[Magnum44]

China has yet to put a man in space, and they want to build a space station and colonize the moon, and on their own no less? This is great IMO. Like the Old Soviet Union, they will pour huge resources down this hole and still be 40 years behind the US/West in Space tech. Better they pour it down this than a formidable navy or airforce, goals much easier to reach.

Anyone who has dealt with chinese tech knows it is of very poor QC. They may be able to dominate the sneaker market. Nobody concerns themselves with the quality control of $10.00 tennis shoes. But customers willing to spend billions on space hardware would not touch chinese tech with a ten foot pole. They hardly have the concept of a 'clean room' for any manufacturing process in that country.

They tried to liscense building russian fighters once and had to send the finished products to Russia in order to 'fix' them so they could fly.

[RightWhale]

China has yet to put a man in space, and they want to build a space station and colonize the moon

That is correct.

The new generation is very excited about this, is working hard, and is highly competent. But filling in the infrastructure, such as materials science, takes time. The space program is the tip of the spear. When the space program gets moving, you will know the rest of the industry has advanced as well. Change is coming soon, is already begun.