Success in space would have strategic implications for China's nuclear credibility. It would also please millions of Chinese who believe that China should be the equal of the west. The first emperor of China starts the Great Wall to keep out the 'barbarians'. Completed in the 14th-17th century Ming dynasty it extends 3,750 miles. After the communist victory, Mao's cadres fan out to tackle poverty and suffering.
Mass education wipes out illiteracy, with schools set up in the deepest countryside.
In the Great Leap Forward, millions of peasants build new dams and melt pots and pans to make steel. Forests are cut down with serious ecological results. Urban China sprouts modern public buildings and millions of new flats. A second wave of economic reform brings more investment in transport with new railways and China's first motorways. These are followed by a mobile phone revolution and now by the internet.