:00:00. > :00:09.Now on BBC News, it's time for China's Science Revolution.
:00:10. > :00:14.China is on a mission to supersize science, from building the largest
:00:15. > :00:19.radio telescope the world has ever seen, to creating vast underground
:00:20. > :00:23.experiments. They're using pigs' eyes in a radical treatment for
:00:24. > :00:29.blindness and pushing the boundaries of exploration, from the deepest
:00:30. > :00:34.ocean to outer space. This nation is on the verge of making great leaps
:00:35. > :00:48.in research, but it also faces major challenges.
:00:49. > :00:57.In the south-west of China, a place of spectacular natural beauty. This
:00:58. > :01:10.is one of the poorest areas in the country, but it's now home to a vast
:01:11. > :01:18.new scientific experiment. Our understanding of the universe is
:01:19. > :01:27.about to be transformed. This is China's new giant of science. The
:01:28. > :01:33.largest radio telescope ever built. Measuring-a kilometre across, it's
:01:34. > :01:38.nearly twice the size of its rivals. It's unusual for China to open up
:01:39. > :01:42.projects like this to outsiders, but as it nears completion, I've been
:01:43. > :01:47.given rare access and a chance for a few unlike any other. It's only when
:01:48. > :01:52.you get up close that you really get a sense of this thing's scale. It's
:01:53. > :01:56.simply colossal. Bigger is better when it comes to astronomy, because
:01:57. > :02:00.the larger the dish, the more signals can be collected from space,
:02:01. > :02:13.helping us to see deeper into the universe than ever before.
:02:14. > :02:20.So the signals come into the dish Yes and reflect to the receivers.
:02:21. > :02:26.This is the project's deputy manager. In China the astronomy, we
:02:27. > :02:33.are far behind the world. In the past years, lots of people like me
:02:34. > :02:36.go abroad to use the telescope outside China, but I think this is
:02:37. > :02:42.the time for us to build something in China and used by lots of Chinese
:02:43. > :02:49.users and also welcome the international users. Some telescopes
:02:50. > :02:56.use light to see the visible universe, creating stunning images
:02:57. > :03:02.like these. But the galaxy's stars and celestial bodies are constantly
:03:03. > :03:09.emitting radio waves. It's these signals that a radio telescope
:03:10. > :03:15.listens out for. This one is so big it will shed light on the furthest
:03:16. > :03:24.reaches of the cosmos. We want to use the big telescope to explore the
:03:25. > :03:27.unknown in the universe. We want to know where were the first forms and
:03:28. > :03:44.what conditions for life in the universe. How does the galaxy
:03:45. > :03:50.evolve? At a cost of $180 million US, it's part of a huge investment
:03:51. > :03:55.in science. It's been built in record time. It's taken five years
:03:56. > :03:59.to get to this stage. More than 4,000 of these enormous triangular
:04:00. > :04:05.panels have been fixed into place. Each one can move, changing the
:04:06. > :04:38.angle of the dish to point it to any part of the sky.
:04:39. > :04:51.The telescope's 140 metres deep. I'm on my way to see what it's like at
:04:52. > :04:55.the bottom of the dish. We've come under the telescope. As can you see,
:04:56. > :05:00.it's an incredibly complex structure. Everything up here is
:05:01. > :05:03.made from aluminium, which keeps it very, very light and that's
:05:04. > :05:09.important when you've got something this big. The surface too is
:05:10. > :05:12.perforated with tiny holes, which means the light comes through
:05:13. > :05:23.helping the vegetation to grow. This adds extra support for the ground.
:05:24. > :05:29.But in The Valleys beyond the telescope, China's push for progress
:05:30. > :05:34.is having a far-reaching impact. These villagers and many like them
:05:35. > :05:38.will have to live in a five kilometre radio quiet zone. Anything
:05:39. > :05:43.that interferes with the telescope being like mobile phones or wireless
:05:44. > :05:46.networks, will be banned. The government has offered money for
:05:47. > :06:28.anyone who wants to leave, but feelings are mixed.
