1. China's longest east-west high-speed railway route starts operation 

China State Railway Group Co Ltd announced on Feb 8 that the high-speed railway between Xuzhou and Lianyungang in Jiangsu province has started operation, meaning the travel time between the two cities has been shortened to one hour. 

It also marks the completion of China's longest east-west high-speed railway route, which connects Lianyungang and Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, and provides strong support for the development of  the New Eurasian Continental Bridge Economic Corridor.

2. Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine gains domestic market approval 

Sinovac Biotech Ltd, a Chinese biopharmaceutical company and one of the country’s COVID-19 vaccine providers, announced on Feb 5 that its inactivated COVID-19 vaccine has been granted conditional market approval in China.  

3. Shenhai No 1 arrives in Hainan after delivery 

Shenhai No 1, the world's first 100,000-ton deep-water semi-submersible oil production and storage platform which has been independently developed by China, arrived in Hainan on Feb 6 after an 18-day, 1,600 nautical mile journey from Yantai in Shandong province. 

The platform will be used for the development of China's first 1,500-meter-deep gas field – the Lingshui 17-2 gas field. 

Shenhai No 1 travels 1,600 nautical miles in 18 days from Yantai, Shandong province to Hainan. [Photo/WeChat account: szchtf]

4. Tianwen 1 sends back first images of Mars 

China's Tianwen 1 robotic probe has sent back the first image of Mars it captured before it successfully entered the Martian orbit on Feb 10. 

The black-and-white picture of Mars was taken when the probe was about 2.2 million kilometers from Mars. Landmark landforms such as the Valles Marineris, the Grand Canyon of Mars, are clear and distinct in the picture.  

The black-and-white picture of Mars taken by Tianwen 1. [Photo/WeChat account: szchtf]

 5. Japanese research team makes conjunctival tissues from iPS cells 

A research team of Osaka University in Japan has achieved success in creating conjunctival tissues from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. 

The achievement was announced in an electronic edition of Cell Reports, a scientific journal in the United States.  

The conjunctival tissues contacting the white of the eye can produce mucin, a component of tears that protects the eye's surface. The research outcome is expected to be applied in treating xerophthalmia.