Hongqi, an iconic luxury car brand under China's leading automaker FAW Group Co., Ltd., is staging an exhibition at its in-house museum in Changchun city, northeast China's Jilin Province, tracing the history of the brand.
Hongqi, which means "red flag", was established in 1958. Hongqi vehicles have since been regularly used in major national events.
FAW Group, which was founded in 1953 in Changchun, is regarded as the pioneer of China's auto industry, opening a new chapter for the country to make its own cars.
The exhibition held at the Hongqi Cultural Exhibition Hall traces the past 71 years with surprises for visitors, including some famous Hongqi parade cars.
"Since June 30, 1958, FAW workers worked against the clock to complete the trial manufacturing task. After days and nights of hard work, they produced the car body, V8 engine, and hydraulic transmission. Later, Hongqi developed special models, some of which were used by top leaders and for receiving foreign guests. This Honggi CA72 is China's first home-made limousine developed for the 10th National Day parade. The car looks magnificent and elegant with the shape of a cruiser," said Xu Dongming, director of the exhibition hall.
Over the past 70 years, China's automobile industry experienced rapid development. In 2023, China's auto production and sales exceeded 30 million units for the first time.
Today, with the rapid rise of Chinese brands, FAW has also become a global leader in the auto sector. The FAW production plants have changed dramatically from its early days of labor-intensive production lines.
The Fanrong plant in the FAW Hongqi Manufacturing Center has fully adopted automatic assembly technology and has achieved 100 percent digitalized interconnectivity and control of manufacturing quality in all areas.
"We produce our cars at a beat of 54 seconds. Our factory integrates flexibility, intelligence, automation and information technology, and we have achieved full robot production in many aspects. The quality test of our vehicles is also of a very high standard, such as our rain test, where the vehicle is not affected by rain at a rate of 25 millimeters per minute," said Dong Wei, final assembly director at FAW's engineering technology department.
Visitors can now enjoy the exhibition of Hongqi's vehicles or tour its modern factory, giving more people a glimpse into the little-known stories of China's automobile industry.
"As an inheritor of China's automobile industrial legacy, we want to let more people understand the history and spirit of our brand, to feel its development through history and toward the future. This also represents the integration of automobile culture into Changchun's cultural tourism industry. We aim to create a unique cultural tourism concept for our brand and achieve a win-win outcome for the city's tourism and industrial transformation," said Yang Jiuliang, project manager of FAW's cultural travel department.
From pathfinder to pioneer, FAW has created many special moments, representing the epitome of Chinese domestic brands' determination to stand out in the world through innovation and perseverance.
Exhibition traces history of iconic Chinese car brand
China launched the two final backup satellites of BeiDou-3 navigation system on Thursday morning, enhancing its stability and laying foundation for the next-generation navigation system.
These latest satellites, the 59th and 60th in the series launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, were elevated into the skies by a Long March-3B carrier rocket, marking a significant step in China's advancement of its homegrown satellite navigation system.
The BeiDou-3 satellite system now has 30 in-orbit satellites, including 24 in medium earth orbit, occupying three separate orbital planes. Of the six remaining satellites, three are in geostationary earth orbit, meaning their speed follows the earth's rotation without an incline. The other three are in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, meaning they also match the earth's rotation but their altitude varies significantly along the orbit path.
Most of these satellites have been in operation for six years, providing a robust framework for precise location services.
According to BeiDou-3’s chief designer Liu Yingchun, the latest launches will ensure greater stability for the navigation system.
"All operational satellites in the BeiDou-3 constellation system are currently running stably, meeting the required indicators for year-round availability. There are now eight satellites on each medium earth orbit plane. With the launch of the two final satellites, each orbital plane will have a total of 10 satellites. These satellites require routine maintenance and management. The number of satellites able to offer services on each orbital plane must be adequate even when some satellites are undergoing maintenance. Therefore, we've deployed backup satellites on each orbital plane consecutively," Liu explained.
While strengthening the BeiDou network's service capabilities, Chinese scientists are also exploring next-generation satellite technology. Given that the majority of satellites have a designed lifespan of 10 years, China has begun plans to upgrade the BeiDou system's constellation satellites.
"Moving forward, we'll work on the deployment of BeiDou-4. The two satellites represent the final group of Beidou-3, serving as a bridge between the current and future generations. Aside from fulfilling their routine tasks as satellites of the constellation, they will also be engaged in technical validation and exploration projects," said Liu.
The BeiDou navigation satellite system, a global satellite navigation system independently developed and operated by China, has completed its three-step strategy, which is not the end but a new starting point for BeiDou. The successful construction of the BeiDou-3 system has laid a solid foundation for the development of future generations of BeiDou systems.
China aims to build a more ubiquitous, integrated and intelligent comprehensive positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) system by 2035, which will serve global users better. The upcoming comprehensive PNT system will be an enhancement over the existing network, extending high-precision services globally and addressing technical challenges such as weak satellite navigation signals and interference, aiming to enable underwater and indoor navigation as well as deep space navigation.
The BeiDou system is designed to provide all-weather, all-time, high-precision positioning, navigation and timing services to users worldwide. The three-step strategy involved the development of the BeiDou-1 system by the end of 2000, the BeiDou-2 system extending services to the Asia-Pacific region by the end of 2012, and the BeiDou-3 system, which officially began offering global services in 2020.
BeiDou's latest satellite launch to boost stability, advance next-gen navigation system