:06:29. > :06:35.Eng fleerz now racing to -- engineers are racing to fill in the
:06:36. > :06:38.final pieces of the dish. It's on track to be finished by September.
:06:39. > :06:43.It could give us our best views yet of the heavens. It's an impressive
:06:44. > :06:50.display of China's growing scientific ambition.
:06:51. > :06:56.This is a nation with a great history of scientific endeavour,
:06:57. > :07:06.going back thousands of years. The Chinese invented the plough, charted
:07:07. > :07:10.the stars and developed gunpowder. But over the centuries progress
:07:11. > :07:21.stalled. And then came the turmoil of the cultural revolution. In the
:07:22. > :07:26.1960s, the Communist Party, under chairman Mao, made a push to
:07:27. > :07:32.re-assert his power. Amidst the patriotic rallies, war was declared
:07:33. > :07:34.on so-called liberal thought. Intellectuals and academics were
:07:35. > :07:48.persecuted and scientific research ground to a halt. But experiencing
:07:49. > :07:53.China now is very different. 30 years ago, the country began its
:07:54. > :07:57.great reform, opening up to the rest of the world and aits economy grew,
:07:58. > :08:03.science began to flourish once again. Today China is making a
:08:04. > :08:08.scientific come back in a major way. It's spending -- its spending on
:08:09. > :08:11.research is unprecedented. A few years ago it overtook Europe and now
:08:12. > :08:18.it's rapidly catching up with the US. It's starting to pay off. In the
:08:19. > :08:22.Shanghai offices of the sign journal Nature, they've been tracking
:08:23. > :08:27.China's progress. In China, there seems to be more of a sense of
:08:28. > :08:32.urgency. There is a feeling that in the last 100 years, we lost a lot of
:08:33. > :08:36.opportunities, because we weren't doing research. Now there is this
:08:37. > :08:40.golden opportunity in terms of funding, in terms of societial
:08:41. > :08:46.recognition of the role that can be played by science. Where does China
:08:47. > :08:52.currently sit in terms of the world stage of science? Of course, now
:08:53. > :08:57.China's the second largest economy in the world. In terms of spending,
:08:58. > :09:01.China is now number two in the world. In terms of scientific
:09:02. > :09:05.output, measured by a number of papers published, China has passed a
:09:06. > :09:15.lot of countries. Now it's also the second in the world next to the US.
:09:16. > :09:21.One area the country wants to excel at is deep-sea research. On China's
:09:22. > :09:29.East Coast, the crowds are gathering. It's launch day for a new
:09:30. > :09:36.5,000-ton research ship. It's been built by a private Chinese company
:09:37. > :09:41.called Rainbow Fish. This vessel is China's latest bid to dominate the
:09:42. > :09:46.waves. When it comes to the sea, China really is thinking big. This
:09:47. > :09:50.research ship will explore the world's oceans, but it will also
:09:51. > :09:55.serve as a launch pad for submarines, that can explore
:09:56. > :10:03.anywhere, no matter how deep. The company's plan is to take humans to
:10:04. > :10:08.the very deepest parts of the ocean. The Mariana trench in the Pacific.
:10:09. > :10:14.It's developing a submarine that will take a crew of three nearly 11
:10:15. > :10:17.kilometres down. In decades of exploration, only a handful of
:10:18. > :10:24.people have been there. Now China plans to be next. So this is a
:10:25. > :10:29.life-size model of the Rainbow Fish. Exactly. The head designer says he
:10:30. > :10:36.wants to make the dive by 2020 and he's excited by what he might see.
