2. PLUS 33
China’s auto industry
a special report p4.
NEW ENERGY BOOST
p10.
COMMENT ON CHINA:
DRIVERLESS p.16
CURBING CHINA’s
biggest search engine
p.22
THE ENVY OF THE WORLD
CHINA’s RAILWAYS p.23
IS shenzhen china’seconomic future? p.24
A WARNING FOR CHINA’s
scientific community
p.25
AUTO MARKET INSIGHT
p.13
A DRIVERLESS RACE:
AIMING FOR AUTONOMY p.14
The automOtive Market:
an overview p5.
EMBRACING ALTERNATIVES
p6.
SPACE AMBITIONS
ASTRonomical ambitions
p.8
Homegrown satellitesystems p.19
MAKING ROBOTICS
A CUTTING EDGE
INDUSTRY p.20
LUXURY,GREEN,
HI-TECH,
THe FUTURE
P8.
THE AUTO EDITION

3. PLUS 5CHINA4
AUTO AUTO
I
nternational car manufacturers are ex-
pecting the auto market to remain mixed
in 2016 despite global car sales that are
predicted to rebound from their slowest
pace in 6 years. IHS Automotive, part of global
information company IHS, says global car sales
expanded a mere 1.1 percent in 2015, the slowest
since 2010. The rate is expected to pick up to 2.7
percent, but manufacturers say the market will
likely continue to be mixed.
Mark Fields, the CEO of Ford Motor Company,
told China Plus that the US and Europe are solid
markets, adding that, “They are having moderate
growth, which is good. China, we are experiencing
growth coming off of the end of last year and the
consumption tax reduction, which is helping the
industry.”
However, as Fields went on to explain, elsewhere
the picture is not so positive, claiming that in Rus-
sia and Brazil the situation is “Still very, very tough;
within our plan, but very, very tough and we expect
it to be tough for quite some time.”
Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan-Renault, noted that
the impact of the Volkswagen diesel-gate scandal
had affected the market in some regions. Volkswa-
gen admitted last September to cheating on emis-
sions testing of its “clean diesel” engines. But Carlos Ghosn
said he was confident the sector would bounce back despite
the recent setbacks.
Ghosn notes that as a result of a number of “polemics going
around [concerning] diesel, we are seeing already the per-
centage of diesel in Europe going down. Consumers start to
be a little bit wary about the future of this technology. That
being said, this is a very important technology if you want
to reach our objective in terms of limiting CO2, and par-
ticularly in global warming. So I think we’re going to have
some kind of decline of the diesel, but I still think it’s going
to be one of the main technologies for the car industry.”
Besides the fuelling issue, other car makers are banking on
more driver assistance technology and e-mobility to woo
customers in the near future. In reference to this kind of
technology, Peter Schwarzenbauer, a Member of the Board
of Management for BMW AG, talked to China Plus about
the recent launch of a new product called BMW Connected.
As Schwarzenbauer explained, “We launched it in the US
They are going to roll it out worldwide. And it’s basically, as
you can imagine, like a mobility companion, so it learns ex-
tremely (sic) about you, what you prefer, and your mobility
needs and it gets better and better the more it gets to know
you. So at end of a day, it will take away a lot of the hassle
you might have and will fulfil all your mobility needs.”
Elsewhere, as has been the case for many international
car brands over the course of the past decade, auto-
makers like Daimler are looking to lure more wealthy
Chinese buyers. The company has rolled out so-called
lifestyle marketing for Mercedes-Benz within its biggest
market. Its Mercedes Experience Centre in Beijing, for
example, combines art, fashion, retail, food and beverag-
es, but amazingly does not sell cars.
The Automotive
Market:
An Overview
CHINA’S
AUTO
INDUSTRY
a SPECIAL REPORT SERIES

4. 6 CHINA PLUS
AUTO AUTO
7
Embracing
Alternatives
as Competition
Increases
M
ajor automakers have been em-
bracing China’s growing market
for years and they are now aiming
for big wins with hybrids and
locally produced models. That was certainly
the tone set at China’s biggest auto show - Auto
China, which took place earlier this year,
during the last week of April and the first week
of May, in the capital Beijing.
At this year’s Auto China, the big players were
out to impress China’s petrol heads; providing
a sign of things to come in the future. General
Motors’ luxury brand Cadillac showed Chinese
punters its locally produced petrol-powered XT5
SUV, which hit the Chinese market in April.
Johan de Nysschen, President of Cadillac, told
China Plus that China was important for the
brand’s globalisation strategy.
However, de Nysschen was keen to point out
that China should not be taken as a homoge-
nous market, noting, “You also have to com-
prehend that China is a vast country, and the
situation that you may find prevailing in tier
one and tier two cities, may be quite different
from tier three, four or five cities. And you
may in fact end up with a diverging strate-
gy that has to, at the same time, embrace all
of these alternatives. And certainly we can
anticipate in cities like Beijing where the costs
of entry may indeed be for a far higher mix of
full battery electric vehicles.”
Johan de Nysschen, who is also the former CEO
of another auto brand Infiniti, added that the XT5
will be a big driver for Cadillac’s growth in the
market this year, along with its flagship sedan CT6.
Johan de Nysschen also expressed confidence that
Cadillac sales might grow by 25 percent in 2016
compared to last year.
This year has once again seen the introduction
of vehicles aimed specifically at the Chinese con-
sumer. Chery Jaguar Land Rover, a joint venture
of Chinese automaker Chery and India’s Tata
Motors’ subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover, intro-
duced its XFL model to much fanfare. President of Chery
Jaguar Land Rover, Murray Dietsch said they had plans
for hybrid cars in the future and expressed confidence in
locally produced cars.
As Dietsch explained to China Plus, “Our sales this year
for CJLR cars has been really accelerating. The first three
months have been fantastic, and we’re expecting this to do
great at the back end of the year; and in fact 50 percent of
the cars that we produce this year, we’ll sell this year, will
actually be localised vehicles and we think this car is going
to play a really important part in that.”
