locking out foreign firms in China) and eventually dominate global markets.China’s growing global economic influence and the economic and trade policies it maintains have significant implications for the United States and hence are of major interest to Congress. While China is a large and growing market for U.S. firms, its incomplete transition to a free-market economy has resulted in economic policies deemed harmful to U.S. economic interests, such as industrial policies and theft of U.S. intellectual property. This report provides background on China’s economic rise; describes its current economic structure; identifies the challenges China faces to maintain economic growth; and discusses the challenges, opportunities, and implications of China’s economic rise for the United States.There is the simplest example - the Western media and government tried to collapse China by belittling and bashing China, which actually not only accelerated the Chinese relationship towards leaning in, but also solidified Chinese support for the government - (8)>>after Trump started a trade war to try to crush China, all Chinese believe that China must develop a supply chain that is completely independent of the U.S. - not that China hasn't made concessions, remember ZTE? Remember when Huawei started with a 20% restriction on U.S. technology, and then a 10% restriction until it had to use no U.S. technology at all?If China expected its future bargaining power to rise, it would have every incentive to keep a low profile, the  (9)>>tao guang yang hui policy advised by Deng Xiaoping. It wouldn't need to increase its present bargaining power via signaling aggression. It did this for a while until about 2009. Which makes sense, because until then China was seen as a rising power and the US as a declining power.This century may be the Asian century, but I doubt (10)>>China's century will last past 2050ish. China's economy can continue to grow until 2030, and it may even be able to become a regional leader (in an increasingly multi-polar world) by then.If China's economic growth continues its environmental quality will degrade to the point where China’s youth today will be sicker and less productive in 2030 than today’s young workers. The two main necessary resources that people need, water and air, will be stressed to the point that the Chinese government will have to offshore most of its manufacturing (probably to African nations, and countries in South/S.E Asia) to mitigate against local pollution. Let’s say this happens around 2025. China will need to count on its remaining workers having access to enough capital to sustain a decent consumer market, engaging in end of production cycle manufacturing and complimentary services, and consuming and exporting those goods and services. Everyone in China thinks the US is an extremely bad rule maker, a country that completely ignores the rules of fairness and is using its full power to hinder china development. I’m American, and I think my own country is headed for dark times before China is. I think that there’s a better chance in the future that Chinese military cargo planes will be making humanitarian aid drops onto US soil than there is of China collapsing any time soon.

CHINA IN SPACE !

The Shenzhou-12, or “Divine Boat” 
rocket to Tianhe Space Station is
one example of how far Chinese technology
has advanced .

So, what should we expect from (10.1)>>China in outer space over the next 30 years?China’s space ambitions far exceed any other space faring nation in both range and long-term strategy. This includes an incremental strategy of developing space capacity in sequence. First, build space capacity for cost effective launch and access. "Space is hard". Progress is often full of delays, seeming failures, and changes to plans. China's government tries to minimize the hype until after success, rather than risk giving the people more reason to look badly at them. China has been a civilized nation state for upwards of 5000 or so years now. The borders of the west have fractured and formed and balkanized a million times over within that same time period.It's absolutely silly to think that China wouldn't develop and meet the standards of the west.The Shenzhou-12, or “Divine Boat” mission, is the seventh crewed Chinese spaceflight in history and  (11)>>China's first space manned mission since 2016. Three astronauts, Commander Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo, took off aboard a Long March 2F rocket launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia on June 17. Seven hours after launch, the crew successfully docked with the Tianhe module in low Earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude of around 236 miles.  The Chinese astronauts will spend three months aboard the Tianhe bringing the module online and conducting tests of its systems ahead of other planned manned missions. Other modules will be added to the Tianhe and expanded into the full Tiangong space station in subsequent launches planned for later this year.Building its own space station is a logical step for China, a country that has not been shy about its space ambitions in recent years. It especially makes sense considering that (12)>>China is barred from boarding the International Space Station after Congress passed a law in 2011. However, that does not mean that China’s space station will always be for its own exclusive use, country officials said during a news conference. Ji Qiming, an assistant director with the Shenzhou program, said that China “welcome[s] co-operation in this regard in general,” the BBC reported. “It is believed that, in the near future, after the completion of the Chinese space station, we will see Chinese and foreign astronauts fly and work together,” he said.As part of its burgeoning space program, (13)>>the Chinese rover Zhurong touched down on Mars last month, making China the only country besides the United States to land a robot on the planet.China’s goal to establish a leading position in the economic and military use of outer space, or what Beijing calls its “space dream,” is a core component of its aim to realize the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” In pursuit of this goal, China has dedicated high-level attention and ample funding to catch up to and eventually surpass other spacefaring countries in terms of space-related industry, technology, diplomacy, and military power. If plans hold to launch its first long-term space station module in 2020, it will have matched the United States’ nearly 40-year progression from first human spaceflight to first space station module in less than 20 years.  ALSO China plans to send its first crewed mission to Mars in 2033, the country’s lead rocket maker announced. part of the country’s ambitious plan to begin large-scale development of the Red Planet and ratcheting up tensions with the U.S. as the two race to become the Earth’s dominant power in space.  China intends to send crewed missions to Mars in 2033, 2035, 2037, 2041 and 2043, said Wang Xiaojun, the head of state-owned China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology during a conference.  Ultimately, Wang said, China envisages building a permanent presence on Mars and large-scale development of its resources, with a fleet of vessels running between it and Earth.

