By Qiao Dong, Cao Jiwei, People’s Daily

Nestled in northwest China’s Qinghai province, the Sanjiangyuan area – often called the “Water Tower of China” – derives much of its water from glacial sources. Among these, the Amne Machin peak in the Golog Tibetan autonomous prefecture encompasses over 120 square kilometers of glaciers. These ice formations supply approximately 35% of the water for the upper reaches of the Yellow River, China’s second-longest river, forming an indispensable ecological barrier for the region.

In recent years, the water conservation capacity of this vital “Water Tower” has steadily improved, with the ecological restoration of Amne Machin serving as a prime example.

Driving along the southern foothills of Amne Machin, the sight of sprawling glaciers inspires awe. Here, glacial melting and freezing cycles peak around May and November each year – critical periods when herders in Xueshan Township, Maqen County, conduct their glacier monitoring work.

After stepping out of the vehicle, I donned a felt hat and joined a team of herder-monitors trekking through the snow. Since 2008, local herders have voluntarily formed teams to measure the glacier’s snow line. At an altitude exceeding 4,500 meters, each step upward proved arduous. Emerging from the ridge mist, the team reached a monitoring point known as “Thousand Tents,” where last year’s red-painted markers remained visible. Working together, team members bent down with tape measures to calculate the distance between the glacier’s edge and the previous year’s marker.

Local authorities and residents have joined hands to protect this sacred mountain. In 2009, the snow mountain protection station of Maqen county’s natural resources and forestry and grassland bureau began glacier observation work, soon joined by research teams such as that of He Xiaobo from the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Today, glacier monitoring employs increasingly comprehensive methods, combining satellite remote sensing, drone photogrammetry, modeling, and physical monitoring stakes.

Artificial precipitation enhancement and ice preservation have become vital conservation measures. In recent years, local meteorological departments have used catalysts to induce snowfall during suitable weather conditions. The protection station simultaneously monitors upstream and downstream glacier temperature, humidity, and snow depth to assess the effectiveness of these interventions. Practice has shown that such efforts extend snow cover duration in certain areas and effectively slow glacial melting.

During our hike, Geltsang, head of Maqen county’s forestry and grassland station, pointed across the mountain ridge. “That’s the Delni Copper Mine!” he said.On one side of Amne Machin’s midsection lies the mine, while its tailings pond occupies the other. Open-pit mining and tailings construction previously damaged meadows, eroded slopes, and degraded surrounding grasslands. “When the mine began operations in 2006, we didn’t fully grasp the environmental impact,” admitted Zhang Ming, a Delni Copper Mine staff member. “Now, for ecological restoration, we’ve even planted grass at an altitude of 4,430 meters!”

The ecological rehabilitation of the Delni mine prioritized grassland restoration. Facing a lack of soil, the project team innovatively utilized local serpentine rock, processing it into a composite soil suitable for grass growth. To overcome water scarcity, they adopted techniques inspired by terracing and checkerboard grass planting methods to retain soil and moisture. Through these combined efforts, the Delni copper mine successfully completed its major ecological restoration work last year.

Across Golog prefecture, significant progress has been made in restoring degraded grasslands, including areas known as “black soil patches,” covering over 5.16 million mu (approximately 344,000 hectares). Reviving this land was challenging. “Grass often needs to be sown multiple times before it takes root here,” explained Geltsang. The region’s high average elevation (above 4,200 meters), cold climate, and short growing season pose major difficulties. After extensive trials, local experts identified resilient grass species suitable for the area, such as Elymus nutans and Poa crymophila. Research indicates that compared to natural regeneration, enclosure protection combined with artificial reseeding can boost the carbon sink capacity of alpine meadows by approximately 30%.

Heading westward leads to Madoi county, renowned as the “County of a Thousand Lakes.” This area encompasses Gyaring and Ngoring lakes, critical sources of the Yellow River. Historically, overgrazing led to wetland degradation, causing half of the county’s more than 4,000 lakes to dry up. Thanks to sustained restoration efforts, the landscape has rebounded dramatically, with the number of lakes now exceeding 5,800.