The variety of sports utility vehicles on show earlier this
year at Auto China provided further sign of their pop-
ularity in the Chinese market, despite diverging trends
around the world. Haval, an SUV manufacturer affiliated
to Chinese homegrown brand Great Wall rolled out its
latest model H7 this year.
Pierre Leclercq, vice president and director of the brand’s
design centre, said great progress has been made by the
company in recent years. According to Leclercq, Haval is
holding up well against other domestic and international
car makers. “You know competition is something that
every brand has to live with. Nobody should be afraid
and I think it is an interesting time here in China. What
decisions are we making? I would say we are doing well;
we are improving little by little every day as the slogan
of the company says. I think in (terms of) quality, in fit
and finish, we are making a lot of improvements, we are
investing a lot in R&D as well.”
You know competition
is something that every
brand has to live with.
Nobody should be
afraid and I think it is
an interesting time
here in China

5. 8 9PLUSCHINA
UPGRADEAUTO
C
ar shows around the world often tout
the latest technology with concept cars
that are unlikely to ever see the light of
day. But a number of companies world-
wide are hoping that the concepts on display
earlier this year at the Beijing International Auto
Show will fast become a reality.
This year’s show was highlighted by a number of
luxury and concept vehicles on display. Among
them, self-driving vehicles were one of the big
crowd draws. Two self-driving cars developed by
Chang’an Automotive Group commanded quite
a few of the headlines coming out of this year’s
event after being driven to the show (sans driver)
from Chang’an’s facilities in Chongqing, around
two thousand kilometres away.
Chang’an President Zhu Ronghua said that they
were pleased with the progress that the company
has made in the field of self-driving vehicles.
“I think the test was very successful. We have
proven that the technology is mature enough,
and can adjust to different road conditions. At
the same time, we have also collected lots of data
on road conditions and the natural environment
to lay a solid foundation for further research and
development.”
Aside from autonomous, self-driving vehicles,
energy-efficient technology continued to com-
mand attention this year, as it has for the past
several years across China’s automotive shows.
Around 12 percent of all the vehicles featured at
this year’s show were new energy models, with
most of them fully electric. Chinese authorities
say they hope to have 5 million electric vehicles
on the road by 2020.
This push toward electric vehicles has prompted domes-
tic car manufacturers in China to spend around 6 billion
US dollars in new-energy technology over the past 5
years. Lorraine Yan, the CEO of the Chinese new tech-
nology joint-venture between BYD and Daimler, admits
they still have a long way to go in order to convince the
driving public in China that electric vehicles are a good
choice. As she explained, “People always compare electric
vehicles with fuel-driven cars, and believe that electric
cars still require improvement in their technology.” As a
result, educating a potential customer base is clearly as
important as the role of research and development for
domestic and international carmakers.
The Beijing Auto Show also featured the world’s first
mass-produced car with built-in internet access, jointly
developed by Shanghai-based SAIC and Alibaba. Liu Tao,
the head of planning and branding for SAIC, told China
Plus that the car “can connect to your internet account
through the super account in the car, allowing you to use
the internet conveniently and safely.” The creation of a
mass-produced smart car is inevitably going to be linked
to the push for self-driving vehicles, as the possibility for
communication between such cars is huge.
However, despite the new influx of hi-tech features and
concepts, luxury vehicles still remain wildly popular in
China. For this reason, the Beijing International Auto
Show was still awash with them this year. As Ge Shuwen,
of FAW Volkswagen explained, “We can see great poten-
tial in the Chinese luxury market. Right now, luxury ve-
hicles make up around 18 percent of all the passenger ve-
hicles on the road in the United States. The rate is around
30 percent in Europe. But in China the rate is only about
10 percent. We expect a greater demand for luxury vehi-
cles in the Chinese market as the economy continues to
grow and people’s incomes continue to grow.”

6. 10 11CHINA PLUS
AUTO
N
ew energy vehicles, smart cars, and
self-driving vehicles have dominat-
ed much of the discussion within
the Chinese automotive industry so
far this year. “Innovation to Transformation”
was the theme of the 2016 Beijing Auto Show,
and much of the innovation on show was re-
lated to the three types of vehicles mentioned
above. In fact, at this year’s Beijing Auto Show,
considered the most important car show in the
country, new energy vehicles featuring hybrid
fuel cells accounted for 20 percent of the 1,200
vehicles on show.
Du Guozhong, assistant to the general manager
of BYD Automotive Group, explained to China
Plus that new energy vehicles are experiencing
a positive sales trend in the booming Chinese
Auto industry whilst also enjoying the support of
national policies.
Du also pointed out that, “The sales of new
energy vehicles reached 330 thousand units in
2015, and are expected to reach 5 million units
in 2020; effectively doubling every year.” While
the figures look positive, Du also cautions that
the market is currently waiting on the car man-
ufacturers to develop. According to government
statistics, it is believed that about 20 million
traditional fuel-powered automobiles were sold
in China in 2015.
Compared with the big advantage enjoyed by
imported models and joint venture brands
within the traditional vehicle manufacturing
industry, the proportion of new energy vehicles
is very small. This year, the Beijing Automobile
New Energy Vehicle Co., the top seller of purely
electric vehicles in China, launched a model with
a range of 400 km, almost the same maximum
mileage of the Tesla electric car.
Meanwhile, with the number of electric charging
facilities steadily increasing, the obstacles that
drivers face when it comes to charging and
“range anxiety” will soon vanish. Once these ob-
stacles are removed, it is hoped that new energy
vehicles will accelerate the entire automobile
industry in China.
This optimistic view is shared by many of the higher-ups
within China’s car manufacturing firms, and according to
Fan Xing, the deputy general manager of Chery Automo-
bile Company, “New energy vehicles represent a trend
for the future, whether that’s in the international or the
domestic market. The economic environment right now
is not very good, but as for China’s automobile industry,
the sales growth will be maintained at a rate of 10 percent
every year by 2020. We are very optimistic about the auto
market, especially with the continuously developing new
energy vehicles as well as the traditional car market.”
