Here are six stories from the past week in China you may have missed.

Taikonauts give lesson 

Students from across China were given a lecture by Chinese taikonauts last Wednesday, live from the country's space station. The one hour virtual session aimed to inspire the younger generations to pursue a career in science. 

During the session, the students first learned how the taikonauts live and work in the space station and later they watched several scientific experiments demonstrated in a micro-gravity environment. 

The students watched and followed along with the taikonauts to better understand the universe. 

Environmental satellite launched into space

A new environmental satellite, S-SAR01 has been launched from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. 

According to the China National Space Administration the satellite has 5-meter resolution S-band radar image data and will support disaster prevention, reduction and relief, as well as environmental protection.

The launch of S-SAR01 marked the 443rd mission conducted by the Long March Rocket series. 

Tallest tree in China confirmed

The tallest tree in China has been found standing at 83.4 meters. The tree is called a Abies ernestii var, a type of evergreen fir and has been located in a forest in Zayu County.

The tree was discovered by researcher Guo Ke, who verified the tree's height multiple times using drones and estimated the height of 83.2 meters. 

Based on the collected data, scientists concluded that the tree was 83.4 meters high and around 360 years old. 

Electric vehicle surge 

China has seen a surge in New Energy Vehicles (NEVS) in the first nine months which has doubled this year to 11.49 million. From January to September 2022, 3.71 million NEVs were registered, up 98.48 percent compared with the same period last year. New Energy Vehicles accounted for 21.34 percent of all new automobile registrations.

Services trade value jumps

Services trade value grew 20.4 percent in the first eight months of 2022. The total trade reached at over 3.9 trillion yuan ($542.8 billion). Services exports expanded 23.1 percent year on year, and services imports totaled $282.3 billion, up 17.9 percent from a year ago.

The growth of services trade exports outpaced import growth by 5.2 percentage points, resulting in a drop in the services trade deficit.

New progress in COVID-19 vaccines 

China has made new progress in the research and development of COVID-19 vaccines. The country has three inactivated vaccines against Omicron variants that are undergoing clinical trials in China and the United Arab Emirates. 

Nine China-made COVID-19 vaccines have been approved for the market for emergency use and three vaccines are on the World Health Organization's list.