Sophia answers questions at Hanson Robotics studio in Hong Kong on March 29, 2021. Sophia is a robot of many talents — she speaks, jokes, sings and even makes art. In March, she caused a stir in the art world when a digital work she created as part of a collaboration was sold at an auction for $688,888 in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT). (Photo by Vincent Yu/AP Photo)

A winter swimming enthusiast dives into a partly frozen lake in a partly frozen lake in Shenyang, in northeastern China's Liaoning province on January 25, 2022. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)

Workers produce Bing Dwen Dwen plush toys at the workshop of Jinjiang Hengsheng Toys Co., Ltd. on February 8, 2022 in Jinjiang, Fujiang Province of China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

A man stands on a jetty on the fog-shrouded Victoria Harbour Wanchai in Hong Kong, China, 22 March 2022. Fog is common in Hong Kong in spr​ingtime when the territory is affected by alternate cold and warm air. (Photo by Jerome Favre/EPA/EFE)

People in quarantine exercise in front of their homes amid Covid-19 full lockdown of the city in Shanghai, China, 27 April 2022. According to the Shanghai Health Commission on 27 April, there were 48 new Covid-19 deaths, 1,606 locally transmitted cases, and 11,956 local asymptomatic infections, in Shanghai city. Despite the death toll rising in Shanghai, the number of daily infections has gradually declined. (Photo by Alex Plavevski/EPA/EFE)

China has sent its first woman into space on a mission to dock with an orbiting station, the latest step in an ambitious programme to go to the moon and on to Mars.

Photo: China's first female astronaut Liu Yang, waves during a sending off ceremony before she departs for the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft rocket launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, China, Saturday, June 16, 2012. China will send its first woman and two other astronauts into space Saturday to work on a temporary space station for about a week, in a key step toward becoming only the third nation to set up a permanent base in orbit. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

Workers demonstrate outside the factory of Hua Yang Printing Holdings Co Ltd on October 30, 2007 in Shenzhen of Guangdong Province, China. Over 1,000 workers of the company have blocked the 107 State Highway where the firm is located, to protest against their employer, who owed half a month's salary to the workers. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

Relatives of a missing person scuffle with police officers on the bank of the Yangtze River, near Jingjiang, Jiangsu province January 17, 2015. A search and rescue operation was still underway after the boat capsized on January 15, leaving 22 people missing, including foreigners. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)