[PsyOp]

The paper quoted Wang Zhuangyin, a leading space-program engineer, as saying China would probably be able to achieve manned space flight by 2005.

Which means that by the time they're ready to put a colony on the Moon, there will be a McDonalds waiting for them to arrive. "You want fries with that moonshake? Comrade."

[RightWhale]

Their first moon landing could be as early as 2010. Once they achieve man-in-space they should progress very quickly. The reason is that NASA has thoughtfully provided answers to all the questions such as Van Allen Belt radiation danger, whether the lander would sink a mile deep in dust on the moon, how to design spacesuits so the occupant can move his arms, how to design rockets that don't explode so often, etc.