HQ-9 air-defense missile is one of the air-defense missiles developed by researchers at China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp's Second Academy. FAN SONG/FOR CHINA DAILY China has become a world leader in air-defense technologies thanks to the hard work and dedication of researchers at China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp's Second Academy, the country's major developer of air-defense weapons systems. Researchers from the academy's Zhang Yiqun Laboratory have been playing a vital role in the development of China's new air-defense missile system by designing its control systems - the brain of any missile. Compared with previous generations of air-defense missiles, the new-generation missile system will have a wider range of targets and be much more technologically sophisticated, taking China into the ranks of just a handful of nations capable of designing and producing such a system. The cutting-edge missile's control systems need to be extremely efficient and accurate, said Wang Mengyi, deputy head of the Second Academy's General Design Department and former leader of the laboratory. Metaphorically put, the mission of these control systems is to guide a needle to fly 1,000 kilometers to pierce the eye of another needle, he said. For researchers from Zhang Yiqun Laboratory, their mission is to turn this seemingly impossible task into reality. Wang said control systems are mainly tasked with working out a missile's best trajectory and making sure it can hit its target. The successful development of China's new air-defense missile system would be unachievable if researchers at the laboratory had failed to design world-class control systems, he said, noting that they adopted new design methods that have reduced design time tremendously and improved missile performance. Wang Xiaodong, a laboratory researcher, said members of the laboratory spent numerous days and nights improving the accuracy of control systems and optimizing the algorithms that are central to them. For example, we worked 10 consecutive days and slept little each day to detect and resolve one extremely rare abnormality because all of us are aware that our nation's air-defense networks can only be reliable if we are meticulous and responsible toward our work, he said. The laboratory, named after Zhang Yiqun, a top researcher at the academy and former head of the laboratory, has been granted 11 National Science and Technology Advancement Awards and 28 National Defense Science and Technology Progress Awards due to its extensive contribution to China's air-defense networks. It has also registered more than 130 defense technology patents. In the laboratory, members of the Communist Party of China play a vanguard, exemplary role, leaders of the laboratory said. They always take the lead in innovating, carry out their assignments carefully, with scrupulous attention to detail, and also display an inspirational level of diligence and devotion toward their work. glow wristbandsmake your own bracelet cheap24 hour wristbands coupon codeuv braceletcustom sweatbands no minimum
XINING - Forty years ago, Li Yifan would net more than 100 Przewalksii's naked carp a day. Now, he and fellow volunteers are saving the fish, which became endangered after decades of overfishing. The species of carp, known in China as huangyu, is endemic to the Qinghai Lake, China's largest inland saltwater lake. It is the dominant of five native species of fish in the lake which is located on the Qinghai Plateau. From late May to mid-August every year, the carp swim upstream to three freshwater rivers to spawn, with the migration peaking in late June. Volunteers rescue carp that become stranded as small tributaries dry up during their arduous journey. In 2015, Li and eight villagers from Gangca County set up a team of volunteers to protect the carp. "Previously we caught them, now we save them. It's retribution for our actions," Li said. As a result of rampant fishing since the 1960s, when a famine swept the country, the lake's carp stock plunged from its peak of 320,000 tonnes in the 1950's to just 2,600 tonnes in 2001. The fish was listed on the China Species Red List in 2004 due to overfishing and habitat loss. All fishing has been prohibited in the lake for the last 17 years, however, illegal fishing has persisted. "The lake is so huge and the fishermen are cunning. Law enforcement can't deal with them on their own," said Norrigsang, a herdsman from Gangca who used his own savings to found a patrol to catch people fishing illegally along the lake's 300-kilometer-long shoreline in the 1990's. The job is no easy task. He recalled an incident in January 2013, when the seven-member team was attacked by a group of more than 100 fishermen. Thanks to the increased efforts of volunteers and intensified law enforcement, the illegal fishing of naked carp has been dramatically decreased since 2014, according to fishery authorities. In addition to the volunteers, the local government is working to restore the fish population by helping them spawn. Several years ago, the Gangca government dismantled a two-meter-high dam on the Shaliu River and built 18 steps in its place to assist the fish migration. Last year, it spent 8.5 million yuan (1.25 million U.S. dollars) building 21 steps on the Quanji River. But assisting the migration is only part of the battle, they also need to increase fertilization rates, The success rate for natural fertilization is extremely low, as the sperm of male carp can only survive for 20 seconds in the water, said Zhou Weiguo from the carp rescue center. "With such low fertilization rates we can't increase the population of the endangered species," Zhou said. In 2001, fishery workers began an artificial insemination program. They hatch fertilized eggs at the rescue center and raise the young fish, or fry, in tanks for a year before releasing them into the lake. Since 2002, more than 100 million captive-bred carp fry have been released into the lake, with an 85 percent survival rate. Last year, the stock of carp in the lake climbed to 70,800 tonnes. Despite the progress, there is still a long way to go, said Yang Shoude, a forest police officer in the Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve. "If the naked carp population can not be increased in time, algae growth will become out of control and eventually 'kill' the lake," Yang said. Winning the battle requires combined grassroots and governmental efforts, Norrigsang said.
