It's a glimpse of tomorrow's world, where mechanical fish blend in with schools of aquatic life for deep-water exploration and robots perform tai chi (shadow boxing).
Visitors to the Beijing Exhibition Center over the coming week can feast their eyes on hundreds of technological advancements set to take China and the rest of the world into the future.
Packed into the 1,000-square-meter hall from today through until Monday will be more than 550 items that represent China's scientific and technological achievements over the past five years.
They cover a variety of fields, such as recyclable energy, agriculture, environmental protection, basic life science, new medicines, new materials, information technologies and space exploration.
Most of the inventions form part of the country's 863 and 973 programs, two key high-tech projects started in 1986 and 1997 respectively. Some are latest gadgets that are expected to hit the market in the months and years to come.
With China's national conference on science and technology concluding today, the exhibition is expected to attract a swarm of visitors and inspire the next generation of inventors.
New medicine for diabetes II
Tailuo TM, a new drug developed under the 863 Program, is an effective way to treat patients with diabetes II.
Independently developed by the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Tailuo TM made its debut on the Chinese market in November 2004, and has broken up the monopoly of foreign anti-diabetes medicines with a much lower price.
"Its price is only half that of similar imported drugs, but with a better efficacy," said Li Song, the scientist with the academy who led its development.
He said Tailuo works to achieve a more comprehensive effect by reducing resistance of insulin, repairing and protecting cells, lowering the risks of complications, and cutting down blood sugar in a more sustainable way.
"It can be taken together with other medicines, which makes it more flexible," said Li.
Tailuo's presence in the market has forced GlaxoSmithkline, a British-based pharmaceutical company, to drop the price for its anti-diabetes A-vandia by 6 yuan (75 US cents) per pill.
Li said the Taiji Group, Tailuo's dealer, is planning to export the new drug.
China has about 30 million diabetes patients, with 95 percent having diabetes II. Within the next 10 years, sales of Tailuo are expected to reach 3 billion yuan (US$380 million).
Pipeline robot under the ocean
Resembling a chain of batteries, the pipeline robot is a big-ticket invention jointly developed by the Shengli Oil Field and several universities under the 863 Program.
The project got under way in 2001, and a prototype has now been completed for a field trial on the Bohai Sea in June 2006.
"If the trial turns out to be a success, the robot will be the first of its kind in the world," said Sun Yongtai, a scientist with the Shengli Oil Field Drilling Institute, which participates in the project.
The pipeline robot is being developed to be employed when leakage or breakage occurs to oil and gas pipelines under the ocean. The "snake," which is about six meters long, can crawl into the pipelines with three different diameters, to examine them and find the exact location of leaks.
"It can move at a speed of more than 1 kilometer an hour," Sun said.
Machines already exist to check underground pipelines. But undersea monitoring is still a new arena, with more difficulties being presented.
China has more than 2,000 kilometers of gas and oil pipelines beneath seabeds.
Sea flows, erosion of chemical elements in crude oil and outside forces, such as anchoring, can all result in pipeline leakage, bringing both big losses of natural resources and disastrous marine pollution.
Sun said that sea flows and sea floor movement can alter the position of pipelines, making robotic devices designed for stable, underground checks unsuitable.
"A check on to the pipeline is costly in terms of both price and human labor if we employ current techniques," he said.
A number of pipelines currently under seabeds off the coast of the Chinese mainland were installed more than 10 years ago, according to the scientist. The State stipulates pipelines must be examined every five to eight years.
The robot under trial, Sun said, will cost more than 20 million yuan (US$2.5 million), a big sum of money. "But it is still much cheaper if you take into account the aftermath costs of a leakage," he said.
Identity discerning system
Scan an ID card over a small box and then stand before the camera. Are you the one shown on the ID card? The answer is on the screen within a second.
Visitors to the exhibition will have the chance to experience the high-tech invention, which was developed by Tsinghua University.
The identity discerning system, developed by a research group under Su Guangda, a Tsinghua professor, was adopted in January last year by the Ministry of Public Security to spot possible suspects on the run.
With a database of 2.56 million faces, the system can make a "face match" within a second and boasts a discerning rate of 78.4 percent.
It can also send the result to mobile phones to improve the police's working efficiency.
"Our next step is to promote the civilian use of the system in the country by combining the popularization of the second generation of ID cards, which have digital pictures on," said Su Guangda.
"And we will soon set up a database for missing people to expand its application."
The professor said he hopes the system, which costs around 10,000 yuan (US$1,250), can be installed in supermarkets, hotels, train stations and customs to help track down suspects and criminals, find missing people and other uses.
(China Daily January 11, 2006)