LAST WORD A CENTURY OF CHINA .

The years ahead 2021-2030 could be the China decade . There is nothing that our nation can do about it.China has invested more in energy and buying up African resources than America and continues to do so because it's growing so crazily. Keeping up with China is going to be a difficult choice for America . Am saying that starting any cold war with China is dangerous , like Russia before . Unlike Russia Countries, including China, invest in U.S. debt because they have faith in the staying power of the United States economy for as long as it lasts . I am not getting out my crystal  ball , but the decade ahead there could be confrontations between the U.S. and China over Taiwan . IT"S ALSO Kind of funny. If China's future is so bright and America's future is in the toilet, why are so many rich Chinese people laundering their grafted money through Macau in order to emigrate to America?These are the people most enriched by China's rise, and the people who have the most insider knowledge about the workings of the economy and the country's financial and political development. So why are they banging down the doors of Anglo countries who will accept them and their piles of grey money in ever increasing numbers? You can't just blame Hollywood.Times are changing. Many Chinese are watching the Daily Show and Colbert Report, Breaking Bad, House of Cards, and the children know all about the Marvel superheroes. This is the cultural supremacy of the United States that can and should be utilized for establishing peace among nations. These cultural bastions promote the ideology of democratic values that the US feels is inherent in a peaceful world.This leaves either diplomatic dialogue to grow in a symbiotic relationship, or, eventual war. China is fighting dependence on Western nations by mimicking historical American foreign policy ~ buying African resources and votes. The ultimate end game is language. If China adopts the English language for business, then, eventually the west will win. If they do not, then, you have a competing ideology and competing ideologies are historically remarkably intolerant.

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Lamsa  BIBLE  on Ezekiel 38: 2-3

2. Son of man, set your face against China, and against the land of Mongolia, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say,

3. Thus say the LORD God: Behold I am against you, O China, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal

Gog and Magog are the Aramaic names for China and Mongolia. The prince of Magog was the chief prince of Meshech (Moscow). And Tubal (Tobolsk) is a city in Siberia.

Most of the Russians are of Mongolian origin. In Biblical days, the Mongols. Moscovites, and the people of Tubal w ere nomads who preyed on agricultural communities and, at times, fought against the civilized nations.

These powerful tribes were known to Babylonians, Persians, and the remnant of Israel who were scattered east of Persia. Moreover, the Syrians and the Babylonians traded with these nations in the Far East.

These nations from the Far East invaded Persia and Palestine in the twelfth century, but at last were defeated near Jerusalem. They may again under the leadership of China or Russia, try to conquer the world as they did in the reign of Kublai Khan and his grandson, Hulago Khan, and other Mongol overlords. The battle between the Asiatic powers and the European powers may be called the Battle of Armageddon and the advent of the kingdom of God [Rev. 16: 12].

These nations are the descendant of Japheth, the third son of Noah [Gen. 10: 2], and are a warlike people like their brethren, the early teutonic tribes.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

