This Day, That Year

Item from Jan 11, 1996, in China Daily: Research personnel with Beijing Aerospace and Aviation University check the nation's first unmanned helicopter before it takes to the sky.

Chinese manufacturers have been ramping up production of drones in the past few years, amid the growing use of the unmanned aerial vehicles worldwide.

At the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Chinese drone maker Ehang, based in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, unveiled what was being touted as the world's first drone capable of carrying a human passenger. The drone boasts an automatic flight control system with a small cockpit in its middle section for one passenger.