Take a Look at China's Great Leap in Space 

Chinese scientists have promised the ultimate great leap forward: a Chinese astronaut in orbit by 2005 and a manned landing on the moon by 2010 -followed by a permanent lunar base to exploit the new high frontier of commerce.

In 2001, China sent a monkey, a dog, a rabbit and snails into space aboard Shenzhou II.15 And a test in March of the Shenzhou III unmanned spacecraft, with dummy astronauts aboard,16 was hailed "a major step forward in China's ambition to send a man in space".  When China's Long March Ⅳ rocket capsule17 floated two smiling human dummies safely to the grasslands of Inner Mongolia in January 2003, the nation was ecstatic18. The event cleared the way for a Long March Ⅴ launch next fall -China's first manned space flight, an orbital mission expected to carry two or three astronauts for up to eight days.

Currently, however, what separates the Chinese program from those of India or the Japan, is the size of the payload capability25 of the Long March family of rockets. Manned missions, whether for space stations or for lunar exploration, require ultra heavy payloads -of a type neither India or Japan have yet developed. The current Chinese Long March Ⅳ rocket can send 14 tons into orbit. A new generation of Long March rockets, estimated to be finished in three years, is expected to carry 23 tons.