Golog prefecture has advanced integrated restoration efforts targeting grasslands, river basins, and wetlands. Last year, Madoi and neighboring counties initiated a wetland connectivity project that restored 1,200 hectares of wetlands. This project is projected to increase water flow into the Yellow River’s tributaries by 15%. Over the past five years, Golog has restored 100,000 mu of wetlands, contributing to a more than 6% increase in the annual water conservation capacity within the Sanjiangyuan National Park. Water quality in the Yellow River’s Golog section consistently meets the highest national standard (Class I).

Over 10,000 ecological rangers patrol the prefecture’s lakes and wetlands. Among them is herder Dorje Gyaltsen, who monitors springs near Amne Machin peak. “I’ve witnessed springs dry up and then flow again,” he noted. Remarkably, 14 of the 27 springs within a 20-kilometer radius of the glacier, which had completely dried up in the past, have now been rejuvenated, contributing vital flow to the Yellow River’s headwaters.

By He Linping, Jiang Xiaodan, People’s Daily

At 8 a.m., Zhong Chao, founder of PAM²L Biotechnologies, a developer of innovative, low-cost, and sustainable functional biomaterials, was already busy at work in Guangming Science City, a comprehensive national science center in Guangming district, Shenzhen, south China’s Guangdong province.

Zhong, also a researcher at the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Science, has now become a pioneering entrepreneur in the fertile “test field” of industrial innovation.

In 2019, Zhong research revealed that feeding probiotics to nematodes extended their lifespan by regulating mitochondrial function through a bacterial enzyme. “Applying this mechanism to human cells,” Zhong said, “could yield breakthrough anti-aging compounds.”

Guided by this insight, his team used synthetic biology to engineer a bacterial strain capable of mass-producing the enzyme.

Early R&D required cross-disciplinary collaboration among microbiologists and materials scientists Guangming’s integrated ecosystem – where research institutes and businesses share facilities – enabled real-time calibration of technical parameters with engineers. Within three years, laboratory discoveries advanced to mass production.

“From nematode longevity studies to commercial anti-aging ingredients and medical-grade biomaterials, this progress was made possible by the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao ‘innovation relay,'” Zhong emphasized. “That’s why we chose this base.”

“This base” extends beyond Guangming Science City. Northwest, the Pearl River Estuary connects Dongguan and Guangzhou; southward, it links Shenzhen and Hong Kong – forming a 100-kilometer innovation corridor.

Leveraging geographic advantages, robust resources, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area’s ongoing development as an international tech hub, the region now concentrates innovation entities and expertise, creating a dynamic synergy along the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong scientific innovation corridor.

In September, the World Intellectual Property Organization released the Global Innovation Index 2025, ranking the “Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou” cluster as the world’s largest innovation hub—surpassing Japan’s “Tokyo–Yokohama” cluster for the first time.

In Guangming district, PAM²L Biotechnologies is not alone. Another company, Liying Biotech, produces recombinant collagen proteins with triple-helix structures. Many of its founding members brought cutting-edge theoretical expertise to Guangming, and after achieving breakthroughs in pilot trials, they confidently handed over industrialization to manufacturing partners “along the same corridor.”

“The Pearl River Delta offers mature precision-instrument supply chains,” a Liying representative stated, highlighting a Dongguan-made protein purification system costing 1/20 of imported equivalents while outperforming them. “This R&D-manufacturing synergy boosts our competitiveness.”

“When scientific research, industry, policy, and the market work hand in hand, ideas from the lab can quickly bear industrial fruit,” said Zhang Guangnan, a professor at the Institute of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Development Studies, Sun Yat-sen University. 

“What drives this is not only geographic proximity and complementary strengths, but also the free flow of innovation factors across the corridor,” Zhang added.

This summer, Signet Therapeutics drew global attention with its targeted therapy for diffuse gastric cancer. COO Dai Changgui explained: “Our AI algorithms screen billions of molecules to pinpoint tumor-weakness compounds, slashing drug development time.”

