What Is China’s Big Parade All About?

A ChinaFile Conversation

By Pamela Kyle Crossley, Richard Bernstein & more on September 2, 2015

On September 3, China will mark the 70th anniversary of its World War II victory over Japan with a massive parade involving thousands of Chinese troops and an arsenal of tanks, planes, and missiles in a tightly choreographed march across Tiananmen Square. China’s leaders call this display of power “The Commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of Victory of the Chinese People’s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and World Anti-Fascist War.” What is the meaning of this event and why have China’s leaders invested so much in executing it? —The Editors

Quantum Computing and Alibaba’s Leap of Faith

on September 1, 2015

Building a quantum computer that processes data at speeds trillions of times faster than the world’s fastest computer, China’s supercomputer Tianhe-2, is the goal of a potentially game-changing venture launched by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

If the project succeeds, the enormous impact of a lightning-speed computer based in China could make all of the advances wrought by computerization worldwide over the past five decades look like baby steps.