Why is China’s space industry so strong?

Some may ask.

According to publicly available data I could find:

In 2024, the total global payload mass sent into orbit was about 2,085 tons.
Among these, the U.S. accounted for about 1,786 tons, China 202 tons, and Russia 75 tons. Other countries and regions together contributed less than 1%.

Among them, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 had the most launches, 132 launches (with 1 failure), accounting for 51% of all global rocket launches, and over 80% of total payload mass delivered to orbit.

As for launch cost:
A fully loaded SpaceX Falcon 9 costs about $4,000 per kilogram, while the Falcon Heavy costs about $1,500 per kilogram. The upcoming Starship may reduce the cost even further, potentially to $1,000 per kilogram, with Elon Musk’s target being $200 per kilogram.

By contrast:
•Long March 3B costs around $10,222 per kilogram,
•Kuaizhou 11 costs less than $6,000 per kilogram.

So roughly speaking, China’s cost to send payloads into space is around $6,400 per kilogram — much higher than SpaceX’s.

Every day the Chinese media hails “great national achievements,” claiming victory after victory, but the actual gap is obvious at a glance.

To develop space technology, one must send large payloads into orbit. Launch mass and launch cost are the two most critical factors. It’s strange that few people ever mention this.

If we continue to treat the aerospace industry as a “national prestige project,” monopolized by state-owned entities and disconnected from private innovation, then for ordinary citizens, this field will remain nothing more than an elite power game.

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