 (1)>>This year China will celebrate it's 100 years under it's Communist Party .On its 100th anniversary, the Chinese Communist Party under President Xi Jinping is all powerful, and with 90 million members, is the biggest political party in the world. But in spite of the outward celebrations, the screws are tightening under anybody in China who wants to create, write or think. In fact, some dissidents believe Xi Jinping has taken China back to 1978, the period before the economic opening up of China, where repression, paranoia and fear are the daily diet for Chinese who do not choose to follow propaganda. The Communist Party, which on July 1 will mark the 100th anniversary of its founding, states in its constitution that it "is the vanguard of the Chinese working class." Article 1 of the national constitution says the "People's Republic of China is a socialist state under the people's democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants."At the time, the Communist Party feared that it would not be able to maintain the basis of its rule without bringing in entrepreneurs during China's transition toward a market economy. The party that once represented the working class has now has 91.91 million members from nearly all walks of life.While much of the focus will be on the past, the party’s centenary will have significant repercussions for China’s future. The celebrations will give China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, a forum to present himself as a transformative figure on par with Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Mr. Xi, 67, is maneuvering to stay in power indefinitely. Basically, the CCP has brilliantly turned their economy into a very powerful weapon AND managed to keep a very close handle on all that power. And they’re currently colonizing Africa and trying to build a modern Silk Road to Europe. Once they have their own supply line secured, they won’t depend on bretton woods to keep their trade safe. The USA will be truly #2. The greatest country in the world will be a dystopian dictatorship with Russia (one of the most advanced military engineering countries who is simply too poor to afford her own weapons designs) as her closest ally and Africa as her pet to siphon resources from. If that doesn’t at least sort of worry you, you’re missing something. (2)>>BUT America created this new China in a arguable way . First, we should understand why China's economy rose.The economic rise of China happened initially because the US government wanted to incorporate China into the modern trade system, against the Soviet Union. Businesses then saw an opportunity to turn a huge profit by moving manufacturing and related tasks to China to be done cheaply.I'm fine with that because the USA was able to remove China as a big factor in the late-cold war conflict with the Soviet Union. The USA was then able to win the Cold War without a shooting war. Allowing the PRC government to gain more power and credibility in its people's eyes was not desirable, but it was all very much under the control of the USA.No trade protection from the USA means economic disaster for China. Now the Cold War is over and USA can turn its attention to its new number one threat (as a nation-state). These tariffs we've seen are just the beginning of the economic stagnation and possible demise of China. Trump may not be very eloquent, but this was the correct move. The U.S.-China economic relationship delivers more benefits to the U.S. than is commonly understood. For example, recent data shows that U.S. exports to China support around 1.8 million jobs in sectors such as services, agriculture, and capital goods. It’s time for China to pay the U.S. back for the help its received over the last 40 years, billionaire and longtime GOP supporter Ken Langone told CNBC. “Remember where we started at, we did everything we should’ve done to help a nation that large and that significant get on their feet,” said Langone, also co-founder of The Home Depot. “Now it’s time to pay the bill.”Langone, also founder of investment bank Invemed Associates, added on “Squawk Box” that President Donald Trump is right in thinking that China is taking advantage of the U.S. If anything, it’s an issue the U.S. government should have dealt with 15 to 20 years ago, Langone said.    (3)>>Any reference to socialism et cetera in their vocabulary is just lip-service to a bygone past.  According to Wiki-pedia : The socialist market economy (SME) is the economic system and model of economic development employed in the People's Republic of China. China responds that its economy meets the generally accepted definition of a market economy in most antidumping cases. It also argues that the United States and other major trading nations agreed when China entered the WTO in 2001 that the NME label would no longer be applied to China after 2016.After four decades of reform, China today falls far short of a free-market economy—but it has also come a long way from central planning where the government controls prices and production. The European Union is China’s number one trading partner. The European Union is sensitive to causing harm to its domestic industry but wants to ensure full WTO compliance and maintain a good relationship with China. The European Commission must come to a decision and propose a directive that would then have to be ratified by the European Parliament and the European Council. While the exact voting mechanism in the European Council (composed of heads of state from EU member nations) will not be known until the commission has proposed the law, it will likely require a majority rather than unanimity, pitting major commodity producing members against others that favor granting China MES.At the same time, Chinese state-controlled banks and the People’s Bank of China have been aggressively purchasing foreign assets, almost certainly to manage the exchange rate. Since April, the big banks have bought $137 billion of foreign assets and repaid $20 billion in foreign debts, while the PBOC itself has added $234 billion in foreign exchange assets. In other words, Chinese government-connected entities have bought nearly $400 billion in foreign currency in the space of eight months, or almost $600 billion at an annual rate. That’s substantially higher than the rate of reserve accumulation the PBOC reported in the peak manipulation years from 2006 to 2011.