By Han Lei, People’s Daily

In Chizhou, east China’s Anhui province, bamboo is emerging as a sustainable alternative in daily life. Products traditionally made from plastic, such as straws, ice cream sticks, disposable chopsticks, and cutlery, are increasingly being replaced by bamboo-based alternatives.

At a manufacturing facility in the Chizhou High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, automated production lines produce five million bamboo straws daily. Each year, two billion bamboo straws are exported to more than 40 countries and regions, displacing approximately 6,000 tons of plastic and reducing carbon emissions by 36,000 tons.

“Bamboo straws do not soften in water or break easily, and they are fully renewable and biodegradable,” said Yin Mingliang, the company’s general manager. However, he noted that producing even a simple item like a straw posed significant technical challenges, including issues with mold resistance, heat tolerance, and high production costs. 

Initial attempts to resolve these problems through partnerships with three PhD research teams were unsuccessful. A breakthrough came in 2017 when a fourth team, after three years of development, enhanced machinery efficiency to produce 2,000 straws per hour and reduced the unit cost to 0.04 yuan ($0.0056), roughly on par with plastic straws.

The company has also developed an integrated pyrolysis system that converts bamboo wastes into high-value products such as activated carbon and hard-carbon anode materials for sodium-ion batteries. The process captures and reuses steam, enhancing energy efficiency.

Chizhou, home to more than 600,000 mu (40,000 hectares) of bamboo forest, has historically underutilized this natural resource. Recently, the city launched a three-year action plan to promote bamboo as a plastic substitute, extend the industrial value chain, and raise incomes for local farmers. 

“Who would have thought that bamboo, once overlooked, could now fetch a good price?” said Shu Rengui, a villager from Languan in Hengdu township of Shitai county, Chizhou, as he harvested bamboo in the morning mist. Shu supplies bamboo to a nearby processing facility and earns around 40,000 yuan annually from the business.

At a bamboo-processing base in Meijie township, Guichi district of Chizhou, two processing plants have been built, capable of handling 35,000 tons of bamboo annually. According to Zhang Yu, the site manager, more than 40 villagers are employed at the base, contributing to local income growth.

Chizhou has developed an integrated industry model linking leading enterprises, circular industrial parks, bamboo-splitting plants, and village cooperatives, establishing a full production chain that spans primary, advanced, and deep processing. 

According to an official with the local forestry bureau, Chizhou now has 89 bamboo-processing enterprises with an annual capacity of 900,000 tons. In 2024, the city’s bamboo industry reached an output value of approximately 3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26 percent, and provided employment for nearly 40,000 rural households, boosting average household incomes by over 20,000 yuan.

The city is also expanding its global footprint. Through platforms such as the Canton Fair, or the China Import and Export Fair, bamboo products from Chizhou, including skewers, chopsticks, and straws, have entered markets in the EU, India, Japan, South Korea, and other countries and regions. 

In December 2023, a Chizhou-based company was invited to speak at a side event organized by the International Bamboo and Rattan Organization during the 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP28, sharing China’s experience in plastics substitution.

Bamboo industry development in Chizhou is accelerating. At the first high-quality bamboo industry development conference for Anhui province in 2024, Chizhou High-Tech Industrial Development Zone signed a framework agreement with CRRC, China’s leading train maker, to establish a national bamboo circular-industry park headquarters in Chizhou. Plans are also underway to develop more than 50 such parks in bamboo-rich regions across the country.

By Han Xin, People’s Daily

China is accelerating the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into its transportation sector, aiming to establish an intelligent, integrated, and multi-dimensional national transport network by 2030. A recently issued government guideline outlines 16 targeted tasks across four strategic areas, including technological innovation and scenario-based application, in a bid to enhance mobility, improve safety, and reduce environmental impact.

The guideline emphasizes self-reliance in core technologies and sets out a roadmap to ensure China’s transport infrastructure ranks among the world’s most advanced by the end of the decade. The strategy centers on breakthroughs in applied AI technologies, innovation in intelligent transport products, and the development of large AI models tailored to comprehensive transport systems. 

“Strengthening the supply of key technologies is essential to build a full innovation chain from research and development to practical application,” said Wang Yunpeng, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of Beihang University. Wang added that developing large-scale AI models would enable the creation of a “transport brain,” equipped with high-quality datasets, algorithm libraries, and digital toolchains to support intelligent transformation across the sector.

Progress in large transport models is already well underway. The Transport Foundation Model Innovation and Industrial Alliance — launched under the guidance of China’s Ministry of Transport — has brought together more than 50 leading enterprises, AI companies, and universities and research institutes, identifying 860 typical AI application scenarios. 

At the enterprise level, China Logistics Group introduced a large model serving over 40 specific scenarios including multimodal transport and warehouse scheduling. A “smart hub” built upon a transport large model developed by Chinese tech firm Baidu has been deployed in over 10 cities, serving over 1 million vehicles equipped with L2 driver-assistance driving systems.

“Demonstration regions across the country are applying large-model-based solutions in areas such as road network monitoring and early warning, active management of high-traffic corridors, and integrated mobility services,” said an official from China’s Ministry of Transport. By enhancing capacity along major transport routes and implementing multi-tiered, refined traffic management models, these demonstration corridors have achieved approximately a 20 percent increase in traffic efficiency and a 30 percent improvement in emergency response efficiency during unforeseen events.

Enabled by big data analytics and high-precision modeling, AI is establishing a robust digital foundation for China’s transport infrastructure. Statistics show that the 20 designated demonstration regions for digital transformation of highway and waterway infrastructure now encompass more than 60,000 kilometers of upgraded corridors, comprising approximately 54,000 kilometers of highways and 7,500 kilometers of waterways. These improved sections form a critical backbone of the national integrated, multi-dimensional transport network.

