China's first compounded wind tunnel dedicated to low-altitude aircraft aerodynamic testing was inaugurated on Wednesday in Guangzhou, the provincial capital of Guangdong in the south, marking a major breakthrough in the low-altitude aviation research and development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Wind tunnels are controlled environments used to generate airflow for testing aircraft designs. Compared with outdoor flight tests, wind tunnel experiments are faster and more cost-effective.
"We fix the aircraft to a test platform and let the air flow, creating a relative movement and simulating the conditions of flight in the sky to measure technological parameters," said Sun Liangbao, head of wind tunnel technology at the Guangdong Aerospace Research Academy (GARA), who developed the wind tunnel.
As a hub for drone development in China, Guangdong aims to leverage the new facility to provide efficient, local testing services. The wind tunnel is expected to significantly reduce research and development costs and accelerate technology breakthroughs and commercial applications.
"There were companies who waited for over a year for a testing slot in Harbin. Now, with the wind tunnel launched in the Greater Bay Area, the entire process for wind tunnel experiments, from coordination to testing, takes just three to four months," said Shang Zuming, the director of the wind tunnel testing platform.
Guangdong builds China's first wind tunnel for low-altitude aircraft
Thailand's rural tradition of elephant stewardship is rapidly vanishing as livelihoods change and younger people pursue opportunities elsewhere, threatening centuries of irreplaceable elephant-care knowledge.
For generations, mahouts in the region have passed on their tradition of closely bonding with the elephants they care for. Taweesuk Lapsan is one of a dwindling number of mahouts who diligently carry on the practice.
Long before the sun rises over the fields, he was already at work, gathering bundles of food for an animal that had been part of his family for generations.
"We've had elephants since our grandparents' and great-grandparents' generations. We've been around elephants our whole lives, so we have a strong connection and experience in raising them. That's how we've been able to live with them like this," the mahout said.
Caring for his elephant was not merely a job, but an inherited way of life. Years of daily coexistence forged an intimate bond defined by an intuitive understanding of subtle movements, sounds, and hesitations that take a lifetime to master.
"We live together like this. It's like a family. We're like family; we always go through things together. Until we breathe our last, it just depends on who lives longer," said Taweesuk.
Mahouts and elephants have been woven into parts of Thailand's cultural landscape, from rural livelihoods and traditional practices. However, the tradition has been upended by the collapse of the commercial logging industry and the rapid expansion of tourism.
As fewer young people follow in their families' footsteps, conservationists warned that an intricate system of animal care, refined over centuries, faces gradual extinction.
"When a mahout disappears, they are replaced by people who simply come in to take care of the elephants, essentially, elephant keepers. There are differences in terms of the bond between the keeper and the elephant, the cultural aspects, and the passing down of knowledge and traditions from one generation to the next. So we are concerned about the quality," said Parntep Ratanakorn, Secretary General of the Asian Elephant Foundation of Thailand.
Taweesuk said that his daughters may choose paths far removed from the stables, a decision he fully respects. As the practice fades, experts warn the loss extends far beyond a vanishing cultural heritage, threatening the daily welfare safety nets upon which captive elephants rely.
Thailand's centuries-old elephant care tradition face extinction as livelihoods change
