Month: August 2019

(Xinhua)16:22, July 13, 2019

LOS ANGELES, July 13 (Xinhua) — The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard the U.S. space agency NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has spotted its Curiosity Mars rover in a new image taken from space, according to a release of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Friday.

The picture, taken on May 31, shows Curiosity rover examining a location called Woodland Bay.

It is just one of many stops the rover has made in an area referred to as the clay-bearing unit on the side of Mount Sharp, a 5-km-tall mountain inside of Gale Crater, according to JPL.

Vera Rubin Ridge cuts across the scene north of the rover, while a dark patch of sand lies to the northeast.

Curiosity appears as a bluish speck. At the time this image was acquired, the rover was facing 65 degrees counterclockwise from north, according to JPL.

Mirror-like reflections off smooth surfaces show up as especially bright spots in HiRISE images. For the camera to see these reflections on the rover, the Sun and MRO need to be in just the right locations, said JPL.

Curiosity landed near Mount Sharp in the Gale Crater on Mars in August 2012 and reached the base of the mountain in 2014. It has since traversed through a diversity of environments where both water and wind have left their imprint.

By WeiningWang (Peoples Daily Online)10:36, July 11, 2019

Chinese students take part in a graduation ceremony at Columbia University in New York. Guo Ke / Xinhua

鈥淛ust stop speaking Chinese!鈥?A white girl said, irritated, when my friends and I were chatting in an elevator with all our classmates inside, during a summer program at Columbia University. I was very upset, but I stopped talking. Neither did any of my friends say another word in the elevator. I wanted to stand up for myself, but I just didn鈥檛 want things to get more complicated.

Things like this have become increasingly common on campuses in America. With the growing economy of China, more and more Chinese families are sending their children for education abroad, and the U.S. is one of the major destination countries. In fact, according to the statistics from the Migration Policy Institute, more than 32% of all international students enrolled in U.S. universities in the academic year of 2016-17 were from China, and the number keeps growing.

It is not difficult to identify Chinese students on campus. With a strong sense of belonging to the community of Chinese students in the U.S., it is easier for us to hang out with people that we identify with, and naturally, we speak our own language to communicate. Therefore, we often travel in packs.

With the trend of more Chinese students flowing into the U.S., Chinese faces are seen in almost all the universities in the U.S., yet some of the hosts are welcoming their guests in a not so friendly manner.

About two month ago, there was an email incident at Duke University in which a professor wrote an email asking Chinese students to speak English all the time. An even worse discrimination towards Chinese students happened at New York University (NYU), according to several victim students.

At around the same that the incident at Duke happened, an article about Professor Sandra Holtzman from the School of Professional Studies (SPS) at NYU discriminating against Chinese students went viral on Chinese social media. According to evidence presented in the article, the professor discriminated the accent, grammar, and language skills of Chinese students, while treating and grading Chinese students differently in comparison to other students.

Twenty-six NYU students from China who have taken classes with the professor wrote a report to the NYU Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO). The result they got back from OEO was that 鈥渢he evidence presented does not support the finding of a violation of the University鈥檚 Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy.鈥?People were furious when they read about this, leaving angry comments under the comment section, mostly because the university didn鈥檛 do anything to protect the students鈥?rights, even when they stood up for themselves due to being treated unfairly.

Mimo Yan, a junior from NYU who also went to high school in the U.S., has spent a long time as an international student here. She is surprised that such serious discrimination happened at NYU, which is a school known to support diversity.

Politics is also an important but very sensitive matter to Chinese students. She recounts seeing in different places on campus the representation of Hong Kong and Taiwan as countries instead of as a part of China.

Ling Tang, a politics major student at NYU who is from Jiangxi, China, commented on this matter.

But the U.S. president isn鈥檛 alone in this portrayal. More than a year ago, The New York Times covered an event that happened on the campus of UC San Diego, which Chinese students protested when the school invited Dalai Lama to deliver a speech. The article鈥檚 headline? 鈥淥n Campuses Far from China, Still Under Beijing鈥檚 Watchful Eye.鈥?Many Chinese students just laughed when talking about this.

鈥淗ow is it possible that such a huge number of us are all spies for the government? And what are we spying on here exactly? I just don鈥檛 see how protesting against an offensive event like this one would make us spies,鈥?Tang said.

Chinese students say that they should serve as a bond between the two countries to promote China-U.S. relations, however, with intentional and hopefully unintentional mishaps happening here in the U.S., things have been 鈥渢oo political and too complicated,鈥?according to Tang.

