An Indian engineer has reportedly developed a portable solar-heated tent that can accommodate up to 10 soldiers and sold it to the Indian military at a price of 500,000 rupees per tent. However, the tent is widely suspected in China to be a copycat of some outdated products and not suitable for human habitation.
An Indian engineer, Sonam Wangchuk, inspired by the Phunsukh Wangdu character in Aamir Khan’s “3 Idiots”, has developed a portable solar-heated tent that can accommodate 10 soldiers for use by the Indian army at high altitudes, like Ladakh, and “keep them warm at 15 degrees even when it is -14 degrees outside”, according to a recent report in the India Times cited by Chinese media.
However, after reading this republished story, Chinese netizens said it is a copycat product of Chinese photovoltaic solar-powered vegetable sheds. Such sheds are widely used in vegetable bases in Shouguang, Shandong province, known as the vegetable capital of China, and in other regions of China.
One farmer from a strawberry base in Liaoning said the stuff, known locally as “cold sheds,” had been used more than a decade ago in China and had long since been phased out.
And the thermometer used by Wangchuk is said to be very similar to some vegetable greenhouse thermometers sold on Taobao, and is thus suspected of being made in China.
Another analysis pointed out that in the Tibetan plateau, where snow, hail and high winds often occur, the roof of such tents could be broken through or torn off at any time, and it’s far inferior to the sun houses in which the Chinese army lives.
