In the past 12 months, the nation's scientists have repeatedly risen to the occasion, especially in the battle against COVID-19. Zhang Zhihao reports.

Even as a turbulent 2020 ended, there was no respite for scientists such as Wang Qihui. The researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Microbiology is working to develop a therapeutic antibody treatment for COVID-19.

Her research on the novel coronavirus began in January last year.

"There are still many unanswered questions," Wang said, after 12 months of intens ive work. The task was so exhausting that she experienced temporary loss of hearing in her left ear, but she rushed back to work shortly after she recovered.

"I am just one of many researchers across China pushing their own limits to produce more insights about the virus," she said.

"Everyone on our team has a fire in our hearts that pushes us to work harder, so we can produce an effective vaccine and treatment and life can return to normal."

Last year was anything but normal. It felt like a series of catastrophes featuring record-breaking wildfires and floods, a global pandemic that had killed more than 1.8 million people by early this month, and unprecedented social and racial unrest globally.

For China, though, it was a year full of heroes, courage, hope and breathtaking ingenuity and innovation.

The achievements ranged from the Tianwen 1 Mars probe－set to reach the red planet next month－to the Fendouzhe manned submersible diving to a national record of 10,909 meters in the Challenger Deep, the deepest known point in the oceans.

Other notable scientific achievements included the success of the Chang'e 5 lunar mission, which retrieved the first soil samples from the moon for more than 40 years.

China's scientists also created Jiuzhang, a light-based quantum computer that solved a problem so complex that it would take the most powerful supercomputer more than 600 million years to complete.

Bai Chunli, former president of CAS, said China is witnessing "historic transformations and achievements" in its science and technology sector, characterized by numerous breakthroughs, and is becoming the global front-runner in some cuttingedge fields.

"China's scientific and technological capabilities are transitioning from quantitative accumulation to qualitative change, from advances in selected fields to holistic improvement across the overall system," Bai said at a conference in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, in November.

High rankings

Last year, China ranked first in four major areas of scientific research in terms of academic activity and influence－one more than in 2019.

The country trailed only the United States, which led in seven fields, according to the Research Fronts 2020 report published by CAS and Clarivate Analytics of the US.

Of the 11 broad research categories, China led in: agricultural science; plant and animal sciences; chemistry and materials science; and mathematics and information science.

The country was also ranked second in: ecological and environmental sciences; physics; and social sciences, including economics and psychology, the report said.

At a publication ceremony for the report, Gao Hongjun, CAS vice-president, said, "China's scientific and technological capability will become the basis for facilitating economic growth, improving people's livelihoods and protecting national security."

However, China lagged behind other scientific powerhouses in clinical medicine and astronomy and astrophysics, where it ranked 12th and eighth respectively. Of the 148 frontier research topics assessed in the report, the US led the world in 79 subjects, while China led in 42.

Bai said China's science and technology sector has many shortcomings that must be overcome.

They include an overreliance on imports for key technologies, lack of ability to make original breakthroughs in basic sciences, and insufficient support for socioeconomic development and national security.

To resolve those issues, the nation's planners envisioned China upholding the central role that innovation plays in modernizing the country and turning science and technology self-reliance into a strategic pillar for national development.

According to the communique of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, released in October, the nation's scientific community will focus on tackling the world's scientific frontiers, promoting high-quality economic growth, meeting the country's major needs and safeguarding lives and health.

Those efforts will facilitate more major breakthroughs in core technologies, bolster the country's economic and technological strengths and transform China into a global leader in innovation－one of several objectives to be achieved by 2035, the communique said.

The proposals state that China will launch major research projects in: artificial intelligence; quantum information technology; integrated circuits; life science and health; neural science; aerospace technology; deep-earth and ocean exploration; and other cutting-edge fields.

At a November news briefing, Wang Zhigang, minister of science and technology, said China's socioeconomic development has never depended so heavily on finding new approaches for solutions from science, technology and innovation.

China will continue to expand international cooperation on climate change, public health and energy, as well as scientific policy, research ethics and other topics of global concern, Wang said.

At the same time, China will strengthen intellectual property protection, optimize its legal and policy environment to support research and innovation, and provide more opportunities and convenience for foreign scientists to work in the country, he added.

Fighting the pandemic

According to a State Council Information Office white paper on the COVID-19 response, science and technology have played vital roles in China's battle against the epidemic by providing effective diagnostic tools, preventive measures, treatments and candidate vaccines.

