For decades, China had wanted a Nobel Prize in science. Tu Youyou, a researcher who helped to develop a malaria medicine, finally won the honour for the country.
In fact, Tu is not the only scientist in China who is catching the world's attention. In 2016, the Nature journal published a list of the top 10 science stars in China. Gao Caixia and Cui Weicheng are two of them.
Gao Caixia has been devoted to genetic engineering for her whole career. She is known for using CRISPR/CAS9, the revolutionary geneediting technique that is sweeping through biology labs around the world — in crops.
At first, Gao was unwilling to take up gene editing using CRISPR/CAS9 because her lab at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology in Beijing had already created mutations(变异)in 82 genes using an older type of technology. But after thinking carefully about it, she decided to give it a try.
After a year of hard work, her lab finally succeeded. Gao worked on genetic engineering in wheat, a crop that is famous for being difficult to work with. Now she is considered one of the best in the world at engineering wheat.
Cui Weicheng is the developer of China's recordsetting Jiaolong submersible(潜水器). He is now a professor at Westlake University. In 2012, Cui rode inside China's Jiaolong submersible and reached a depth of more than 7,000 metres in the Pacific.
Thanks to Jiaolong and the 58yearold developer, China is now one of only a few nations that can explore the deep sea. Jiaolong can travel deeper than any other manned research submersible currently in use, which shows China's increasing ambition and leadership in deepsea research.