In 2020, founder Zhang Haisheng of Signet Therapeutics returned to Shenzhen from overseas with his research vision. Thanks to the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone’s unique location and supportive policies, his team quickly grew to include over 80 percent R&D personnel, nearly 70 percent of whom hold master’s or doctoral degrees.

“This place is like a powerful magnet,” Dai noted. “International experts can easily travel between Shenzhen and Hong Kong through fast channels, while the Greater Bay Area’s well-developed industrial ecosystem doubles our experimental efficiency.”

On June 27 this year, the Greater Bay Area International Clinical Trials Center of the Shenzhen Medical Academy of Research and Translation was officially inaugurated. Focusing on building a closed-loop clinical trial ecosystem across the region, the center effectively integrates clinical research resources. 

According to its director, Li Yichong, by enabling resource sharing and efficient collaboration, the center will help turn the Greater Bay Area into a major global source of biomedical innovation.

In recent years, Guangdong province has developed 26 key innovation platforms along the scientific innovation corridor. In 2024, innovation entities within these platforms accounted for about 1/10 of the province’s total PCT patent applications. Cities, parks, major facilities, and laboratories along the corridor, like pearls strung together, are shining ever more brightly as the corridor’s innovation vitality continues to surge.

By Huang Xiaohui, People’s Daily

“Even field workers now use AI for crop breeding,” remarked Huang Fugang, a rice molecular breeder at Guangxi University, during recent acknowledgments to the Fengdeng large model’s R&D team.

Released in April 2024 by a coalition of researchers from the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence (AI) Laboratory, Yazhouwan National Laboratory, China Agricultural University, and other research institutions, the Fengdeng model laid the foundation for Fengdeng Gene Scientist – an AI-driven biological breeding launched in July 2024. This tool helps scientists explore and validate unknown gene functions.

Crop breeding hinges on designing agronomic traits through precise genome engineering. Despite heavy global investment since rice genome sequencing concluded in 2005, decoding gene functions progressed slowly. Traditional breeding remains reliant on expert intuition, with hypotheses, experiments, and validation spanning years and yielding limited success.

“It’s like deciphering a book of cryptic symbols – we decode few, and efficiency stays low,” explained Yang Fan, Yazhouwan National Laboratory researcher and Fengdeng project co-lead. He emphasized that historical breeding data, crop sequences, field conditions, and cultivation practices critically determine outcomes, adding: “With extreme weather intensifying, field dynamics shift rapidly. Relying solely on human experience makes successful breeding increasingly difficult.”

The team trained the AI agent with massive datasets, enabling it to identify gene-trait relationships, predict gene-trait associations, and design and simulate breeding experiments.

Since the global release of the Fengdeng large model’s rice-specific version in May this year, it has been adopted by leading institutions such as the International Rice Research Institute and Indian Institute of Rice Research.

According to Yang, this technology enables researchers to rapidly analyze gene functions and precisely combine superior alleles. This facilitates customized breeding for both traditional objectives (high yield, disease resistance, stress tolerance) and emerging demands (enhanced nutrition, improved flavor).

“This transcends merely teaching AI breeding knowledge – we’re training it to make scientific discoveries,” explained Dong Nanqing, fellow project co-lead and researcher at the Shanghai AI Laboratory. “The system learns to interpret breeder needs, identify relevant genes, design experiments, verify outcomes, and self-correct.”

Through continuous learning, the Fengdeng Gene Scientist has developed independent research capabilities. It simulates expert reasoning and automates the entire scientific workflow from hypothesis generation through experimental design to results analysis. In validation trials, the system supported all key research decisions (excluding physical experiments) for dozens of previously unstudied rice and maize genes.

In rice research, Fengdeng large model uncovered new functions of several genes, some regulate plant hormones that determine height, while others are tied to photosynthetic efficiency. In maize research, it accurately predicted candidate genes associated with traits like plant height and ear placement, which were later confirmed by field experiments. 

The Fengdeng Gene Scientist represents just the initial phase. The research team plans to integrate additional crop, environmental, and breeding data to evolve the system into a comprehensive smart breeding platform covering all species and full breeding cycles.