Chinese Space Program

ilduce writes "Here's a short but interesting piece on China's space program. It doesn't reveal a tremendous amount of new stuff, but I think it's especially interesting that they target economic benefits as one of the reasons for justifying it. I'm reminded of a NYTimes article a few months ago on genetic engineering that said that in 1986 (?) they gathered scientists for and poured money into the seven areas of science critical for their future. This interests me because it would seem that with the more or less stall in the american program and the willingness of the chinese to spend money and lives, china may end up being the first (20 years later) to mine the multi trillion dollar near earth asteroids. Food for thought. (or not)"