HEFEI -- Fusion, the nuclear reaction that powers the Sun and the stars, is a potential source of safe, carbon-free, and virtually limitless energy. China is embracing and contributing to global scientific research on how to harness fusion energy.

Since its operation in 2006, the Chinese-designed and -developed Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), the "Chinese artificial sun," has become an open test facility for both Chinese and international scientists to conduct fusion-related experiments.

The facility is believed to help pave the way for other major fusion experiments around the world.

Located in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, the doughnut-shaped device aims to create all the extreme conditions needed for hydrogen atoms to fuse, a process that will release tremendous amounts of energy similar to what takes place inside the Sun.