Screenshots from China Central Television show the astronaut Wang Yaping conducting a science lesson on the orbiting Tiangong-1 space module on Thursday. Xinhua

Space

Lesson from heavens reaches millions

More than 60 million students and teachers at China's 80,000 middle schools experienced a special class delivered by China's first teacher in space from more than 300 kilometers above Earth's surface on Thursday.

Female astronaut Wang Yaping carried out fundamental physics experiments onboard the orbiting Tiangong-1 space module at around 10 am.

Wang interacted with more than 330 students who gathered in a classroom of the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China in Beijing. Invited by the Ministry of Education, the students included children of ethnic groups and migrant workers, and student representatives from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

Students in classrooms that are not equipped with TV sets listened to the lecture via radio.

Technology

Jiaolong completes dive in South China Sea

Chinese scientists completed a dive in the Jiaolong manned submersible in the South China Sea on June 17, marking a good start to the vessel's trial mission and its first dive this year.

The Jiaolong was unloaded from the Xiangyanghong 09 oceanographic vessel and began its dive at about 10 am, returning to the vessel at about 4:30 pm, having reached a depth of about 1,400 meters.

The crew included Ye Cong, one of the designers of the Jiaolong and an employee of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corp; Yang Bo, a researcher from the Institute of Acoustics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Liu Kaizhou from the Shenyang Institute of Automation. In future dives, 14 scientists from various fields will study the ocean depths.

China bytes back with fastest computer

China is back on top of the supercomputing world with the successful operation of Tianhe-2, the world's fastest computer.

On June 17, TOP500, an organization that evaluates high-performance computers worldwide, announced that Tianhe-2 was the world's fastest supercomputer.

Its ultra-high capability of 54.9 petaflops, or 54.9 quadrillion calculations per second, outshone competitors from the United States and Japan.

It will provide an open platform for research, education and high-performance computing services for southern China.

Supported by national funding and developed by the National University of Defense Technology, Tianhe-2 was built in just 15 months with a calculation capability 11 times greater than its predecessor, Tianhe-1A.

Agriculture

Growing demand to buoy food imports

China's farm imports may rise over the next decade due to lower production growth and rising domestic demand, senior experts said.

Despite the success China has had in its agricultural sector, the country will see slower production growth in the next 10 years with increasing resource and rural labor constraints, according to the Agricultural Outlook 2013-22 report.

Jointly released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the report predicts slowing global agricultural production growth, reflecting limited expansion of agricultural land, rising production costs, growing resource constraints and increasing environmental pressures.

China gives approval to GM soybeans

China's agricultural authorities issued biosafety certificates to three new overseas varieties of genetically modified soybeans on June 13, allowing them to be imported as raw materials for domestic processing.

The three new varieties of GM soybeans - one from German chemical producer BASF and two from Monsanto Far East Ltd - fare better against insect attacks and herbicide, and have been approved for commercial planting or consumption in many countries, said a statement from China's biosafety committee.

The news follows the June 10 statement from Brazil's agriculture ministry that China had approved imports of three varieties of Brazilian GM soybeans.

Sport

Programs to create sporting superstars

China may soon have its own superstars capable of matching the likes of Tiger Woods or Roger Federer with the launch of two programs aimed at providing the best training for top Chinese talent in golf and tennis.

China Golf Association and HSBC have renewed their support for the grassroots development of the sport in China through a series of events, tournaments and training programs. In tennis, the youth training center of Shanghai Sports Bureau has teamed up with a top tennis club in Pudong New Area to select 10 boys and six girls between 8 and 10 years old to train overseas, including in Australia.

Maradona wins case over online game

Soccer legend Diego Maradona has been awarded 3 million yuan ($490,000; 367,000 euros) by a Beijing court after he sued three Chinese companies over an online game.

The judge at No 1 Intermediate People's Court on June 17 accepted the 52-year-old Argentinian's claim that Hot-Blooded Soccer had infringed his image rights by featuring a cartoon of the star and his signature without consent.

Maradona had demanded 20 million yuan in damages from Shanghai The9 Information Technology Co, The9 Computer Technology Consulting (Shanghai) Co and Beijing Sina Internet Information Service Co.

(China Daily European Weekly 06/21/2013 page2)