"Beijing's brief moment as a beautiful ghost town did not last long...last night, on the eve of the holiday, they lit off fireworks-lots and lots of fireworks. The pyrotechnic frenzy had a dramatic effect on the city's air quality... China has been trying to get a handle on the pollution caused by holiday fireworks for some time, with 138 cities banning them nationwide. But the chronically polluted capital hasn't passed an outright ban, instead choosing to reduce the number of fireworks shops, and the time during which they operate. Beijing's explosive celebration will be particularly hard on everyone's lungs this year because of the weather, which is predicted to be windless from Wednesday through Friday. 'The fireworks will generate a huge amount of pollution in a short time, increasing the density of sulfur dioxide and PM2.5, the major airborne pollutants,'" reports Quartz. 

"China's space program is catching up with that of the United States and Washington must invest in military and civilian programs if it is to remain the world's dominant space power, a congressional hearing heard on Wednesday...China's fast advances in military and civilian space technology were part of a long-term strategy to shape the international geopolitical system to its interests and achieve strategic dominance in the Asia-Pacific. They also reflect an enthusiasm for space exploration which in the United States has faded since the Apollo Program which landed Americans on the moon in 1969, they said...While the budget of the U.S. space agency NASA has been cut substantially, China's space program has benefited from its economic boom and political support from President Xi Jinping down," reports Reuters.  

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Newly released satellite images show a dramatic expansion in China's construction of artificial islands on disputed South China Sea reefs, intensifying concerns about Beijing's territorial ambitions. The images provide the first visual evidence that China has built an artificial island covering 75,000 square yards-about 14 football fields-and including two piers, a cement plant and a helipad, at a land formation called Hughes Reef, according to experts who have studied the pictures...China appears to be building a network of island fortresses to help enforce control of most of the South China Sea-one of the world's busiest shipping routes-and potentially of the airspace above, according to experts who have studied the images. The pace and scale of its South China Sea buildup shows that Beijing, despite having recently reined in its rhetoric and avoided confrontations at sea and in the air, hasn't tempered its ambitions to project power in the region."