:10:37. > :10:43.Most important part is this part, the cameras, radios, so you can
:10:44. > :10:49.record all of it. I would like to be the first of the Chinese people to
:10:50. > :10:56.reach the Mariana trench. We are creating our personal history. That
:10:57. > :11:02.makes me exciting. The Chinese government has its sights set on the
:11:03. > :11:05.ocean. Their manned submersible has been exploring the depths. Now
:11:06. > :11:11.they're building a new vessel that can go even deeper. The Government
:11:12. > :11:17.stresses the purpose is scientific. But tensions are building in the
:11:18. > :11:21.oceans. China is involved in territorial disputes in the South
:11:22. > :11:25.China Sea, where there's a growing military presence. Some fear that
:11:26. > :11:31.developments in underwater technology could tighten the
:11:32. > :11:35.country's control of the deep. But the Rainbow Fish team say its
:11:36. > :11:41.project isn't about politics. This is the company's Managing Director.
:11:42. > :11:45.Although the whole research is down inside China, but we can see this is
:11:46. > :11:49.very much international cooperation. We get American scientists, the
:11:50. > :11:55.Russian scientists, the European scientists, all be part of the team.
:11:56. > :12:00.This is a commercial venture and he believes there are people who will
:12:01. > :12:06.pay to use the research ship and submarine. Definitely first the
:12:07. > :12:09.scientists who are interested in studying the deep sea, science and
:12:10. > :12:15.technology. The second is those big companies and off-shore company, oil
:12:16. > :12:18.company. The last one is those people, tourists, adventurers, they
:12:19. > :12:24.want to go down themselves to look at what's going on there. For now,
:12:25. > :12:33.though, the deepest depths remain largely unexplored. It's a
:12:34. > :12:36.mysterious, alien world. But China's underwater plans are progressing
:12:37. > :12:44.quickly and it could be the nation that will open up this final
:12:45. > :12:51.frontier. China is putting its money and faith
:12:52. > :12:56.in science. The country is in the midst of an economic slow down. But
:12:57. > :13:03.it's banking on high-profile research to grow once again.
:13:04. > :13:06.Progress in almost every field of science is happening at a diying
:13:07. > :13:15.rate, especially medicine. But is this push to be first, this push to
:13:16. > :13:21.discover taking us into uncharted ethical territory? This is in the
:13:22. > :13:25.south of China. It's a typically busy afternoon at Cannes trip's
:13:26. > :13:30.biggest Eye Hospital. China accounts for a fifth of the world's blind,
:13:31. > :13:33.that's eight million people. And damage to the cornea, the
:13:34. > :13:38.transparent film that covers the front of the eye, is a major cause.
:13:39. > :13:47.For many, the only hope is a transplant. There's a huge waiting
:13:48. > :13:51.list. Once the main source of organs was from executed prisoners. That's
:13:52. > :13:59.now been banned, but the wider population is reluctant to donate.
:14:00. > :14:06.In China, because so many people, they have the tradition of opinions
:14:07. > :14:14.say they don't like to give cornea after this. This is the main reason
:14:15. > :14:22.why we can carry out 5,000 transplants in China. This man
:14:23. > :14:27.became blind after his cornea became infected. It meant he lost his job
:14:28. > :14:33.as a security guard. But 24 hours ago, he became the latest patient to
:14:34. > :14:41.undergo an experimental treatment. He was given a new cornea from a
:14:42. > :14:48.very unlikely source... These pigs are the radical solution to China's
:14:49. > :14:53.transplant crisis. Bred for their meat, their corneas are removed as a
:14:54. > :14:56.by-product. The government gave the go ahead for this last year. Now
:14:57. > :15:07.it's being rolled out on a massive scale. The city has become a hub for
:15:08. > :15:10.research and it's home to the bio tech company behind the treatment.
:15:11. > :15:19.It took ten years of research to develop it. This is one of your
:15:20. > :15:31.laboratories? Yes. This doctor is the firm's CEO. We try to use
:15:32. > :15:36.animals to replace human corneas. We tried goat, dog, pig or cow.