And aside from the positive outlook for China’s new en-
ergy vehicle sector, the industry is slowly getting to grips
with the concept of self-driving vehicles, which have also
been displayed at this year’s Auto Shows. Chinese models
such as Changan’s RAETON and LeAuto’s new all-white
LeSee concept car are equipped with relatively mature
self-driving functions.
And though the thought of travelling in a driverless car
may seem daunting to many, if not downright futuris-
tic, CEO of Bosch (China) investment limited company,
Chen Yudong believes that self-driving and other aux-
iliary functions may bring about a real technological
revolution in the future.
As Chen told China Plus, “Self-driving functions will
become stronger and stronger. The advanced driver
assistance system, autopilot, automatic tracking, collision
anticipation, and the automatic parking space search
functions will be developed step-by-step. Although
full-automation is the direction, self-driving is available
under specific conditions. I think the next ten years will
witness development in those fields in addition to (the
goal of) fully automatic driving.”
Chen added that private self-driving is still subject to the
calculation and processing of complexes. So while con-
sumers look on with anticipation, it is likely to be several
decades before we see self-driving vehicles roll up and
down our streets.
A New Energy
Boost for China’s
Auto Market Although full-
automation is the
direction, self-driving
is available under
specific conditions
Right: BYD’s Qin
EV300, the Chinese
all-electric variant of
BYD’s Qin plug-in
hybrid vehicle.
Below: The US Tesla Model X, an all
electric SUV which goes from 0-60
mph in 3.8 seconds
Above: China’s JAC iEV6S is a a pure electric
SUV, with a range of up to 300 km on a single
charge.
AUTO

7. 13PLUS12 CHINA
W
ith regards to China’s auto
market, articles detailing gov-
ernment attempts to push the
electric vehicle (EV) industry
forward are nothing new. But
that does not change the fact that the market is still
not quite there yet in terms of buyers. Despite this,
managing director of Shanghai-based marketing
and industry research firm Automotive Foresight,
Yale Zhang believes that, “We are actually getting
to the point where individual buyers are starting to
accept new energy vehicles.” But even Zhang ad-
mits that there is still an extremely long way to go.
“China is now the world’s largest EV market, we’re
talking about 370 to 380 thousand units in 2015,”
Zhang told China Plus.
But the positive figures do not necessarily reveal the
true picture of China’s market, as Zhang explained.
China’s status as the world’s largest EV market is,
“Largely because of the institutional buyers in China
last year, but individual buyers only make up a small
share. There is still a long way to go to educate the
market, to educate individuals and at the same time
have more breakthroughs in the battery technology as
well as the charging infrastructure issue.”
Charging infrastructure, as Yale Zhang mentioned,
remains one of the greatest barriers to the promo-
tion of electric vehicles within China. The wide-
spread lack of such facilities means that so-called
range anxiety is still very much a deciding factor
which prevents people from considering pur-
chasing an electric vehicle in the first place. Some
commentators have commented that a lack of
regulation is the biggest barrier to the widespread
adoption of charging facilities. Competing compa-
nies and standards are often cited as barriers to the
development of EV charging infrastructure.
However, since 2011, China has had charging
infrastructure standards in place. As Yale Zhang
explains, “Before 2011 we didn’t really have (stan-
dards), so all of the manufacturers (worked out)
the standards on their own. But after 2011 we have
a national standard for slow charging, and then we
also have a fast charging standard; Chinese nation-
al standards. So, basically, after 2014 and with all of
the new vehicles produced after 2014, the charging
sockets, interfaces and also the protocol should
follow this national standard.” However, the de-
velopment of facilities prior to this standard being
passed in 2011 has led to an uneven level of development for
China’s electric charging infrastructure. As Zhang sums up,
“There are several bottlenecks that are still there after many
years of talking and developing, but we still see that these
several barriers are pretty strong.”
The development of Chinese cities may also hamper the
growth of the EV market, something which is quite clear
when one considers the facilities required to charge a
Tesla electric vehicle. Tesla owners are required to install
a charging facility within their home, and as Zhang notes,
“It has to be an independent house, otherwise the local
state grid probably won’t allow you to install that kind of
a machine because it would cause a bigger current in the
network.” With most people living in apartments, without
private garage and not always with the luxury of a parking
space, prospective EV owners would face a further challenge
in charging their vehicles.
In an effort to encourage people to think about buying an
electric vehicle, the government put in place a generous
subsidy framework which is due to expire after 2020. Over
the next two years, the subsidy will decrease by 20 percent
each year, and in 2019 and 2020 it will be cut by another
25 percent. As Zhang notes, “Basically by the end of this
decade, the subsidy should be around 50 or 60 percent of the
current amount.”
According to Yale Zhang of AutoForesight, the natural
development of the industry without government support is
the biggest question mark so far. “The reason we had sales
of 380, 000 units was mainly because of the government
subsidy. We’re talking about (a subsidy of) basically 120,000
RMB for a pure EV passenger car, if this car can drive above
250 km per charge. If you have a shorter driving range, then
the subsidy will be relatively smaller. They have different
subsidy categories. But in general, if you have a larger
battery, this EV will be quite expensive. We’re talking about
300,000 RMB easily, compared with a local carmaker’s car,
which is usually below 100,000 RMB. So, even if you have
this 120,000 RMB subsidy, that price is still very high. If you
calculate this subsidy versus the retail price, you’re talking
about a 40 – 45 percent subsidy actually.”
“If you factor in the license plate value, like in Shanghai
where a car’s license plate is worth 90,000 RMB, that will be
given for free; in Beijing the car plate is also very valuable.
If you include this value in (the retail price) in Shanghai or
Beijing, this kind of subsidy easily can be more than 50 per-
cent, or sometimes maybe 60 percent of the car’s retail price.
