In the New Year's greetings, those great weapons of the great powers that can "go to the sky, the sea and the land"

President Xi Jinping has delivered New Year's messages for 11 consecutive years since the end of 2013. In his New Year's messages every year, President Xi Jinping mentions some major national equipment and major projects.

From the Shenzhou family to the C919 large aircraft, from domestically-made aircraft carriers to domestically-made large cruise ships, from the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge to the Fuxing bullet train... these major projects "in the sky, in the sea and on land" have condensed the hard work and sweat of countless people, and also demonstrate China's height, depth and speed.

China Height

In the New Year’s greetings, major projects “going to the sky” bear witness to China’s height.

In recent years, President Xi has mentioned the Shenzhou family many times in his New Year's greetings, from the Shenzhou 11 "traveling in the stars" in 2016, to the "Shenzhou 13, 14, and 15 relay take-off" in 2022, to the "Shenzhou family space relay" in 2023. China's manned spaceflight has developed rapidly and achieved outstanding results.

Today, the Chinese space station has entered the application and development stage. On the evening of December 31, 2023, Shenzhou 17 astronauts Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin watched President Xi's New Year's message at the Chinese space station. The three astronauts said that they would strive to climb with the spirit of self-improvement and maintain and build the Chinese people's "space home" well.

In addition to manned space flight, China's space program is also making continuous progress in the field of deep space exploration.

President Xi Jinping has mentioned the Chang'e lunar exploration project many times: in 2018, the Chang'e-4 probe was successfully launched; in 2019, Chang'e-4 landed on the back of the moon for the first time in human history; in 2020, Chang'e-5 and other scientific explorations achieved major breakthroughs.

According to the National Space Administration, Chang'e 6 will be launched around 2024 to carry out the mission of returning samples from the far side of the moon. This will also be the first time that humans land on the far side of the moon, and the Chinese will enrich their understanding of the moon.

In addition to lunar exploration, China's space program is also advancing in an orderly manner to explore Mars and the Sun. In his 2022 New Year's message, President Xi Jinping mentioned "Zhurong exploring Mars and Xihe chasing the Sun."

According to the National Space Administration's previous announcement, the next step China's space program will complete is the Mars sample return mission, which is expected to be implemented around 2030; in terms of the solar exploration program, the initial plan is to launch the "Xihe-2" satellite in 2026.

Among these major projects "going to the sky", President Xi Jinping has also been paying attention to the "growth process" of Beidou navigation and C919 large aircraft.

From "taking a solid step towards global networking" in 2018 to "global networking entering the sprint stage" in 2019, President Xi mentioned BeiDou navigation twice in his New Year's message. Not long ago, the BeiDou system officially joined the ICAO standards and became a universal satellite navigation system for global civil aviation.

From the "final assembly line" in 2015, "taking to the blue sky" in 2017, to the "official delivery" of the first aircraft in 2022, and then to "realization of commercial flight" in 2023, President Xi mentioned the C919 large aircraft four times in his New Year's messages.

On December 16, 2023, a blue-green C919 large passenger aircraft took off from the Hong Kong International Airport and flew to Victoria Harbour for a demonstration flight. This was the first time that a domestically-produced commercial aircraft soared over Hong Kong.

From "Shenzhou" asking questions of the sky and "Chang'e" embracing the moon, to "Zhurong" exploring Mars, "Xihe" chasing the sun, "Beidou" forming a network, and then to the "gradual growth" of C919, this full-score answer sheet continues to refresh the "Chinese height".

China Depth

In the New Year’s message, major projects “entering the sea” bear witness to China’s depth.

On the evening of December 31, 2023, President Xi Jinping mentioned in his New Year’s message that “the domestically-made large cruise ship completed its sea trial.”

The domestically-produced large cruise ship is "Aida Modu". On November 4, 2023, my country's first domestically-produced large cruise ship "Aida Modu" was officially named and delivered.

After eight years of scientific research, five years of design and construction, and after completing the sea trial verification, the "Aida·Modu" officially entered the market. Let's look at the "Aida·Modu" from a set of data:

With a gross tonnage of 135,500 tons, the ship is 323.6 meters long, 37.2 meters wide and 72.2 meters high. The ship is equipped with 107 systems, 55,000 pieces of equipment, including 25 million parts, and 4,750 kilometers of cables. The ship has 2,125 guest rooms and can accommodate 5,246 passengers. It is equipped with a 16-story, 40,000-square-meter living and entertainment public area... "Aida Magic City" is like a "modern city on the sea".

On January 1, 2024, at the Shanghai Wusongkou International Cruise Port, the "Aida Magic City" officially welcomed domestic and foreign guests on its first commercial voyage.

Large cruise ships, large liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and aircraft carriers are known as the "three pearls in the crown" of the shipbuilding industry. They represent the highest level of passenger, cargo and military shipbuilding, and directly reflect a country's industrial strength and comprehensive scientific and technological level. Today, China has gathered the "three pearls in the crown" of the shipbuilding industry.

In addition to large cruise ships, President Xi Jinping has also mentioned the "pearl" of aircraft carriers many times in his New Year's messages.

From the "launch of the first domestically-made aircraft carrier" in 2017, to the "sea trial of the second aircraft carrier" in 2018, to the "launch of the third aircraft carrier 'Fujian'" in 2022, President Xi has been paying attention to the construction and development of China's aircraft carriers.

In his New Year’s message, President Xi Jinping mentioned twice a major project “going to sea” - the “Fendouzhe”.

The "Fendouzhe" is the first 10,000-meter-class full-sea-depth manned submersible independently developed and built in my country. As of July 2023, the "Fendouzhe" has made a total of 193 dives, including 25 dives at the 10,000-meter level. 32 people have reached the bottom of the 10,000-meter sea on the "Fendouzhe", ranking first in the world in both the number of 10,000-meter deep dives and the number of people.

Repeated explorations into the deep sea have continuously refreshed the "Chinese depth" in the vast ocean.

China Speed

In the New Year’s greetings, major “land” projects bear witness to China’s speed.

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, a bridge connecting three places, spans the sea and leaps over Lingding. With the implementation of the policies of "Macau cars going north" and "Hong Kong cars going north", the software and hardware of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area are further connected, and the "one-hour living circle" of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has basically taken shape.

The Baihetan Hydropower Station stands tall in the lower reaches of the Jinsha River, and a steady stream of clean energy flows out of Sichuan along the dense "silver line". On December 30, 2023, the Baihetan-Zhejiang ±800 kV UHV DC transmission project was successfully put into commercial operation. In just 7 milliseconds, the electricity generated by the Sichuan River can be "flash-transmitted" to the south of the Yangtze River, more than 2,000 kilometers away.

From the start of construction to the first flight, this "super project" took less than five years to build Daxing International Airport, creating an amazing "Chinese speed". Looking down from the air, Daxing International Airport looks like a "phoenix spreading its wings".

Fuxing trains run across the vast land of the motherland at a speed of 350 kilometers per hour, and can travel across most of China in one day. In 2022, Fuxing trains have successfully achieved full coverage of 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country.

This series of major projects, at the speed of China, has brought about rapid development and also brought convenience to people's lives.

Heading into the deep space, advancing into the deep blue, crossing the canyons and mountains... Today, major projects "into the sky, in the sea and on land" are being accelerated, helping China's economy to move forward steadily, demonstrating China's height, depth and speed. In the final analysis, these are the vigorous and upward Chinese power!

Planning and production

Source: People's Daily Online Science and Technology Comprehensive China Central Radio and Television Station CCTV, China Railway

Editor｜Yang Yaping