One of the breakthroughs in diagnostic methods was the use of hyper-polarized gas lung magnetic resonance imaging to accurately and directly visualize the gas-exchange function of COVID-19 patients' damaged lungs. The findings were published in November by the journal Science Advances.

The method works by having the patient inhale a small quantity of a nonradioactive, inert isotope of Xenon gas before undergoing an MRI scan.

The gas can enhance the MRI signals by more than 86,000 times, revealing subtle areas of poor ventilation in the lungs, according to the Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology at CAS.

The technology took Chinese scientists more than a decade to develop. The machine used to create the gas has been approved by the National Medical Products Administration, making it the first piece of medical equipment of its kind to be green lighted for clinical use anywhere in the world, the academy said.

Gao Xin, lead researcher behind the technology, said the new technique "lights up the lungs", allowing more accurate diagnosis and evaluation. It was used to help nearly 1,000 COVID-19 patients at the Jinyintan and Tongji hospitals in Wuhan, Hubei province, last year.

The achievement will improve the global prestige and competitiveness of China's high-end medical-imaging equipment sector and contribute to people's health and well-being, Gao said.

As for COVID-19 vaccines, the World Health Organization said China is undertaking 15 human trials for candidate vaccines, five of which are in phase 3 clinical trials.

At a news briefing last month, Zeng Yixin, vice-minister at the National Health Commission, said the country will focus on nationwide vaccinations of people and workers deemed at high risk of contracting COVID-19 during winter and spring, as cold weather can complicate prevention and control efforts.

As more vaccines are approved and mass-produced, seniors, people with underlying health conditions and those at higher risk of falling severely ill after becoming infected will be inoculated, he said.

"We hope to build herd immunity protection through proactive vaccination, and effectively manage COVID-19 as soon as possible," he added.

Yang Xiaoming, president of China National Biotec, a COVID-19 vaccine developer, described the nation's vaccine development as a marathon and said there were "still 100 meters before we cross the finish line".

"Even though we are developing vaccines at record speed, we have not skipped any research steps, and our procedural standards are stricter than before; only that can ensure the vaccine's efficacy and safety," Yang said at a conference last month.

"The emergence of vaccines will play a crucial role in our full victory over COVID-19."

At the same conference, Zhang Boli, head of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said TCM has played a positive role in the fight against COVID-19, alongside Western medicine.

"In the future, we will make full use of TCM's specialties and advantages, and contribute more to turning China into a healthier nation," he said.

Poverty alleviation

Xiao Qingson, a construction worker from Jinmi village in Zhashui county, Shaanxi province, said he never imagined that growing a small, edible black fungus could help lift his family out of poverty.

"I grew fungus before. It is very hard work and the yield depends heavily on precipitation. I didn't make much money," he told Science and Technology Daily.

In 2018, local officials introduced a new strain of fungus created by noted mycologist Li Yu, designed specifically to thrive in the local climate.

However, Xiao was skeptical of planting the new crops that came in white bags filled with organic nutrients and punctured with holes. It was a far cry from his perception of fungus growing on tree trunks.

After encouragement from friends, Xiao planted about 40,000 bags of the fungus last year. To his surprise, the yield was high and the fungus was very palatable. He made more than 30,000 yuan ($4,640).

Scientists have helped to turn fungi into tea, supplements and other products with high market value. They have also found ways to recycle the used incubator bags, turning fungi planting into a sustainable, profitable industry.

"Science and technology have changed lives," said Zhao Guohui, a sales manager at a science and technology investment and development company in Zhashui.

The Ministry of Science and Technology has invested heavily to create five new strains of fungi for local growers.

Last month, Xu Nanping, vice-minister of science and technology, said the sector in China has invested over 20 billion yuan in poverty alleviation since 2012.

The funding supported about 37,600 projects that produced over 50,000 practical technologies and new crop varieties, providing strong support for the transformation of economies and livelihoods in impoverished regions, he said.

"We believe science and technology will play increasingly vital roles in revitalizing and modernizing villages," Xu said.

He added that the ministry will safeguard the fruits of poverty alleviation by providing more talent and resources at the grassroots.

Lan Yujie, head of the ministry's Department of Science and Technology for Rural Development, said the key to overcoming poverty in the long term is to provide the means and motivation to enable people to achieve success on their own.

"A prosperous local industry is a prerequisite for solving many issues at the village level," he said.

"The ministry will continue to involve the public in poverty alleviation projects, from providing training to selling produce, so farmers can truly reap the benefits of science and technology and become self-sufficient."