So that’s also probably one of the reasons why the EV retail
price in China is a little bit too high, because some of the
carmakers will purposefully position their car’s retail price
higher so that they can have a very good profit; even if they
only sell only a couple hundred EVs they can still have a
very good profit. So, we actually do have this kind of a worry
after 5 years; if there’s no subsidy will this industry be able to
lower the EV price to a reasonable or affordable level?
Auto Market
Insight
AUTO

8. 15PLUS14 CHINA
Below: the LeSEE, Le Eco’s fully autonomous electric concept vehicle.
The car’s steering wheel retracts when the car is placed in autonomous drive mode.
The car’s self-driving and autonomous parking abilities are all controlled via voice
commands issued via a mobile phone and Le Eco claims that the car can drive without
a driver at speeds of up to 130mph.
T
he race to produce a self-driving car
has become one of the most important
tasks for the leading companies within
the automotive world today. A number
of prototypes were on display earlier this year
at the Auto China 2016 motor show, which took
place in Beijing during the last week of April and
the first week of May. The prototypes on display
included models designed and created by Chi-
nese manufacturers who are becoming increas-
ingly keener to exploit the growing interest in
this fast developing market.
Chang’an Automobile, a well-known Chinese car
manufacturer specializing in passenger cars and
minivan production, showcased its prototype
self-driving sedans at this year’s Beijing Auto Show.
With a test engineer behind the wheel, keeping his
hands in his lap at all times, the automated system
was able to guide the car along a public highway at
80 kilometers per hour. Furthermore, the self-driv-
ing vehicle was also able to adjust speed for traffic
signs and speed-limit signs whilst maintaining
course in its own lane.
Li Zengwen, a development engineer for Chang’an,
hails the car’s self-drive capabilities, pointing out
that, “Because our self-driving vehicle system has
already developed up to this point, we think that in
terms of reliability and its degree of maturity, it’s al-
ready pretty good. We’ve already carried out a large
amount of tests in the past, and we can already
complete a long-distance test in actual conditions
on real public roads.”
According to one of the firm’s executives, a
self-driving model should be on the market in the
next 2 to 3 years, with the automaker spending
over 770 million U.S. dollars in an attempt to fur-
ther their technology by 2020.
This year, the Beijing Automotive Industry Compa-
ny (BAIC) has allowed car enthusiasts and mem-
bers of the media to test out several of its self-driv-
ing demo car models on test track courses. After
being lucky enough to test out BAIC’s offerings,
A Driverless
Race: Aiming
for Autonomy in
the Vehicle
Xuan Fei, a car salesman in Beijing told China Plus that the
technology could indeed change the future. As Xuan en-
thused, “If these automatic cars could replace the traditional
type of vehicles, I believe that in the future, traffic accidents,
and certain traffic inconveniences will definitely decrease
quite dramatically.”
However, also after testing some of the self-driving vehicles,
car interface engineer Bill Xing says that although it is good
to experience such a drive, these types of vehicles are still
in the process of development. “First off, this is a test car, a
demonstration car, and the arrangement of the equipment
inside it isn’t very logical. But I think that if such a car were
to be developed successfully, it would be very convenient to
travel in one. Back there, at the end of the test drive, it ran
into a few problems, but my hand was able to assist it so that
it could basically complete the drive, so I think on the whole
it was a good test drive.”
Obviously, Chinese companies are far from alone when
it comes to developing driverless technology. They face
strong competition from high tech companies around
the world such as Google and Apple. Finbarr O’Neill,
president of the global marketing information service
company J.D. Power, believes that China has some way to
go to in order to become a global pacesetter in the world
of autonomous driving.
Though a Chang’An executive has claimed that a self-driving
car will be on the market in the next 2 to 3 years, as O’Neill
points out, “I think autonomous cars are some distance off;
there are a number of issues which have to be resolved there.
But the expectation for these features is relatively high, as is
the conductivity that people expect in a car.”
Figures from last year’s World Economic Forum survey
suggest that 75 percent of Chinese citizens might consider
riding in a self-driving car. Boston Consulting Group, a
world leading advisor on business strategy, has also predict-
ed that China will become the largest market for autono-
mous features within the next two decades.
If these automatic cars could
replace the traditional type of
vehicles, I believe that in the
future, traffic accidents, and
certain traffic inconveniences
will definitely decrease
quite dramatically
A DRIVERLESS
RACE
AUTO AUTO

9. 16 CHINA 17PLUS
A
recent World Economic Forum
survey suggested that 75 percent of
Chinese motorists would be willing
to ride in a self-driving car against
just 50 percent of Americans. Clearly, if such
figures are to be believed, one would imagine
that there is considerable scope for disrup-
tive innovation to drastically change the car
market in China forever. As part of China
Plus Magazine’s new feature, Commenting on
China, we seek comment from academics and
industry insiders to shed light on this issue’s
main topic, driverless vehicles. This issue, we
seek comment from Terrill L. Frantz, Professor
of Management from Peking University HSBC
Business School, regarding the trend towards
driverless vehicles in China and worldwide.
A Renewed Conceptual Interest
The driverless cars to me are a classic example of
what we call technology push rather than demand
or consumer pull. I really do not think consumers
are pulling this technology by any means. You’ve
got companies like Google who specialize in soft-
ware and AI etcetera, pushing their product, their
technology, in the car space.
I was a PhD student at Carnegie Mellon, so I know
these people that are inventing these capabilities and
I’ve seen the driverless cars some 15 years ago now.
So, it’s really a technology push situation. I don’t see
people out there saying I need to have this driverless
car. And so, the other reason there’s a technology push
is Google’s pushing the software world, among other
companies, but then you also have the automobile
manufacturers that quite frankly have run out of new
improvements on their cars. To the industry’s credit,
cars are pretty safe, and pretty reliable.
How far away are we from this technology be-
coming a reality?
The reality is, it’s here now. These cars are on the
street as we know from the recent Google crash
incident. It is there now. I think what the governor
of this engine, or the idea is going to be really is the
legal system because this presents far more complex legal
issues than simply the privacy of a smartphone.
I think that’s going to be the limiting factor here. I’m
looking at decades, maybe two decades, until this happens.
