BEIJING — A Huawei smartphone that saved its owner by taking a bullet for him in an armed robbery in South Africa has put the spotlight on phones made in China. But smartphones are only one among several kinds of high quality Chinese products and goods that continue to make their presence felt across the globe.
The following are 10 kinds of leading Chinese products, ranging from infrastructure and high-tech industry to home appliances.
-- Bridges. Since the 1,088-meter Sutong Bridge in Jiangsu province won a 2014 International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) Award, Chinese bridges have continued to win FIDIC awards due to their outstanding quality.
The Beipanjiang Bridge in Guizhou province, Southwest China, has just completed construction. Hanging 570 meters above a river, it renewed its record as the world’s “highest bridge”.
-- Satellites. China has recently made strides with the launch of the world’s first quantum satellite “Micius,” part of China’s Quantum Experiments at the Space Scale (QUESS) program, which includes 20 such satellites.
Besides the QUESS program, the well-known Chang’e program, the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP), remains ongoing. The first two Chang’e lunar orbiters were launched in 2007 and 2010, the Chang’e 3 landed on the moon in 2013, and the fourth and fifth launches are under preparation.
-- High-speed railways. A new railway linking Zhengzhou in Central China’s Henan province with Xuzhou in eastern Jiangsu province opened on Sept 10.
China’s high-speed railways now exceeds 20,000 km in length. Based on its home-market success, Chinese bullet trains have won contracts in Indonesia, Russia, Iran and India.
-- Civilian drones. According to China’s central TV channel, there are over 400 civilian drone companies in China, with Shenzhen-based drone maker Dajiang leading the industry.
According to the US Small Unmanned Aircraft System, Dajiang drones make up 70 percent of the US market in 2015. The Wall Street Journal called it the first Chinese brand “to pioneer a major new global consumer-product category”.
-- Supercomputers. In June, China debuted its new supercomputer called Sunway TaihuLight, replacing its precedent Tianhe-2, which topped the list of the world’s fastest supercomputer for three years.
Sunway TaihuLight can perform 93 quadrillion calculations per second, or petaflop/s, twice as fast and three times as efficient as Tianhe-2. Two of the fastest supercomputers in the world are now from China.
-- Hydropower projects. On the back of the Republic of Guinea’s 20,000-franc note, there is a map of the Kaleta hydroelectric dam, which was built by a Chinese company and doubled the energy capacity of the African country.
The Kaleta dam is among a long list of hydropower projects across Asia, Africa and South America constructed by Chinese companies. The source of green energy has lifted millions of people out of poverty.
-- Wind turbines. According to a survey by Japan’s Nikkei, half of the growing global demand for wind turbines in 2015 were supplied by Chinese makers.
The leading Chinese wind power company Goldwind has the biggest market share at 12.8 percent, Nikkei said. The Urumqi-based company in Northwest China has a presence on six continents.
-- Smartphones. Besides globally known brands such as Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo, the companies Xiaomi, Meizu, Umi and Smartisan are growing at an astonishing speed in overseas markets.
Online observers such as Androidpit.com and Pcadvisor.com have both made lists of the best Chinese phones for 2016 and outlined instructions on how to buy and operate the phones.
-- Home appliances. After decades of development, Chinese home appliance makers are not only known for their lower prices but also high quality.
Washing machine and refrigerator makers Haier and Midea, air conditioner producer Gree, and TV manufactures Hisense and Skyworth are gaining more customers across the world, as well as surprising their foreign counterparts with their ability to innovate.
-- Auto industry. As the world’s biggest auto market by the number of cars sold, China’s home market provides a solid base for the auto industry. But Chinese brands are looking abroad to increase profits.
In 2012, a record of more than one million units were exported from China to overseas markets, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association.
As of September 2014, there were 852 Chinese automotive companies and branches scattered in Europe, the United States, Central Asia and Africa, with a total investment of $9.6 billion, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
