America looks inward, China looking to outer space

[LongTomH]

New York Times: As America Looks Inward, China Looks to Outer Space:

HONG KONG — While President Trump refocuses American industry on the earthbound technologies of the 20th century — coal, steel and aluminum — China is setting its sights on the far reaches of the solar system.

China this week launched a rocket headed for the moon, where for now only an American flag flies, with ambitions to land a spacecraft on its unexplored far side by the end of the year. It is just the most recent mission by the Chinese to advance their space program and supplant the United States as the front-runner in the space race.

Chinese plans include putting a person on the moon and sending a mission to Mars by 2025. Here’s a look at some of China’s boldest recent endeavors.

China on Monday launched a relay satellite, a pivotal first step toward ensuring that controllers could land an unmanned spacecraft on the moon’s far side later this year.

The far side of the moon does not face the Earth, hindering communications with earthbound scientists, and making its previous exploration virtually impossible.

[TimeSnowDemos]

1. Sure

All you have to do is VISIT China to see how far behind the US has fallen.

[LongTomH]

2. China now has more of the world's fastest supercomputers than the US

China's supercomputers race past US to world dominance:

"China doesn't just have the single fastest supercomputer in the world. It now dominates the list of the 500 fastest."

For years, China has claimed the top spot on a list of the 500 fastest supercomputers. Now it dominates the overall list, too, pushing the United States into second place.

For the first time, China has the most systems on the Top500 list, 202, up from 159 six months ago. The US dropped from 169 to 144. And in terms of the total performance of those machines, China also overtook the US, the Top500 supercomputer list organizers said.

The news underscores the relentless ascent of China's supercomputing trajectory in recent years. It also marks a notable shift in the international balance of high-end computing power that's closely tied to industrial, academic and military abilities.

[Uncle Joe]

3. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread LongTomH

[Muslim from Mexico]

4. Start Teaching Mandarin

If we keep dragging our feet on any kind of serious space program, our grandchildren will be speaking it as their first language.

[appalachiablue]

5. Teaching Mandarin Chinese in US schools is growing; even VP Biden's grandchildren study it.

>2005, ABC, *As China Grows, More U.S. Schools Teach Mandarin*

Economists predict that by the time these five year olds enter the job market, China will be the world's second-largest economy. If we want to be doing business in China, we are going to need students who can function in Chinese and understand Chinese culture," said Vivian Stewart, vice president of the Asia Society. School districts from Philadelphia to Portland, Ore., are now adding Mandarin programs. More: https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1334579

>2011, CNN, *China-sponsored Language Programs in U.S. Raise Concerns, Hopes*

Columbus, Ohio (CNN) -- Teaching Mandarin is a growing trend across schools in the United States, where the number of students enrolling in Chinese language and cultural programs has tripled in recent years.
A school district outside Columbus, Ohio, is on track to receive more than $1 million in federal grant money for its Chinese arts and language program. But what's really caught people's attention is the $30,000 that the district is getting from the government of China.
The Gahanna-Jefferson School District began teaching Mandarin Chinese four years ago and since then, the number of students in the program has increased from about 40 to 350. Administrators felt China should have a home in their suburban Ohio school system since the communist country has the world's second-largest economy and is becoming increasingly relevant. "We owe it to our students so they can be a successful part of the world," said Hank Langhals, coordinator for pupil services. "And China will be a major player there." More:http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/19/china.funds.language.programs/index.html



>2016, PBS, *One Million U.S. Students Could Be Studying Mandarin by 2020*

A multinational effort to boost the number of U.S. students studying abroad in China has expanded its focus to stateside Mandarin language learning. The push, led by the US-China Strong Foundation, aims to increase the number of American students studying the language to one million by 2020, a five-fold increase. The effort recognizes the growing importance of U.S.-China relations and aims to prepare a new generation of U.S. citizens to engage with China through commerce and culture.
"We’re looking at this as a lifelong effort to ensure we have leaders who understand China and can help manage what we believe is the most important bilateral relationship in the world,” said Carola McGiffert, CEO of the Washington-based foundation. To reach that goal, the initiative aims to create a model Chinese language and culture curriculum that is flexible enough to allow local school systems to tailor it to their needs.

The foundation also hopes to promote development of language-learning technology and online instruction tools, form a vocal coalition of governors and mayors who support Mandarin learning in public schools and double-down on efforts to create a homegrown corps of teachers able to teach the language. Right now, U.S. schools rely heavily on guest teacher programs that supply instructors for two to three years.
The number of elementary-aged students learning Mandarin in the United States is on the rise, in part because of U.S.-based Confucius Institutes, a nonprofit network tied to the People’s Republic of China. Roughly 10 Mandarin dual-language programs existed in the United States before 2009. That number had swelled to nearly 200 by last fall.

In a joint press conference in September 2015 with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Obama announced the launch of the “1 Million Strong” effort. “If our countries are going to do more together around the world then speaking each other’s language, truly understanding each other, is a good place to start,” Obama said, noting that two of Vice President Joe Biden’s grandchildren are studying Mandarin.<
The US-China Strong Foundation was established in 2013 as the 100,000 Strong Initiative with an initial goal of helping 100,000 U.S. students study in the country.
More: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/2020-u-s-aims-1-million-students-studying-mandarin