There might be one extension to this that could speed this
up. The notion of an autonomous car by definition means
that it operates on its own.
But I think where we’re actually going to end up eventually
is where the cars themselves communicate with one another
rather than relying on human beings to step in on an issue.
So, when two cars are travelling down the street, they will be
communicating with one another saying, “I’m turning right, so
beware of that.” I don’t think we’re going to get serious uptake
on this until we actually have the cars communicating with one
another, which could be another ten years.
One of the things that’s special about this driverless car situ-
ation is that, at least in my experience, people enjoy driving.
You’re actually taking something away from the consumer. At
least in the United States, driving on a highway for two hours
can be quite relaxing, believe it or not, given all the other things
we have going on in our life.
I’d say there is a large number of people, at least in the United
States, I can’t speak for China, that actually do enjoy driving
to some extent. So (manufacturers) would actually be taking
something away, which has even more challenges when you
want to try to disrupt the industry.
Commenting on
China:
Driverless
Vehicles
Also Commenting on China, Liu Baocheng, Professor at the
University of International Business and Economics, provides
his brief analysis of the impact that such technology could have
on the labour market as well as upon consumer trends.
Disrupting the Game
As to when the autonomous car can be used on a mass scale,
Ford forecasts by 2020, Baidu by 2019, Toyota will make
cars available by 2020, Daimler, 2020; so it seems that this is
really something that is on the horizon already. This is really
disruptive technology and disruptive technology means
changing the entire game.
It’s not only how it works but how socially it will work
out with the status quo. Of course, people will be laid
off in the conventional industry and there will be new
jobs, like maintenance and traffic control. Of course, the
emerging new type of industry will require new skills and
people will be adaptive.
And some workers will have to be phased out and if they
are quick learners they will be able to catch up with the new
demand. So, any new technology may lead to the demise
of certain job opportunities, but it’s going to create more
Finally, Commenting on China, Jiang Chen
Senior Industrial Designer and Lecturer at the
Dept. of Transportation and Design, Central Acade-
my of Fine Art in Beijing shares his thoughts on the
concept of driverless vehicles.
When we mention autonomous cars, the technol-
ogy is really focusing on the software. I think all
the tech giants and their involvement will really be
beneficial to this. All these technology companies
are really good at marketing their cars through new
media. For example, if you look at Tesla, they ac-
tually have no advertising budget. They don’t have
any commercials, they used word of mouth, built a
good product and had people following it and promoting it.
So, that is a new approach to part of the development, so I
think the involvement of tech companies will breathe some
fresh air into an otherwise very traditional and old industry.
75% of Chinese motorists versus 50% of Americans. Why
the discrepancy?
I think the car culture is relatively short in China and most
people did not really grow up with the culture like the
culture that exists in the States. So, I think (Chinese) people
might not have such an attachment to driving; I think cars
here are more of a status symbol as well as for convenience.
That makes it easier for them to be detached from driving.
Also, the driving conditions here are generally very bad.
People would be very happy to be lifted up from the burden
of driving here.
Is China developing its own car culture?
The Chinese consumer is actually very knowledgeable in
terms of what each company or country has to offer, espe-
cially among affluent consumers there is already a culture
around cars.
job opportunities and learning opportunities for
people, so there’s no worry about this.
People are very vulnerable to changes that are pre-
sented by a business. Individuals are very vulnera-
ble to the direction of business and the culture will
change and the habits will change.
AUTO AUTO

10. 18 19CHINA PLUS
Astronomical
Ambitions,
China’s Space
Plan, 2020
E
arlier this year, China released details
of a series of ambitious plans for space
exploration in the coming years. They
include the country’s Mars mission
probe set to be launched around 2020, as well as
the completion of China’s space station in 2022.
The plan was released to coincide with China’s
first ever Space Day, falling on the 46th anni-
versary of the successful launch of the country’s
first satellite, Dong Fang Hong. According to the
ambitious plan, the Mars mission probe is ex-
pected to orbit Mars, land and deploy a rover all
in one mission, during or close to the year 2021.
The spacecraft intended for the mission which is
being developed by the China Academy of Space
Technology, will be put into space using the
new-generation Long March-5 heavy-lift rocket.
Zhang Rongqiao, chief designer of the first Mars
exploration, notes the mission’s significance for
understanding the universe’s evolution, as well as
the structure of matter and the origin of life.
As Zhang told China Plus, “A plan of this kind,
which intends to achieve orbiting, landing and
the deployment of a rover in one mission will
make history. Only by completing this Mars
probe mission can China say it has embarked
on the exploration of deep space in the truest
sense of the term.”
However, Zhang also stressed the difficulties
that the country will face in attempting to
achieving this goal. Looking to the experienc-
es of others around the globe, Zhang pointed
out that, “A total of 43 Mars missions have
been launched throughout the world so far.
The most recent took place on March 14. It is
a joint collaboration between the European
Space Agency and the Russian Federal Space
Agency. It’s just been launched and it is still on its way
to Mars. There have only been 22 successful launches.
So the rate of success to failure is about 50-50.”
The mission’s greatest challenge apparently lies in the
landing process, since the weather conditions on the
red planet are hard to predict, and its environment is
hard for researchers to imitate on Earth. Experts have
also explained that since the favourable alignment of
Earth and Mars occurs for only a few weeks every 26
months, 2020 is a crucial launch window for the probe.
Meanwhile, China is also planning to finish building
its space station by 2022. The country will launch its
second orbiting space lab Tiangong-2 as well as the
Shenzhou-11 spacecraft to rendezvous and dock with
the station later this year.
In relation to what goals China hopes to achieve, Xu
Dazhe, director of the Chinese National Space Admin-
istration, explained that, “China will complete its civil
space infrastructure - navigation, telecommunication
and remote sensing systems - to serve different sectors,
benefit mankind and contribute to the improvement of
people’s livelihoods.”
