[armyboy]

In the future," the China News Service quoted Wang Shuquan as saying, "China will conduct tests on lunar-landing flight."

And only about 4 decades after we did it, why are they bothering?

[Nateman]

And only about 4 decades after we did it, why are they bothering?

Imagine talking a bolder on the moon and then putting a ring of steel around it. You then accelerate said bolder through a series of magnets to get it to escape velocity. When it hits the Earth it has the force of an atomic bomb. Not a bad place to be where mere rocks can be made into atomic bombs. In short the moon is the ultimate strategic position. That's why.

[Ronin]

That's a good question. But they ARE bothering. China's plans for space are not following the U.S. Russian model. The propaganda value is nice, but I am betting they have more practical goals.

When China gets to the Moon they are going to stay there. They are going to work the place. And when they start producing whatever it is they went there to produce, we are going to be looking at a long game of catch up.