This Chinese aircraft carrier looks formidable. It is an ultra modern design. There are reports this first Chinese aircraft carrier is under construction and could enter service around 2015 or earlier. It won't be long before we actually see the real thing. U.S. defense analysts are waiting and watching anxiously.

The design of this carrier is a quantum leap beyond anything the U.S. has on the drawing board as far as we know. The Chinese have thought outside the box ... better speed, larger capacity, more stable, etc. (It could be twice as fast as anything the U.S. has, and the catamaran type hull will greatly reduce drag, pitching, yawing and swaying, which is common in current aircraft carriers.)

It's definitely a 'blue-water' long range vessel. Plus it can service their nuclear fleet in between the twin hulls unseen or even secretly launch amphibious ops. It could be launched in half the time it takes the U.S. at one-third the cost. Together with the Chinese stealth fighter bomber (the naval version is already flight testing), the Chinese have a formidable weapons system.

Check out the extra 'parking and readiness' station between both hull structures and the launching and landing capabilities due to the utilization of twin flight decks, all at the same time. -- (Note: Photos are of an artist's depictions.)

Interesting Factoids          

The Chinese are drilling for oil off Cuba, Brazil and Venezuela;

The Chinese have completed the world's biggest dam;

The Chinese built the world's longest over-the-water bridge (65 times as much steel as in the Eiffel Tower;

The Chinese built a 15,000 feet high railroad through the Himalayas into Tibet;

The Chinese are the only nation other than Russia now, that can launch man into outer space (the U.S. has ended its program);

The Chinese have shot down a surveillance satellite (their own) from the ground.

BUT WAIT
There are other views.
Here are some of them.

This book maintains, among other things, that China will not become a major threat to U.S. power soon, even though they are growing very rapidly. There are too many fault lines within Chinese culture, which will easily crack open when the government weakens its grip. This is currently manifest in their tight control of information on the Internet, which is intended to limit dissension by preventing access to liberal ideas of self-determination. --

Factoid          

Personal computers and Internet technology have empowered mankind.
Having emerged from the age of 'I want to know' into the age of 'I know',
mankind has advanced into an age of transparency and full disclosure.
Mankind's institutions are undergoing serious transformations. Big is no
longer better, and local with more humanized services has become the rule.

Now you know!