The space station will also cater for international proj-
ects and foreign astronauts in a bid to develop further
space cooperation with the rest of the world. The first
space lab Tiangong-1 was launched in 2011 and three
dockings with the module were conducted in the fol-
lowing years.
The lab, which orbited for four and a half years, was
retired in March after fulfilling its mission. It will de-
scend gradually in the coming months until it burns up
in the earth’s atmosphere. The U.S.-dominated Inter-
national Space Station is scheduled to end operations
in 2024, meaning that China’s space station may for a
time become the only operational facility in space.
SPACE
Home-grown
Satellite Systems
T
hree new-generation BeiDou navi-
gation satellites were launched last
year, and 98 percent of the compo-
nents were Chinese made. The Bei-
Dou Navigation Satellite System has been in
operation since 2000, making China the third
country with an autonomous sat-nav system
after the United States and Russia.
China Aerospace Science and Technology Cor-
poration, the main contractor for the country’s
space program, undertakes a number of missions,
including the design and manufacturing of key
components of BeiDou.
In reference to the complexity of the system,
Zhang Chuxian, technical director at the institute,
explains that, “The BeiDou Navigation Satellite
System has high-level technology indicators and
requires high-standard components. We need to
develop better products, more advanced than those
imported from abroad, to meet BeiDou’s require-
ments. What’s more, the development timescale is
very tight, almost cut in half compared
with before. Within that time we
also need to have everything tested
and verified. That means we need to
develop better products with less time
whilst facing an increased number of
challenges.”
China began building its BeiDou
Navigation Satellite System 20 years
after the GPS navigation system
designed by the US. The position-
ing accuracy of the navigation system has
been cited as the most common concern
by industry experts. However, BeiDou
Navigation Satellite deputy chief
designer Zhang Lixin says the
navigation system is better
than GPS in some per-
formance indicators. As Zhang points out, “Within the next five years,
or by the end of 2020, China will have launched 30 satellites. Eighteen
of them will be launched before 2018 and the remaining 12 before the
end of 2020. Finally, we will become a global satellite services supplier,
with a high level of position accuracy of two to five meters.”
So far, the BeiDou Navigation System has been widely used in
such fields as water and environmental monitoring, command and
control, as well as search and rescue. But for Zhang, the possibil-
ities are much greater, and as he told China Plus, it is his wish “to
have every car, every cellphone and every ship equipped with the
BeiDou navigation system. Even better, if it can replace GPS and
serve users directly, my wish is for everyone to enjoy the system.”
In 2014, the Maritime Safety Committee of the International
Maritime Organisation officially approved the BeiDou Nav-
igation Satellite System for use in operations at sea. This
approval meant that the system was formally included
in the Worldwide Radio Navigation System, and has
become the third system to gain such acceptance
after the United States’ GPS and Russia’s
Global Navigation Satellite System.
SPACE

11. 20 21CHINA PLUS
CHINA’s
ROBOTICS,
A THING
OF THE
FUTURE
ROBOTICS
A
side from grand ambitions for its
space program, this year China’s
central authorities have also laid out
a plan to help develop the robotics
industry, which the hopes that China will witness
a tripling in terms of robotic production over
the next 5-years. The plan was jointly issued by
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information
Technology, the Ministry of Finance and the
National Development and Reform Commis-
sion, and makes up part of the newly established
5-year national economic plan.
The plan itself calls for technological break-
throughs to be made in the development of key
robotic components, as well as high-end robots
themselves, on top of raising the overall quality
and quantity of the robots sold from China to
the rest of the world. However, specific details of
exactly how this is to be accomplished have not
been forthcoming.
In recent years, robots have been introduced
to a number of Chinese sectors, including
scientific research, healthcare, education, and
entertainment. The International Federation of
Robotics estimates that China overtook Japan
in 2013 to become the world’s largest market
for industrial robots.
But despite the growth seen in the robotics
sector, director of the China Robot Industry
Alliance, Qu Daokui, admits that there is still
a lot of work left when it comes to making
Chinese robot production more competitive.
According to Qu, “We need to focus on devel-
oping core technology, which one day could
serve as the brains of the robots. China is trailing
behind developed countries in this area when it
comes to traditional robots. China still imports
most of the core parts it uses, such as electrical
machine components, drives, and high-accuracy
decelerators. These parts normally account for
around 70 percent of the average robot’s produc-
tion cost. Finally, the high-end market remains
marginalised in China.”
Last year, China produced just over 30-thousand
industrial robots, representing a year-on-year increase
of around 20 percent. The Chinese government’s plan
would see that figure tripled by 2020 to 100 thousand
units. Amidst a surging demand for robots in the
service sector, Chinese authorities are prioritising the
production of service robots, with sales goals of 4.6
billion US dollars by 2020.
Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technolo-
gy, Xin Guobin, says a number of steps will be taken
in order achieve those goals, with the first step being
the overhaul of all previous planning for the industry,
“As well as integrating resources so as to make robotics
production more efficient. From there, we will begin
pouring in money to help build up the sector.”
Xin elaborated on his comments, noting that the influx
of money, “Will include cash to finance the production
of key robot parts and we’re also going to do more to en-
courage investment in the robotics sector, both in terms
of production and services, which may include programs
where companies can rent robots, rather than purchasing
them outright. We also want to create a market environ-
ment conducive to attracting both financial supports and
human resources, whilst also working within the interna-
tional community, not only to create exchanges, but also
to increase our global competitiveness.”
The plan has been drafted along the lines of the “Made
in China 2025” initiative, which is a 10-year action plan
launched by China’s central authorities to transform the
country into a leading high-end manufacturing power.
Making
Robotics a
Cutting Edge
Industry
We need to focus
on developing core
technology, which one
could day serve as the
brains of the robots.
China is trailing behind
developed countries in
this area when it comes to
traditional robots.
ROBOTICS

12. 22 23CHINA PLUS
TECH
A
midst its involvement with the devel-
opment of driverless vehicle technolo-
gy, tech giant Baidu found itself in the
middle of a PR nightmare earlier this
year, which led to the Chinese government curb-
ing the search engine giant’s health advertising
business after it was found to have compromised
its objectivity and impartiality in providing users
with search results.
