The Science and Technology Museum

Through a family connection, a department head in the space and aeronautics division of the Science and Technology Museum (he's a researcher, not curator) gave us a brief tour of the space exhibit, with real satellites hanging from the ceiling and other gadgets that are fully operational (we were told they're the backups, making this place the sideline of China's space program, I suppose).

I bring this up in light of Time's article last week about China's space program. The country has already helped countries like Brazil put satellites in space, and now it wants to be bigger player on this front. For $40 million -- half the price the Americans, Europeans and Russians charge -- China can put a commercial satellite in space, and if the country's latest venture is successful, it would indeed be, as Time puts it, "a major leap forward."

Of course, you can't have a story without your stock Chicken Little quote from Yet Another Concerned Congressman:

Not everyone sees it that way. Addressing the House of Representatives Science and Technology Full Committee on Wednesday, Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher stressed that any rule revision must ensure "nations who proliferate weapons of mass destruction and rogue nations are barred from receiving our high-tech systems."

Chief among "such places is the People's Republic of China," Rohrabacher continued, issuing a warning against firms seeking to sidestep restrictions in order to do business with Beijing. "Eutelsat sells tens of millions of dollars' worth of satellite services to the U.S. government through DISA [Defense Information Systems Agency] contracts. Clearly, this is the beginning of a game of chicken between Eutelsat and the Obama Administration."

An interesting approach to the milk scandal

BBC's James Reynolds recently recalled this anecdote:

Right now, China might want to remember Cordelia Gummer.

In 1990 Britain was worried about infected beef and "mad cow disease". The government insisted that no-one need panic - Britain's beef was fine.

In order to make the point in a dramatic way, Britain's Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister John Gummer decided to feed his four-year-old daughter Cordelia a beefburger in front of the cameras. It was a slightly curious, much criticised and derided tactic.

Reynolds wondered whether any Chinese leaders would step up and drink a glass of milk to prove its safety.

None did. This, however, is close:

Via China Daily.

Every time I click on the picture it leads me to an article about China's spacewalk, so here's a screenshot for you:

China's first spacewalk

China Daily

China's first ever space walk happened today, which was hard to miss because it was broadcast on every channel. My grandma, yesterday, could hardly leave the TV to eat, and she's one who almost never has the TV on during lunch.

Of course, the most spectacular moment during the spacewalk -- when astronaut Zhai Zhigang waved the Chinese flag -- was captured by... a screen grab. Here's the caption to the following picture:

In this video grab taken on Saturday, September 27, 2008 from China Central Television, Chinese astronaut Zhai Zhigang waves a Chinese national flag as he conducts the nation's first spacewalk. [CFP]

Bravo, China Daily: you know how to connect a CCTV1 broadcast to your computer and hit the SAVE SCREEN button on your keyboard. Intrepid, guys.

I'm going to toss the final word over to James Reynolds of BBC:

This is a country that spent decades feeling left behind - and even picked on - by the rest of the world. But this year that feeling has begun to change. It's hard to carry on feeling like a victim when your country hosts the Olympic Games and then does its victory lap in space.

Now if we can only get the people to be less defensive. But inferiority complexes take a while to overcome, if they can be overcome at all.

POSTSCRIPT: Video via Danwei.