:15:37. > :15:42.Finally, we find out that pig's cornea is very similar to the human
:15:43. > :15:47.beings. It's very different from the traditional treatment. It's totally
:15:48. > :15:52.new. So it takes time for us to introduce to the hospitals and
:15:53. > :16:00.patients, the society. We're still at a very early stage. The pig
:16:01. > :16:06.corneas undergo a number of steps to get them ready. Viruses and bacteria
:16:07. > :16:12.are removed, a major concern is diseases that can jump into humans.
:16:13. > :16:17.All pig cells are also stripped away, leaving the basic scaffolding
:16:18. > :16:26.behind. This is the final product here. Let's open it up. You can see,
:16:27. > :16:30.incredibly thin and light. It looks just like a contact lens. It's this
:16:31. > :16:38.that's transplanted into the patient. Back at the hospital, and
:16:39. > :16:44.the check-up has gone well. His sight is already starting to return.
:16:45. > :16:54.Were you surprised when someone said the cornea would be coming from a
:16:55. > :16:57.pig, from an animal? Will you be able to go back to work after the
:16:58. > :17:17.operation and will this help you? The company says this treatment has
:17:18. > :17:22.a high success rate. But some warn China's moving too fast and other
:17:23. > :17:26.advances such as cloning, stem cell research and gene editing are
:17:27. > :17:31.causing concern. Some people have the views because China is a bit of,
:17:32. > :17:36.not Wild West, but the frontier of science, and therefore there's a lot
:17:37. > :17:42.of ambition and appetite to explore the latest technology, and
:17:43. > :17:47.therefore, in that context, the time and the effort, required to debate
:17:48. > :17:50.and discuss and fully understand consequences before embarking on
:17:51. > :17:58.something is probably not entirely there. Despite this, the nation's
:17:59. > :18:04.scientific presence is growing, especially in physics. And deep,
:18:05. > :18:08.under ground, in the south of China, a huge mystery is on the verge of
:18:09. > :18:14.being solved. Scientists are on the trail of one of the most elusive
:18:15. > :18:17.particles ever known. They're called nutrinos and they're everywhere.
:18:18. > :18:21.Even as I speak to you, trillions are streaming through me. The only
:18:22. > :18:25.problem is you can't feel them or see them. They're incredibly
:18:26. > :18:35.difficult to study. Down there, they think they've cracked it.
:18:36. > :18:39.The walls here have been carved out of granite and we're travelling
:18:40. > :18:42.under hundreds of metres of rock. That's really important if you want
:18:43. > :18:47.to study tiny, ghostly particles. You need to be sheltered from the
:18:48. > :18:49.constant space weather, things like cosmic raise, that are bombarding
:18:50. > :19:06.the surface of the earth. The other thing I should tell you
:19:07. > :19:10.while we're under ground is nutrinos don't behave like we expect them to.
:19:11. > :19:14.They do something that no other particle can do, they're constantly
:19:15. > :19:19.changing between three very different forms, swapping from one,
:19:20. > :19:26.to the other and back again. It's this that scientists are trying to
:19:27. > :19:33.understand here. It's a good age of studies. Many experiment are going
:19:34. > :19:40.on. There are a lot of them are under construction, we expect big
:19:41. > :19:45.discoveries in the near future. This is the heart of the experiment.