China’s regulators have imposed limits on the num-
ber of healthcare adverts carried by Baidu, China’s
biggest Internet search engine. The restrictions
follow high profile publicity surrounding the death
of a student who underwent cancer treatment
which he found using the Baidu search engine. It
is estimated that such adverts account for up to 30
percent of the company’s search revenue.
Wei Zexi, a 21-year-old college student who
died last month of a rare form of cancer, had
undergone a clinically unproven treatment at a
military hospital in Beijing, the Second Hospital
of Armed Police Beijing Corps. The treatment
cost Wei’s family around 200,000 yuan and was
ultimately unsuccessful. Wei died on April 12.
Before his death, Wei expressed anger at the
hospital and search engine Baidu in an online
post, accusing them of falsely claiming a high
success rate for the treatment. The treatment was
a joint project between the hospital and a Shang-
hai-based private bio-tech company
The Cyberspace Administration of China looked
into the case and found that Baidu’s search
results had influenced Wei’s choice of medi-
cal treatment. It also found that Baidu relied
excessively on profits from paid listings in search
results, and did not clearly label such listings
as a commercial promotion, compromising the
objectivity and impartiality of search results.
As a result, the company was ordered to clean
up in-search healthcare adverts. Furthermore,
the positioning of paid-for search adverts of any
kind cannot be based only on the highest bidder.
A statement from the internet, industry and health
regulators stipulate that the number of such adverts
must also account for no more than 30 percent of
search results on one page. A spokeswoman for Baidu
said it accepted the regulator’s decision and that it
would implement the requirements placed on it follow-
ing the investigation.
The company also said it will set aside one billion
yuan, or about 150 million US dollars, to compensate
verified losses from fraud. According to a report on
Xinhua, Baidu also claims that it has reviewed the
credentials of all medical institutions featured on its
search engine, and pulled back 126 million pieces of
information involving 2,518 institutions.
The investigation carried out by the health and mili-
tary authorities also confirmed wrongdoing by the mil-
itary hospital in Beijing in the treatment of the young
cancer patient. The hospital has been asked to termi-
nate all projects outsourced to medical service pro-
viders, including the Shanghai firm. Authorities have
also been ordered to review all joint projects between
military hospitals and private companies.
Baidu’s Nasdaq-listed shares fell more than 3 percent fol-
lowing the regulators comments. Analysts estimate that
healthcare accounts for 20 to 30 percent of the company’s
search revenue. Search revenues represent some 84 per-
cent of the web services firm’s total sales in 2015.
China’s regulators have
imposed limits on the
number of healthcare
adverts carried by Baidu,
China’s biggest Internet
search engine.
Curbing China’s Biggest Search Engine Giant
The Envy of the
World: China’s
Expanding
Railway System
A new train diagram system, introduced in May
this year represents the biggest railway expansion
in the past decade for China. In all 300 new trains
were added to the network, many of them high
speed services. China plans to spend 3.5 trillion
yuan in the coming years to boost track construc-
tion and improve services generally.
The latest service adjustment will see the number
of passenger trains in China grow to 3,400, out of
which over 2,100 are high-speed. 100 bullet trains
have been scheduled to operate in the mornings
and evenings, in a bid to make it more convenient
for passengers to go from small and medium-sized
cities to bigger ones through the night.
Furthermore, 38 railway stations located at county
or prefecture level towns have now become depar-
ture stations, operating services heading for China’s
big cities. Wang Kejian, an official from a departure
station in northwest China’s Yulin City in Shaanxi
Province, says that the new line linking his city
with east China’s Suzhou city in Jiangsu, will be
massively convenient for local citizens.
As Wang explained to China Plus, “In the past, if we
wanted to travel to Suzhou, we could only take the
train linking north China’s Hohhot in Inner Mongo-
lia with Shanghai Municipality, which only had 15
tickets available. The new line offers 1,180 tickets, 340
of which are sleeper tickets. This has greatly alleviat-
ed the pressure on us when it comes to buying train
tickets, which used to be in short supply.”
Nearly 100 newly added trains link small cities in
central and west China with big cities near-
by, raising hopes that better connectiv-
ity will mean increased prosperity.
This includes new trains run-
ning through Yinchuan and
Ningdong, the first intercity
express linking both cities
inside northwest China’s
Ningxia Hui Autono-
mous Region.
According to Wang Dalin, chief of the Yinchuan passen-
ger traffic section, this actually represents an extension of
services from Yinchuan to Shanghai, because, “Previously,
when a train came back to Yinchuan from Shanghai after
completing one passenger transport mission, it would rest
for 24 hours before starting the next one. But now, after the
adjustment, the 24-hour leisure time will be made good use
of, meaning the train will head for Ningdong within that
period of time.”
Meanwhile, a number of loop line railways will begin oper-
ation in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in north China.
Zhu Dianping, head of the station management section of
the Beijing Railway Bureau, notes that, “The new circular
railway is similar to a subway line, which runs both clock-
wise and counter-clockwise in different directions. This
offers more choice for passengers who are willing to travel
through different prefecture-level towns and cities.”
As a result, Zhu believes the expansion within the Bei-
jing-Tianjin-Hebei region will be highly significant for both
people and the local economies. What’s more, the number of
trains designed specifically for tourists has been increased to
69, providing a variety of leisure services to the passengers
on board, such as exercise facilities, massage equipment, and
even virtual reality movies.
As yet, the changes haven’t had a knock-on effect on the
prices of the train tickets, though it is only natural that at
some point prices will begin to rise as a result of improved
services. China is planning to spend 3.5 trillion yuan in the
next five years in an effort to lay more than 30,000 kilome-
tres of new track, with the central and western parts of the
country a key component of the plan.
RAIL

13. 24 25CHINA PLUS
ECONOMICS
24
Low cost manufacturers like
Apple supplier Foxconn
have been moving inland or
out of China as labor costs
increased. Now the city’s focus
is on higher value-added,
homegrown technology.