(4)>>China’s rise has often been presented as a historical inevitability. The middle of the 21st Century came to be known as the "Century of China" . With the example of the new space race with China now capable to launch rockets into space the latest technological achievements have made China already a super power in par with the U.S. and Russia . China appears to be gaining strength. Its gross domestic product expanded 4.9% in the third quarter, an astounding rebound in a world still mostly mired in a pandemic-induced paralysis.But before the U.S. and its allies can move forward, they have to look back to figure out how the world got to this point with China in the first place. The consensus holds that Washington’s policy of engagement was a grave error that created a dangerous adversary to the U.S.The combination of stunning economic growth and unpredictable political governance causes deep concerns about China among the nations in the world. The Chinese leadership has realized the urgency to calm down these concerns and to build a supportive international environment for its ascendancy. To make its rise less a threat, the Chinese government has sponsored many PR events, such as exhibitions in foreign countries, promoting Chinese language programs, and so on.Under the guiding principle of "China's peaceful rise," the Chinese government has conducted actively diplomacy at four (at least) different levels: (1) Creating strategic partnerships with the second-tier powers. China has signed strategic partnership treaties with the EU, Russia and India to strengthen their relationships as well as to balance the American power. (2) Promoting "good neighbor policy" in the Asian Pacific region. By increasing trade with the Asian-Pacific region and also let these countries enjoy trade surplus with China, China has positioned as an important trading partner with these countries. (5)>>The Chinese propaganda machine enjoys reinforcing this perception of American decline. This is a bizarre salvo in China’s propaganda war with the United States.   Chinese experts noted that US society has become divergent and polarized, and regardless of their opinions on the Trump administration, most agreed on one thing - they had lost faith in their country.     Seven decades ago, Mao Zedong publicly embraced a benevolent view of propaganda, as if he were a latter-day prophet spreading the communist gospel: “We should carry on constant propaganda among the people on the facts of world progress and the bright future ahead so that they will build their confidence in victory,” he mused in 1945. Just a few months ago, Xi Jinping urged state journalists to spread “positive propaganda” for the “correct guidance of public opinion.” Indeed, Beijing’s global propaganda efforts in recent years have been more about promoting China’s virtues than about spreading acrimony and confusion, à la Russian information ops and election meddling.   (6)>>“Chinese analysts” were warning that “the U.S. has become a ‘failed state.’”  The Chinese propaganda machine enjoys reinforcing this perception of American decline. Amid the pandemic and protests, Chinese media have contrasted Beijing’s (supposedly) superior virus-fighting techniques with the enfeebled response of the Trump administration, claiming that Chinese governance is superior to American democracy. Adding in the tumult caused by the death of George Floyd, the Global Times, a Communist Party–run newspaper, wrote that “Chinese analysts” were warning that “the U.S. has become a ‘failed state.’” (7)>>“Made in China 2025,”The Chinese government has launched “Made in China 2025,” a state-led industrial policy that seeks to make China dominant in global high-tech manufacturing. The program aims to use government subsidies, mobilize state-owned enterprises, and pursue intellectual property acquisition to catch up with—and then surpass—Western technological prowess in advanced industries.  Since launching his trade war with China, Trump and his team, backed by the US Congress, have repeatedly claimed forced technology transfers by China (as a price for its market access) is at the crux of its ambitious MIC 2025 plans.In addition, China’s subsidies and financing for state-owned or favored enterprises continue to be seen as creating an uneven playing field for foreign investors and the private sector.Under sustained pressure from heightened tariffs, and an ‘all bets are off’ US attitude, which has also emboldened European critics, China may have finally begun to address these fears.(8)>>after Trump started a trade war to try to crush China, all Chinese believe that China must develop a supply chain that is completely independent of the U.S.  Before Trump's tariffs, companies were already starting to move their factories to other parts of Asia with cheaper labor because in the last ten years, Chinese labor has become (relatively) expensive. Trump's tariffs only accelerated this trend. Most of those companies represent a very tiny fraction of the manufacturing in China and just seems like confirmation bias to me like most opinion pieces that keep saying "maybe", "thinking about" etc.The trade war helps China to diversify their economy into more developing countries, and Europe, which is likely a better long term strategy as doing business with the US comes with a bunch of annoying and constantly changing political conditions This is because the US describes the tariffs as ‘negotiating ploys’ for getting a trade deal which implies that they are temporary. Because the tariffs are temporary, US importers will tend to pass the price rises on to their customers rather than going to the expense of setting up new manufacturing contracts outside of China. In other words, businesses will only go to the trouble of changing a manufacturing source if they decide that the tariffs are long term - and US politics is too divided to describe any foreign policy as ‘long-term’. (9)>>tao guang yang hui Tao Guang Yang Hui (韬光养晦), literally translated as "Hide brightness, nourish obscurity" .  