This is China's only aircraft carrier, the Liaoning. Like much of China's military hardware, the Liaoning is a reworking of an older Russian-made model.
The Liaoning's particulars and capabilities sound impressive.
The Admiral Kuznetsov is Russia's sole aircraft carrier, which the Liaoning is based on. Both ships have the same size, speed, and feature the "ski jump" platform.
The Kuznetsov lacks the catapults used by US vessels to launch heavier planes, like the Liaoning, but carries offensive weapons of its own.
China's southern neighbor, India, operates two smaller aircraft carriers, but they are much more reliable. In 2014, the Liaoning experienced unexpected power outages while at sea.
The USS Abraham Lincoln, one of the US Navy's ten Nimitz class aircraft carriers, is larger, carries more planes, and features catapults to launch heavier planes, thus the flat runway.
The US currently leads the world in Aircraft carriers by far, and they are developing an even larger class of aircraft carrier to replace aging members of the fleet.
To put things in perspective, this graphic shows the relative sizes of aircraft carriers from around the world.
And let's not forget that the US has more aircraft carriers than the rest of the world combined.