:19:46. > :19:50.Beneath these covers is a giant tank filled with water. Inside there are
:19:51. > :19:55.the detectors. These are able to spot the very, very rare occasions
:19:56. > :20:00.that a nutrino bumps into a regular particle. So far they've found
:20:01. > :20:05.millions of them and it means we're finally getting close to cracking
:20:06. > :20:12.how they work. And this is vital because NUTs are thought to have
:20:13. > :20:17.played an essential roll -- nutrinos are thought to have played an
:20:18. > :20:20.essential part in the forming of the universe. The work's been so
:20:21. > :20:25.successful, it's won global recognition. At a star-studded
:20:26. > :20:30.ceremony, Chinese scientists were among the winners of the 2016
:20:31. > :20:38.breakthrough prize, a high profile, international award. Collecting it
:20:39. > :20:43.was the Professor in charge of China's physics research. The
:20:44. > :20:50.secrets of nutrinos is not finished. Many more mysteries are yet to be
:20:51. > :20:56.discovered. Thank you. In the capital, Beijing, I went to meet him
:20:57. > :21:01.at the Chinese academy of sciences. Like many scientists here, he used
:21:02. > :21:05.to work abroad. But he says the country's brain drain is being
:21:06. > :21:11.reversed. With the more and more investment from the government and
:21:12. > :21:15.the more and more opportunities, and in particular, more and more say
:21:16. > :21:20.right community build up, I think there will be more people coming
:21:21. > :21:24.back, I hope. China's publication rate seems to be increasing. Is
:21:25. > :21:29.there a general feeling of optimism about the research being carried out
:21:30. > :21:36.here? Numbers doesn't really mean that you are the best. Even if you
:21:37. > :21:42.have, say, the highest publications in the world. Still I think there's
:21:43. > :21:49.a long way to go to reach at least a number and even more difficult the
:21:50. > :21:57.quality. But there's one area where China really is catching up quickly
:21:58. > :22:02.and that's space. At Beijing's science and technology museum, you
:22:03. > :22:06.can see the excitement this is generating. China is a growing space
:22:07. > :22:13.power, much to the delight of these kids. Since its very first satellite
:22:14. > :22:17.launch in 1970, China's programme of exploration has progressed rapidly.
:22:18. > :22:22.And it's certainly capturing the imagination here. Enthusiasm for
:22:23. > :22:26.space starts early here in China. The children have come here today to
:22:27. > :22:30.learn about the latest missions, really instilling a sense of
:22:31. > :22:33.national pride. That's important because if China's ambition pays
:22:34. > :22:43.off, this could be the next generation going to the moon and
:22:44. > :22:48.beyond. The chief designer of China's moon missions is here. The
:22:49. > :22:52.space agency is run by the military and shrouded in secrecy. But he's
:22:53. > :22:56.agreed to talk to me. It's his first ever interview with a foreign
:22:57. > :22:59.journalist. In the past China's been very secretive about its space
:23:00. > :23:19.programme. Do you think it's opening up more?
:23:20. > :23:28.In 2013, China made its way to the moon. It set down a robotic Rover,
:23:29. > :23:35.becoming the first country to land there in nearly 40 years. And soon
:23:36. > :23:43.it will return, this time to the far side of the moon, a place no-one has
:23:44. > :23:48.been before. But China's also heading for the desolate plains of
:23:49. > :23:53.the red planet. The space agency recently announced its mission will
:23:54. > :24:17.blast off to Mars by 2020. This is a space nation on the rise.
:24:18. > :24:25.In a new spirit of collaboration, Chinese astronauts could soon work
:24:26. > :24:30.alongside those from Russia and Europe, but not on the International
:24:31. > :24:35.Space Station. The United States government has blocked them from
:24:36. > :24:40.joining this multinational project, because China's space programme is
:24:41. > :24:41.military led. The US won't work with them for fears over national
:24:42. > :25:03.security. But this international friction
:25:04. > :25:10.isn't slowing China down. The kids here will get to see some 20
:25:11. > :25:14.missions launching this year alone. China's space ambitions aren't
:25:15. > :25:19.letting anything get in their way. All of these science projects are
:25:20. > :25:25.raising China's profile. Now the country has reached a turning point.
:25:26. > :25:32.What's happening now in the next five years, we have a huge impact
:25:33. > :25:35.China's position and role and success in science in the next
:25:36. > :25:41.several decades. There's still work to do on ethics, openness and
:25:42. > :25:45.quality, but with the money invested, the experiments ready, and
:25:46. > :25:49.the scientists returning home, the world is now watching to see if
:25:50. > :26:00.China's science revolution will pay off.
:26:01. > :26:05.Hello. It may be August, but that doesn't stop us having severe
:26:06. > :26:06.weather