Editor's note: China's ancient wisdom informs its contemporary leadership. In this series, China Daily explores how age-old principles and philosophies continue to steer the country's governance.
At around 7:30 am on Nov 30, after around two hours of preparatory work, Major General Fei Junlong, the Shenzhou XV mission commander, opened the hatch of his spaceship and floated into the Tiangong station's connection cabin.
"Welcome! Let's hug," Senior Colonel Chen Dong, leader of the Shenzhou XIV crew, said to Fei. Following Fei, Senior Colonel Deng Qingming and Senior Colonel Zhang Lu moved into the connection cabin and were welcomed by Chen.
The Shenzhou XV trio met the three Shenzhou XIV astronauts in the Wentian lab module and embraced one another. The six Chinese astronauts gathering in the Tiangong station marked a historic moment — the first in-orbit gathering of two Chinese crews.
The two crews stayed together for five days aboard the space station in an orbit about 400 kilometers above Earth. From now on, the in-orbit rotation will become routine as the space station is put into formal operation.
Weighing nearly 100 metric tons, the Tiangong space station is one of the largest space-based structures mankind has ever built and deployed in outer space, which consists of the Tianhe core module, the Wentian and Mengtian lab modules and Shenzhou XV spacecraft, as well as the Tianzhou 5 cargo ship.
According to Ji Qiming, assistant director of the China Manned Space Agency, the Shenzhou XV crew will stay aboard the Tiangong space station for six months and is scheduled to return to Earth in May. During its time in orbit, the crew will carry out three to four spacewalks and conduct over 40 scientific experiments and technological demonstrations.
Ji said at a news conference in late November at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China that the agency is doing preparatory work for the training of foreign astronauts to fly missions to the Tiangong space station.
"Currently, multiple space science programs that we have selected, together with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and the European Space Agency, are proceeding well according to schedule. We will start sending their equipment to our space station in 2023," Ji explains.
Over the past 19 years, China's endeavors in space have progressed from its first manned, single-astronaut mission aboard Shenzhou V, to the long-term orbital sojourn of multiple astronauts.
Alongside China's accelerated space progress, since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee has placed science, technology and innovation at the center of national development, regarding innovation as the primary driving force for development, and made holistic and long-term plans for scientific and technological development in the country.
Wang Zhigang, minister of science and technology, said at a news conference in June that China's position and role in the global innovation landscape has undergone new changes, and China is not only an important participant in cutting-edge international innovation, but also a significant contributor to the resolution of global issues.
"Over the past decade, China's sci-tech cause has experienced major historic, holistic and structural changes, turning the country into a nation of innovators and helping it blaze a development path that transitions from strong talent and sci-tech capabilities to strong industries, economy and state," Wang says.
Force for good
According to Wang, China's total investment in research and development increased from 1.03 trillion yuan ($147.7 billion) in 2012 to 2.79 trillion yuan in 2021, and its proportion of R&D spending increased from 1.91 percent to 2.44 percent of GDP.
China also rose to 12th on the World Intellectual Property Organization's Global Innovation Index in 2021, up from 34th in 2012.
President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said at the opening of the 19th Meeting of the Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the 14th Meeting of Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering on May 28, 2018, that innovation is the leading driving force, and high-quality innovations are needed to support a modern economic system.
"As the Mohist Canon says, 'Force is the reason that an object moves'," Xi said. "We will focus on improving the quality and efficiency of development, take supply-side structural reform as our main task and direct our efforts toward building a better-quality supply system."
Xi emphasized science and technology reforms to boost the vitality of innovation and noted that talented people are essential. "We must expand the channels to build a large talent pool," Xi said.
The Mohist Canon, or Mo Jing, was one of the classics from the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). According to Wang Xuebin, professor at the department of literature and history research of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, Mohist principles were extracted from people's work and life experience. The school's founder, Chinese philosopher Mo Zi, was born into a poverty-stricken family of the Lu State, in today's Shandong province, and was also a craftsman during the Warring States Period.
"In the process of continuous implementation, Mo Zi continued to explore and refine scientific theories. His thought in logic and natural sciences was ahead of 100 other schools of thought back then," Wang Xuebin says.
Wang Xuebin says that, as one of the major schools of thought in the period before the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), Mohism has two approaches that are quite different from other schools and echo modern values.
One is to value the refinement of scientific theories and the exploration of science and technology, and the other is to focus on teaching students according to their own characteristics, putting a value on vocational education.
"Mohism's emphasis on science and technology, and on moral and intellectual development is in line with the principles of modern vocational education. In a sense, Mo Zi can be regarded as the originator of vocational education in China," he says.
"Our path of scientific and technological innovation is toward the common development of mankind, and it also continues our ancient Chinese tradition of valuing science and technology.
"Cultivation of innovative talent is the long-term plan of the nation. The contemporary competition among countries is for talent or education. So, we need to value our education, on one hand, to strengthen the foundation of basic subjects and on the other, we need to focus on integration of vocational education and general education."
A skillful approach
In his report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC on Oct 16, Xi stressed innovation as being at the heart of China's modernization drive.
"We must regard science and technology as our primary productive force, talent as our primary resource, and innovation as our primary driver of growth," Xi said.
Xi emphasized that education, science and technology, and human resources are the foundational and strategic pillars for building a modern socialist country in all respects.
"We will better establish vocational education as a category in the educational system," Xi said.
In the WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition which ended in Austria at the end of November, the Chinese delegation made a breakthrough, topping the medal tally by winning 21 golds and three silvers.
The competition hosted special sessions to replace the canceled WorldSkills Shanghai 2022, with 62 events staged in 15 countries and regions from September to November.
Wang Pei, 23, won China's first beauty therapy title, which has been dominated by European competitors for years. "It was a dream come true as I grew from a spectator to a competitor and kept the Chinese flag flying on the world stage. All the hardships and my efforts have paid off," she says.
Wang Pei recalls on the third day of the competition there was an event called sports massage. She had learned from a professor of traditional Chinese medicine and integrated that knowledge into her massage.
"When I was doing it, all the judges came over to watch me and take videos. I felt proud," she says.
"Traditional Chinese medicine helped me to win the gold medal, and I realize that our own traditions can go global."
She plans to be a teacher and pass on her skills to young people, as well as continue to learn more about traditional Chinese culture to share with her students.