Regarding things like this, Yan commented that 鈥渁t first I would become really angry. But after several times I just got used to it. Everyone did. There鈥檚 nothing much you can do about it.鈥?Many students feel that there is not much one can do. And they are right.

鈥淭hese things will not disappear overnight,鈥?Yan said.

(Peoples Daily Online)09:27, July 12, 2019

Xuelong 2, or Snow Dragon 2, is deliveredJuly 11. (Photo/Xinhua)

The first self-developed icebreaking research vessel of China 鈥?Xuelong 2, or Snow Dragon 2, was completed and delivered to the Polar Research Institute of China on July 11, the Maritime Day of China.

Expected to hit the ice of both the Antarctic and Arctic this year for expedition, the research vessel will improve China鈥檚 capability to conduct scientific investigations within the polar regions.

Compared with its predecessor Snow Dragon, the Snow Dragon 2 is equipped with two-way icebreaking technology 鈥?the first of its kind in the world, and is able to continuously break ice as thick as 1.5 meters – with 0.2 meters of snow on top – at speeds of 2 to 3 knots, introduced Zhao Yanping, captain of the vessel. It will greatly expand the coverage and duration of Chinese polar expeditions, Zhao added.

The idea to build a new polar expedition vessel originated in 2008 when Chinese scientists found the Snow Dragon was not able to meet the demand of investigations.

Though vessel-based scientific expeditions to Antarctica were mostly conducted in summer, global expedition teams still couldn鈥檛 get through the ice shelf regions due to limited icebreaking capability.

According to Wu Gang, chief designer of the Snow Dragon 2, the latest icebreaking vessel of China is a result of cooperation between Chinese and foreign companies. The basic design of the vessel was completed by Finland鈥檚 Aker Arctic Technology, but Chinese institutes and enterprises also had an in-depth participation during the whole process, Wu said.

He stressed that Chinese and foreign parties were highly integrated in the cooperation of the designing of the vessel.

In order to break thick ice layers, the Snow Dragon 2 is built with special steel, and its covering parts measure 100 millimeters at their thickest point.

In addition, a total of over 7,000 smart sensors are installed in the body and equipment of the expedition vessel, which enables the Snow Dragon 2 to monitor its service life and collect the data of friction between the vessel and ice. This will offer a reference for building new vessels in the future, Wu said.

(Xinhua)07:53, July 10, 2019

China on Tuesday urged the United States to immediately withdraw arms sales to Taiwan and sever military ties with the island.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang speaks at a press conference in Beijing on July 9, 2019. [Photo: fmprc.gov.cn]

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the comments in response to U.S. planned sales of weapons worth 2.22 billion U.S. dollars to Taiwan, including M1A2 Abrams tanks and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles.

The U.S. arms sales to Taiwan severely violate international law, the basic norms governing international relations, the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, Geng said. It grossly interferes in Chinas internal affairs and undermines Chinas sovereignty and security interests.

The Chinese side is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposes such actions, and have lodged solemn representations with the U.S. side, Geng said at a press conference.

Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinas territory, Geng said, adding that no one should underestimate the strong will and firm determination of the Chinese government and people in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity and opposing foreign interference.

China urges the United States to honor its commitment to the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, immediately withdraw the aforementioned planned arms sales to and sever military ties with Taiwan to avoid further damage to bilateral relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, said the spokesperson.

(Peoples Daily Online)11:14, July 11, 2019

Photo taken on Dec. 29, 2015 shows the Long March-3B carrier rocket is launched with the Gaofen-4 Satellite in Xichang of southwest Chinas Sichuan Province. (Xinhua/Xue Yubin)

China has sent over 200 satellites into space and will launch nearly 100 more by 2025, an official with the China National Space Administration said on July 9.

In recent years, China has improved its space technologies and industries, which prepares the country to accelerate its space economy, said Yu Qi, deputy director of the International Cooperation Department of the China National Space Administration, at the World Geospatial Developers Conference held in Beijing July 9.

Up to now, the Long March carrier rocket series has completed 307 missions, sending over 400 spacecrafts into target orbit.

Last year, Chinas space launches hit a record high. 39 launch missions were carried out, accounting for more than one-third of the world鈥檚 total.

China also launched the Change-4 probe last year, which made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon. Chinas space technology is gradually maturing and expanding into more fields, contributing to the development of the national economy, Yu said.

Thanks to the China-initiated high-resolution earth observation project in 2010, a high-resolution earth observation system based on collected data from China鈥檚 Gaofen earth observation satellites was made possible.

The satellites have provided data for more than 20 industries, including environmental protection, forestry, and agriculture industries.

Yu said that China will launch the Gaofen-7 at the end of this year and then focus on the application of the system.