Diverse application scenarios are essential for driving the deep integration of AI into the transportation sector. The newly issued guideline identifies intelligent application scenarios across seven major areas, including assisted driving, smart railways, and smart shipping, designed to accelerate innovation through real-world implementation. “These scenarios span almost all segments of the transport system, offering broader opportunities for testing and deploying new technologies and products,” Wang said.

On the waterways front, China now has 52 automated terminals. Domestically developed intelligent operating systems for fully automated container terminals have been implemented at more than a dozen terminals both domestically and internationally. Electronic navigation charts for waterways have been successfully deployed along the Yangtze River’s main and branch routes. The accelerated adoption of intelligent technologies across ports, waterways, and vessels is significantly enhancing the efficiency of waterborne transport.

Parallel advancements are also transforming China’s road networks. The Beijing-Xiong’an expressway, powered by Baidu AI Cloud, leverages the collaboration between vision and language-based large models to deliver second-level alerts for major traffic anomalies. Didi Autonomous Driving, in collaboration with Chinese automaker GAC Aion, has developed a new generation of factory-installed autonomous-driving vehicles. As autonomous driving converges with vehicle-road collaboration, a growing number of “smart vehicles” are taking to “smart roads,” accelerating the evolution of intelligent mobility.

Deep integration of AI and transportation also depends on next-generation infrastructure. The guideline outlines targeted measures in terms of computing power, data, and networks to strengthen the supply of essential elements.

For computing power, the guideline calls for better coordination of computing resources within the transport sector and strengthening computing capacity based on major transport infrastructure and local conditions. 

In terms of data, China will accelerate the development of comprehensive transport big-data centers, promote data sharing, and build high-quality dataset construction to fully leverage data as a production factor. 

In terms of network infrastructure, the guideline calls for the integrated application of multiple network technologies, the construction of intelligent sensing systems and the development of high-speed data transmission channels to enable low-latency, high-reliability, and wide-coverage connectivity for vehicle-road collaboration, remote operations, and real-time monitoring.

By Gu Yekai, People’s Daily

Recent data from the China Center for Information Industry Development show that China now accounts for 55 percent of the global market for display panels and 43 percent for display materials, ranking first worldwide in both categories. The total output of China’s display industry represents nearly half of the global market.

As a key pillar of advanced manufacturing, China’s display industry began to take shape in the late 20th century. Just over a decade ago, however, the country remained heavily reliant on imports of advanced chips and high-end display panels — the latter ranking as China’s fourth-largest import category at the time. Chinese domestic manufacturers faced significant challenges, lacking bargaining power in a sector dominated by a few multinational firms. High costs and supply constraints were common, with local companies often forced to queue for access to critical components.

Through over two decades of sustained development, China has transitioned from a latecomer to a global leader in display technology. Accelerated breakthroughs in core technologies and the rise of globally competitive domestic firms have been instrumental in driving this transformation.

Strategic policy support

One major factor behind this rise has been strategic, forward-looking policymaking. In 2009, the Chinese government launched a restructuring and revitalization plan for the electronic information industry, specifically targeting bottlenecks in the emerging display sector. That same year, construction began on the Chinese mainland’s first independently designed and built 8.5-generation panel production line. 

Since then, a series of industrial policies, including the 12th five-year plan for the electronic information manufacturing industry, the 2014-2016 action plan for the new display innovation, and the 2019-2022 ultra-HD video industry development plan, have sustained the industry’s momentum and positioned it for high-speed growth.

Technological foresight and innovation

Another driving force is the industry’s strategic foresight and long-term commitment to independent innovation. The display sector’s evolution has seen multiple technological pathways, leading to industrial upgrading and the elimination of outdated technologies. Given the capital-intensive nature of the sector, even minor miscalculations can result in significant losses.

Recognizing the inevitability of technological transformation early in the development of liquid-crystal technology, Chinese companies proactively accumulated critical know-how. As the industry pivoted toward organic light-emitting diode (OLED) and next-generation technologies, companies adopted a pragmatic “dual-track” approach, investing in parallel development paths with considerable success.

Independent innovation remains central to the industry’s progress. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), research and development (R&D) investment in the sector has grown at an average annual rate of 18 percent, and Chinese companies accounted for 42 percent of global patent applications in this sector. They have also established competitive advantages in key areas such as quantum-dot materials and printed display technologies.

Major players such as BOE Technology Group and TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology (TCL CSOT) maintain R&D investment ratios above 7 percent. BOE consistently ranks among the global top 10 in international patent filings (PCT), underscoring its innovation capacity. These innovation efforts have accelerated breakthroughs in frontier technologies, including micro-LED and quantum-dot displays.

China’s innovation is not confined to end products but extends across upstream equipment and materials. The country has developed ultra-thin float-glass substrates for high-generation OLED production, and over 60 percent of critical materials, such as polarizers and photoresists, are now domestically sourced. Market shares for Chinese domestically produced evaporation machines and lithography equipment have risen from zero to 35 percent. These advances are enhancing the resilience and security of China’s industrial chain and supply chain.

Domestic demand and application scenarios

The huge Chinese market and diverse application scenarios have also fueled the sector’s expansion. The evolution of domestic smartphone designs, rapid growth in new energy vehicles, continuous innovation in wearable technology, and the development of AI, the Internet of Things, and cloud computing, are all driving demand for advanced display technologies.

Industry estimates suggest that although display panels are not the highest-cost components in end-use devices, their contribution to downstream value creation can be four to five times their production value.

By 2025, the output value of China’s new display industry is projected to approach 800 billion yuan ($112.55 billion). From relying on foreign technology to becoming a source of global innovation, the industry’s transformation illustrates China’s accelerating progress toward scientific and technological self-reliance and high-level innovation.