China signals new era as first homegrown jetliner takes off

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The plane won't go into service for at least two years, and it will take even longer before it comes close to matching industry leaders Boeing and Airbus. But the maiden flight represented something else: China's ascendance from an impoverished nation once dependent on factory output to a sophisticated leader dedicated to high-tech advancement.

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"Ultimately, making an entire airplane from Chinese manufactured components is probably half a century away," said George Ferguson, senior aerospace analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, which conducts economic and industry analysis. "But this is the initial foray."