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Yuanyue Dang

China’s central government has invited dozens of scientific, technological and academic experts to its annual summer retreat, highlighting how the country is focusing on innovation and breaking through “chokepoints” amid fierce competition with the US.
According to state news agency Xinhua, the Communist Party’s Central Committee and the State Council, China’s cabinet, invited 60 experts to the seaside resort of Beidaihe from August 1 to 7.
The list of invitees – who represented fields including basic research, strategic frontier technologies, critical core technologies, philosophy and the social sciences – offers a glimpse into Beijing’s priorities in the opening year of the current five-year plan.
While Xinhua did not publish the full guest list, it named 15 participants.
They covered defence engineering, semiconductors, deep-sea equipment, artificial intelligence, particle astrophysics, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, the digital economy and more.
The selection suggests that Beijing is seeking to combine long-term basic research with efforts to address immediate technological and developmental needs. “Self-reliance and strength in science and technology” has been designated as a major objective in China’s 15th five-year plan, which runs through 2030.
One of the clearest signals came from Cai Shujun, an attendee at the Beidaihe retreat and chief scientist at the state-owned China Electronics Technology Group Corporation.
“The 15th five-year plan period will be a critical stage for the leapfrog development of the integrated circuit industry,” Cai was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
“We must stay at the frontiers of the field, better connect industry, academia and research, accelerate efforts to overcome technological ‘chokepoints’, and strengthen our capacity for indigenous innovation to provide solid chip support for building a strong country.”

Cai has long worked in semiconductor research, with his earlier work focusing on gallium nitride radio-frequency power devices. The material’s ability to handle high-power radio-frequency signals makes it important for advanced radar, communications and electronic warfare systems – areas in which the United States has heavily invested.
Cai also heads a national key laboratory for integrated circuits.
China is accelerating efforts to localise its semiconductor supply chain, as the US has restricted its access to advanced chips. While Chinese companies have made progress in developing some chip manufacturing equipment, lithography technology and certain high-end equipment and materials are still considered “chokepoints”.
Two other invitees represented defence and marine technology.
Qian Qihu, 88, is a military engineer regarded as a founder of China’s modern theory of protective engineering. He has spent decades studying how facilities can withstand nuclear explosions and earth-penetrating weapons.
Zhang Haibin was the chief designer of the Mengxiang, China’s first deep-ocean drilling vessel. The ship boasts an independently developed ultra-deepwater drilling system, can drill to a depth of 11,000 metres and is designed for scientific drilling as well as oil and gas exploration.


Basic research also featured prominently.
The youngest participant named by Xinhua was Yuan Yang of Tsinghua University’s Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences. His work includes the theoretical foundations of AI and the use of artificial intelligence in traditional Chinese medicine.
Yuan told Xinhua that basic research was a long-term endeavour and national support gave researchers the perseverance to “sit on the cold bench” and the courage to venture into “uncharted territory”.
In April, while presiding over a symposium on basic research in Shanghai, President Xi Jinping called for a gradual increase in the proportion of research and development spending allocated to basic research and emphasised the need to foster an environment that allows for failure and encourages originality.
Wang Enge, a former vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and a former president of Peking University, represented the field of condensed-matter physics at the retreat.
Cao Zhen, an academician and researcher at the CAS Institute of High Energy Physics, is chief scientist of the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory, or LHAASO. The facility has helped put China at the international forefront of high-energy cosmic-ray and gamma-ray astronomy.
In addition, Zhejiang University’s Chen Yuanliu, who works on intelligent ultra-precision manufacturing, micro- and nanoscale measurement and atomic-scale manufacturing was invited, as was Tan Tianwei, president of Beijing University of Chemical Technology and an expert in green biomanufacturing.


