The first batch of home-grown avocados from a farm in southwest China’s Yunnan Province are to be harvested, the grower said.

The 500 hectares avocado farm, located in city of Pu’er, is one of the largest in China.

The total output of avocados is estimated at 200 tonnes this year, said Qi Jiazhu, chairman of the board of the Greenbank Avocado Company, the farm investor.

Avocados can be grown mainly in southern China, according to Chen Weiqiang, a researcher at the Yunnan Honghe Institute of Tropical Science.

“With its superior natural conditions, Yunnan is the most suitable place to grow avocados,” he said.

According to the Greenbank Avocado Company, after years of experimenting they found Menglian, an autonomous county in Pu’er, the most suitable place to grow a mainstream species of avocados.

The county plans to have about 6,670 hectares of avocados planted by 2025. Output next year is expected to reach 2,000 tonnes.

Avocados, native to Central America, have become very popular in China in recent years.

A survey released on Nov.1 shows 94 percent of respondents support China’s implementation of the Paris Agreement, while 96.8 percent agree the country should participate in international cooperation to tackle climate change.

Xie Zhenhua, China’s special representative for climate change, described the findings in Chinese People’s Understanding of Climate Change and Climate Change Communication as highly encouraging approval of the country’s efforts to deal with the threat.

The survey was conducted by the Center for China Climate Change Communication, the first think tank dedicated to climate change communications research and practice in developing countries.

Covering 4,025 ordinary people from China’s 332 prefecture-level administrative units and four centrally-controlled municipalities, it provided a comprehensive picture of public understanding of climate change in terms of causes, influence, methods of response, government policies and communication effect, etc.

More than 90 percent of the respondents support the central government’s measures in mitigation and adaption, indicating China’s commitment to addressing climate change is responding to public wishes.

While America is looking at quick ways of withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, China is intensifying efforts to contribute more to the global campaign.

Taking a driving seat in the cooperative international response to climate change, China has become an important participant, contributor and torchbearer in the global endeavor for ecological civilization, according to the report delivered by President Xi Jinping at the 19th CPC National Congress.

Seeing climate change as one of the unconventional security threats, China will continue to cooperate with other countries in tackling the problem to protect the planet for the sake of human survival.

Confronted with America’s slack attitude towards climate change, the world will expect much from China to meet the global challenge at the upcoming 2017 UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn from Nov. 6th to 17th.

With staunch public support, the Chinese government will be more confident in actively participating in global climate change governance, said Professor Zhang Haibin from the School of International Studies of Peking University, speaking at the ceremony to release the survey report.

China’s Beijing and Shanghai has been named by the Nature Index as China’s most scientifically productive cities, which also enjoy the highest city-to-city collaboration in the country.

In an article posted on its website on Wednesday, Nature Index says China’s economic rise dramatically boosted research activity across the country, including the two leading cities.

Between 2012 and 2016, researchers in Beijing increased their contribution to papers in the Nature Index by 43 percent, and Shanghai’s contribution increased by 22 percent. These trends supported a national growth of 45 percent for the same period, says the article.

The Nature Index is a database of author affiliation information collated from research articles published in an independently selected group of 68 high-quality science journals. The database is compiled by Nature Research.

Last year, Beijing’s contribution to journals included in the Nature Index, measured as weighted fractional count (WFC), was 1,693, and Shanghai’s was 762. Together, the two cities contributed to more papers than the next dozen cities combined in China, according to the Nature Index.

Beijing and Shanghai both attract the best researchers from across the country and overseas, and incentives for cooperation remain strong.

The number of partnerships between an institution in Beijing and an institution in Shanghai has increased since 2012. The two cities have formed 382 institutional partnerships in 2016, the highest city-pair in the country, figures provided by the Nature Index show.

China’s first oceangoing fishery survey ship, Song Hang, will be fully operational by mid-November and will finish its first survey mission by early December, a senior marine scientist said on Wednesday.

Song Hang, China’s first oceangoing fishery survey ship, sails toward Shanghai’s Luchao Port on Monday. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The Ministry of Agriculture and the Shanghai government invested about 250 million yuan ($37.7 million) to build the ship. After two years of construction, it arrived at Luchao Port in Shanghai on Monday, according to Shanghai Ocean University.

The vessel is named after the university’s first training ship, which was built in 1916 but sunk by Japan during World War II. It weighs 3,166 metric tons, is 85 meters long and has a top speed of 15 knots. It is capable of a 60-day voyage of 10,000 nautical miles (18,520 kilometers) with 59 crew members.

Its primary mission is to survey fishery resources in the open sea far beyond the coastal region, said Chen Xinjun, the president of the university’s College of Marine Sciences.

The ship will operate in the northern and southeastern Pacific Ocean, as well as in the southwestern Atlantic and other seas, he said. It will search for tuna, squid, mackerel, Antarctic krill and other species.

“The ship will improve our nation’s control and management over its ocean fishery resources, collect more robust maritime scientific data and protect our maritime interests,” he said.

China’s far-ocean fishing operations began three decades ago, but the production of related goods was only 1.3 percent of the world’s total because of technological limitations, he added.

“The new ship adds capabilities for distant sea operations,” he said. “It has great significance in tapping into China’s ocean fishery resources, protecting ocean ecology and transforming China into a maritime power.”

Song Hang is also equipped with five laboratories for maritime research ranging from maritime biodiversity to climate and water surveys. It can collect biological samples, survey the sea floor and monitor weather and hydrologic patterns, Chen said.

“It will be a platform to train more highly talented people in fisheries,” he said, and for Chinese and foreign scientists to conduct various maritime research. He said the ship will be managed entirely by the university.

The vessel is now undergoing final setup of its fishing and research systems. It will complete a trial voyage and be fully operational by mid-November, Chen said. It is expected to begin its first ocean fishery resource survey mission – commissioned by the Shanghai government – around late November, and complete it by early December.

China’s AV500 unmanned helicopter climbed to an altitude of 5,006 meters during a test trial, the maximum achieved by a domestically-made unmanned helicopter.

China’s AV500 unmanned helicopter. [Photo: chinanews.com]

The aircraft, developed by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China helicopter institute, was tested at Xiahe airport at an altitude of 3,189 meters in northwest China’s Gansu Province.

In 2015, the helicopter made a test flight in Alxa, 1,600 meters above sea level, in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and will face another test at an altitude of 4,600 meters.