They have made a lot of progress quickly. By comparison, Russia went from first manned space flight to a space station in 10 years, and the U.S. did the same i

They have made a lot of progress quickly. By comparison, Russia went from first manned space flight to a space station in 10 years, and the U.S. did the same in 11 years. It should also be noted that the Shenzhou spacecraft is a licensed copy of the Soyuz with some updates. The Chinese space station core module Tianhe is likewise a licensed, updated copy of the Russian International Space Station core module Zvezda.