Whilst the majority of reports related to China’s
emerging growth and future centre on Beijing and
Shanghai, it would be remiss of this magazine if it
failed to mention that China’s economic future is
emerging in Shenzhen. The former fishing village
turned Special Economic Zone has become the
epicentre of China’s manufacturing-driven miracle,
staking its future growth on finance, technology
and culture. Therefore, this report provides a brief
glimpse at the companies who are building the
future in Shenzhen.
Stairs present a difficult challenge for most robots,
but not for Roveo. Swiss startup Rovenso’s re-
motely operated rover has been designed for use
in disaster zones which may be inaccessible due
to contamination or rough terrain. Roveo weighs
about 300 kilograms and is 2 meters long, with four
wheels whose innovative linkage system allows it
to climb over tall obstacles while carrying heavy
loads.
Lucian Cucu, co-founder of Rovenso, says the
Chinese city of Shenzhen is an ideal place to be
for entrepreneurs who want to turn their ideas
into actual devices. As Cucu told China Plus, “The
advantages of being in Shenzhen, China, or just
anywhere in China close to factories is first of all
you can get CNC (computer numerical control)
parts or any kind of manufactured pieces that you
need for the robot extremely quickly.”
As the world’s electronics manufacturing capital,
the metropolis is home to some of China’s biggest
and hottest companies. Many are led by a new wave
of young Chinese entrepreneurs hoping to build
global brand recognition. Divided from Hong
Kong by a river, Shenzhen was a quiet fishing area
of about 300,000 people when former Chinese
leader Deng Xiaoping designated it the country’s
first “special economic zone” in 1979.
Now a sprawling megacity of 11 million people, its
fortunes were made churning out cheap clothes,
electronics and toys for big foreign brands. But low
cost manufacturers like Apple supplier Foxconn
have been moving inland or out of China as labor
costs increased. Now the city’s focus is on higher
value-added, homegrown technology.
Innovative new companies are attracted by Shenzhen’s
well-established manufacturing supply chains and transport
links, its proximity to Hong Kong’s banking and financial
expertise, and better transport links and milder weather
compared to Beijing and Shanghai. And the companies in
question are as diverse as the city itself.
Ping pong enthusiasts Harrison and Alexander Chen’s table
tennis training machine, Trainerbot, is about the size of a
large pineapple and can be programmed via smartphone to
fire balls at specific areas and give them certain spins. The
brothers, raised in Taiwan, managed to build two prototypes
a week in Shenzhen, thanks to the city’s vast electronics
markets and 3D printing services.
Another Shenzhen based start-up promises to revolutionise
what we eat by allowing food lovers to grow their own in-
sects at home with a desktop hive, and then eat them. Livin
Farms’ Austrian founder Katharina Unger says mealworms
are a healthy, sustainable alternative to modern, industri-
alised food production. As Unger explains of this peculiar
new foodstuff, “We love them roasted and just crispy like a
snack with some salt or some barbecue spicing but you can
also grind them up and bake cookies with it or muffins or
even bread or tortillas. You can treat them as minced meat,
that’s another way. So you can make a pasta sauce with it for
example. Or you can grind them up and make them into a
burger patty or dumplings.”
The company exceeded its 100,000 dollar crowdfunding
goal by half as much again, after a session last autumn with
Hax, an “accelerator” for hardware startups. Hax, which
was founded five years ago in Shenzhen, brings groups of
startups to the area, gives them funding, technical help, and
introduces them to the countless component suppliers and
factories in and around the city in order to speed up proto-
type development. With the conditions that Shenzhen offers,
plus with the addition of innovative companies like Hax,
industrial experts are confident that in the years ahead the
tech sector in Shenzhen will continue to grow and thrive,
helping to bring China’s innovations to the wider world.
SCIENCE
In May, during this year’s Beijing International High-Tech Expo, one of the major players
in China’s scientific community stepped up to address his concerns about the way science
and research is being approached in China. Shi Yigong, a member of the Chinese Academy
of Sciences and also the vice-president of China’s prestigious Tsinghua University, delivered
the keynote speech at this year’s Symposium at the High-Tech Expo. But instead of focussing
on the minutia of Chinese research in the Life Sciences, Shi’s particular area of expertise, the
vice-president of China’s most prestigious institution of higher education used the opportuni-
ty to question the way science and academic research is approached in China.
During his speech, Shi Yigong claimed that it is only through questioning the status-quo
that researchers can make advances. To a packed audience, Shi stated, “I’m sorry to say, but
principle has never been like the minority obeying the majority. It’s to the contrary. In any sci-
entific field, it’s always been that certain people end up being right and the majority ends up
being wrong. This is why democratic principles aren’t applicable in scientific discovery. Which
industry, which field should be supported? It cannot be decided on by votes. Otherwise, who
would select the jury? And who should be on that jury?”
In taking his stand, Shi Yigong called on the government to scrap the way that Chinese
scientists are currently evaluated, which is known as the Academic Title Evaluation. As Shi
explained, “Right now there is an over-dependence on the number of published papers. Our
scientists need to tell the government the evaluation system should be changed. It needs
to advance with the times. Otherwise, it’s going to hold-back scientific development in the
future.”
Shi delivered his speech in front of a number of major players in both the Chinese and Inter-
national tech world. Members of the World Health Organisation, UNESCO, as well as dele-
gations from 34 countries and more than 30 provinces and municipalities in China attended
this year’s gathering. Some 1,500 high tech companies also took part in the event.
Is Shenzhen
China’s Economic
Future?
A WARNING FOR CHINA’S
SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY

14. China Plus, a member of China Radio
International, is a comprehensive
provider of news and information,
covering a number of different platforms
including print, radio and digital media.
China Plus strives for quality and clarity
as part of its in-depth reporting of China-
related news, as such news relates to
Chinese people and to the wider world.
Editor-in-chief Stuart Wiggin
Design & Layout Stuart Wiggin
Executive editor Wang Lei