The invitation of desertification specialist Xu Xianying, from the Gansu Desert Control Research Institute, reflected Beijing’s emphasis on combating environmental degradation.
Critical-care specialist Du Bin of Peking Union Medical College Hospital and cardiovascular expert Yang Yuejin of Fuwai Hospital represented public health priorities.
The three humanities and social sciences figures named by Xinhua were classical literature scholar Kang Zhen, data and competition law specialist Shi Jianzhong and Gu Qing, head of the Commercial Press, a major publisher. Their work broadly corresponds to Beijing’s emphasis on cultural confidence, digital economy governance and academic publishing.
The former chief engineer of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, Su Quanke, was also invited.
On August 3, Cai Qi, the party’s fifth-ranking official, visited the experts on Xi’s behalf. He urged them to contribute to securing “decisive progress” towards China’s goal of “basically achieving socialist modernisation” by 2035.


Since the 1950s, Chinese leaders have travelled every year to Beidaihe, about 280km (174 miles) east of Beijing, sometimes using the retreat for informal consultations and agenda-setting.
In recent years, however, it has generally been regarded more as a summer retreat than a venue for political meetings.


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How the guest list for Beijing’s summer retreat reveals its tech priorities

Visitors walk past a statue of Mao Zedong in Beidaihe, in northern Hebei province. Chinese leaders have travelled to the seaside town every year since the 1950s. Photo: Simon Song

Cai Qi (front, centre), China’s fifth-ranking official, visits dozens of experts at Beidaihe on August 3. Photo: Xinhua

China’s political and scientific elite head to Beidaihe for summer retreat season

Cai Qi greets researchers and academics at Beidaihe. Photo: CCTV

Where China’s top leaders discreetly go in summer: a brief history of Beidaihe

Mao Zedong started the summer retreat tradition of meetings as early as 1953.

Beidaihe: Chinese leadership retreat like a genteel English seaside resort with armed sentries

Russian-style architecture in Beidaihe. The town in northeast China owes its status as a seaside resort to British workers building a 19th century railway who saw its potential. Photo: Martin Williams

black-winged stilt and reflection in late afternoon sun at Stone river Shanhaiguan, at Beidaihe Haibin, China, 2019.[02SEPTEMBER2019 TRAVEL]CREDIT: MARTIN WILLIAMS

Historic villa at Beidaihe Haibin, China, 2019.[02SEPTEMBER2019 TRAVEL]CREDIT: MARTIN WILLIAMS

Shanhaiguan great wall at Jiao Shan at Beidaihe Haibin, China, 2019.[02SEPTEMBER2019 TRAVEL]CREDIT: MARTIN WILLIAMS

Shanhaiguan first pass under heaven at Beidaihe Haibin, China, 2009.[02SEPTEMBER2019 TRAVEL]CREDIT: MARTIN WILLIAMS

Mcdonalds at Beidaihe Haibin, China, 2019.[02SEPTEMBER2019 TRAVEL]CREDIT: MARTIN WILLIAMS

Morning reflections at Beidaihe Haibin, China, 2019.[02SEPTEMBER2019 TRAVEL]CREDIT: MARTIN WILLIAMS

Qinhuangdao bird museum, Pterosaur at Beidaihe Haibin, China, 2009.[02SEPTEMBER2019 TRAVEL]CREDIT: MARTIN WILLIAMS

Beachgoers at Beidaihe in 1985, the year the writer first visited the seaside town in northeast China best known as the summer retreat of Communist Party leaders. Photo: Martin Williams

As China’s catch-up era ends, what’s standing in the way of tech innovation?

China's rigid institutional system and an ingrained deference to authority are key barriers to scientific innovation, experts said. Photo: Shutterstock

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Experts in chips, defence and deep-sea drilling gathered as China’s scientific competition with the US intensifies


Experts in chips, defence and deep-sea drilling gathered as China’s scientific competition with the US intensifies.


How the guest list for Beijing’s summer retreat reveals its tech priorities

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Experts in chips, defence and deep-sea drilling gathered as China’s scientific competition with the US intensifies

Experts in chips, defence and deep-sea drilling gathered as China’s scientific competition with the US intensifies