China’s Shenzhou-10 space capsule with three “taikonauts” is already in space and heading to dock with Tiangong-1, an experimental prototype for a larger Chinese space station to be launched in 2020. While its modern space programme is very much on track, the ancient nation could not but bring in a bit of the old ideas of an ideological war while it was suffused with pride over the latest launch.
The astronauts were heard quipping they could well hold the first Communist Party meeting in space as all three are card-holding members, just as the launch was marked by old-fashioned party propaganda with children dressed as happy ethnic minorities waving off the trio. Delightful as this may have sounded to a populous nation that still swears by orthodox Communism as a way of life, China still seems unaware that the world has changed since the days of the Cold War.
The pioneers of space exploration, the United States and Russia, who used to compete to be the first to put man in space or on the moon, have cut back on many of their ambitious projects due to budget constraints. Apparently, there is some resistance to China’s space projects too, with people on their Twitter equivalent asking: “Why they don’t spend this money solving China’s real problems instead of wasting it?” Chinese society has recently been hit by concerns over food, safety, pollution and workplace accidents. These are sobering thoughts even if there’s no denying China’s rapid economic and technological progress.