To catch up and overtake Europe. China plans to start construction of the world's largest particle collider

This $5 billion project will be a significant step forward in the field of elementary particle physics.

This is what Nature writes about.

The Chinese Ring Electron-Positron Collider (CEPC) will be 100 kilometers long and is designed to study the Higgs boson in detail. This will make it possible to answer fundamental questions about the origin and development of the universe.

Next year, a proposal to establish the CEPC will be submitted to the Chinese government for possible inclusion in the next five-year plan. If the project receives support, construction will begin in 2027 and last about ten years. The cost of the collider will be 36.4 billion yuan (5.2 billion US dollars), which is much cheaper than the European Future Circular Collider (FCC) project, which is estimated at 17 billion US dollars. The construction of the European collider is planned to start in the 2030s.

Inside the CEPC tunnel, electrons and positrons will collide at high energies, creating millions of Higgs bosons. This will allow scientists to study the particle in more detail than ever before. More precise measurements will help probe questions beyond the Standard Model, including the nature of dark matter.

According to Wang Yifan, director of the Institute of High Energy Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the published engineering design report includes a detailed layout plan accelerator and component prototypes. Three potential sites for construction are under consideration: Qinhuangdao, Changsha and Huzhou. Confidence in the feasibility of the project is confirmed by successful tests of components at other facilities in China. Physicist Frank Zimmermann from CERN noted the significant progress of Chinese scientists and their experience in the field of colliders. Although China will likely have to bring in international experts to develop the detectors, the CEPC will be the result of international cooperation. Wang Yifan is confident that international researchers will take an active part in the project, as it is already happening at other major scientific facilities in China.