Editor's Note: This new series in China Daily celebrates various technologies, industries, infrastructure and capital goods projects for being the world's most impressive in their class. They are also a testament to the tremendous progress China has made in recent decades on the back of its reform and opening-up policy, as well as the nation's drive for high-quality development and a modern industrial system.

China became a major powerhouse in building LNG (liquefied natural gas) carriers after it received orders for 55 vessels — more than 30 percent of the world's total — in 2022. The LNG carrier market was previously dominated by Japanese and South Korean shipbuilders as Chinese shipyards were not capable of building such vessels before 2008, when the first China-made LNG ship was delivered.