Since the 19th Party Congress in 2017, Xi’s “new” narratives have seemingly dominated Chinese foreign policy. However, old principles, particularly that of “non-interference” or “no hegemony”, are still alive, albeit in a different form.However, it is noteworthy that Chinese foreign policy objectives have fallen into two schools of thought: “韜光養晦 (taoguang yanghui)” vs. “有所作爲 (yousuo zuowei).Outside of the mainstream, a variety of arguments are offered in favour of abandonment of taoguang yanghui. Some critics argue that with China’s increasing power and economic muscle in the international system, it should adopt a more responsible and outspoken foreign policy. Others argue for the maintenance of the policy in practice, but the avoidance of making this policy known. Advocates of this view argue that once the continued existence of the strategy is known, the strategy loses its efficacy. A third school of thought on the matter suggests that China has already abandoned taoguang yanghui. Its increasingly active participation in international groupings such as the G20 is used as evidence in support of this claim. Further, China’s particularly assertive approach to foreign policy in 2010 –including a vociferous stance on the South China Sea Issue, the fishing boat incident and The US’s arms sales to Taiwan– lends credence to this claim.(10)>>China's century will last past 2050ish. For all its talk of a “peaceful rise”, China , we may have to a back seat for the long years ahead .  how will China emerge as a leader to end world conflicts , take the place of the U.S ?  Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz claims that the “Chinese century” has begun and that Americans should take China’s new status as the number one economy as a wake-up call. Before crowning China as the new world leader, however, we should consider three questions. First, is China really the world’s largest economy – and if so, why is China so uneasy about the reports that make that claim? Second, has the “Chinese century” really come? To use international relations (IR) jargon, have we seen the beginning of a true power transition between the U.S. and China? Third, does China mean to challenge the U.S. through its recent diplomatic and military moves? A related, though broader, question is simply what kind of international role does China truly seek?(10.1)>>China in outer space over the next 30 years? Outer space is an integral part of Xi’s China dream of broadcasting Chinese power and influence, and a critical component of his Civil-Military Integration Strategy. Consequently, by October 1, 2049, when China celebrates its 100th year of existence, outer space presence and military space capacity will play a key role.(11)>>China's first space manned mission since 2016. At the highest levels of policy, the Chinese government is determined to meet ambitious goals for space leadership, and it has connected its space program with its broader ambitions to become a terrestrial leader in political, economic, and military power. Beijing aims to establish a leading position in the future space-based economy and capture important sectors of the global commercial space industry through the use of subsidies to undercut foreign competitors, including promoting its space industry through partnerships under what it has termed the “Space Silk Road.” Some of these initiatives are already challenging the U.S. space industry and U.S. leadership on international space cooperation. (12)>>China is barred from boarding the International Space Station after Congress passed a law in 2011. Principally built and operated by the U.S., the ISS has welcomed aboard astronauts from 15 different countries, including such space newbies as South Africa, Brazil, The Netherlands and Malaysia. But China? Nuh-uh. Never has happened, never gonna’ happen.China has been barred from the ISS since 2011, when Congress passed a law prohibiting official American contact with the Chinese space program due to concerns about national security. “National security,” of course, is the lingua franca excuse for any country to do anything it jolly well wants to do even if it has nothing to do with, you know, the security of the nation. But never mind.Few people in the U.S. paid much attention to the no-Chinese law, but it’s at last taking deserved heat, thanks to a CNN interview with the three Chinese astronauts—or taikonauts—who flew China’s Shenzhou 10 mission in 2013. but other space agencies apart form NASA have expressed how they wouldn’t mind having China onboard. After all, it’s international collaboration that conceived the International Space Station in the first place, and with more brilliant minds in outer space, humanity could spring forward into the next era of technological advancements in space.(13)>>the Chinese rover Zhurong touched down on Mars last month. The robot looks a lot like the American space agency's (Nasa) Spirit and Opportunity vehicles from the 2000s.It weighs some 240kg. A tall mast carries cameras to take pictures and aid navigation; five additional instruments will investigate the mineralogy of local rocks and the general nature of the environment, including the weather.Like the current American rovers (Curiosity and Perseverance), Zhurong has a laser tool to zap rocks to assess their chemistry. It also has a radar to look for sub-surface water-ice - a capability it shares with Perseverance.The landing follows China’s launch last month of the core module of a new orbiting space station, as well as a successful mission in December that collected nearly four pounds of rocks and soil from the moon and brought it to Earth. Next month, the country plans to send three astronauts into space, inaugurating what could become a regular Chinese presence in Earth’s orbit.