China's second aircraft carrier, also the first domestically-built one, has started its first test drive this morning. CGTN's Xu Xinchen was at the site and filed this report.

XU XINCHEN DALIAN I'm here at the Dalian shipyard where China's first home-built aircraft carrier parked before being pulling into the sea route and set to sail around 7 am on Sunday. People working at the shipyard said preparation for a test drive has started overnight. The testing is said to focus on the new ship's power systems. However, we are not sure how long and how far it would sail. And there will be more tests and trials. Once all trials are done, the ship will be delivered to the PLA Navy. It will be given a name, like its sibling the Liaoning, a refitted Soviet model.

The new ship was built by the Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company. In some ways, it's similar to the Liaoning. Both ships are ski-jump type carriers, which means there is an upward-curved ramp on the deck that enables aircraft to take off on a shorter runway. Official specs about the new ship are not yet available, but just by looking at the ship from far, some experts pointed out the new ship appeared to be similar in size with the Liaoning but it seems to have a smaller island control structure, which means a larger flight deck. While the Liaoning is classified as a training ship, the new ship is a real beast; some military experts believe it's to be China's first combat-ready carrier.

There are only a handful of countries with aircraft carriers in their fleets and that number is even smaller for those that have two. With two carriers, China will definitely rise in global naval force rankings. But it's still far behind the world leader, the United States. The US has ten full-scale aircraft carriers on active duty, plus nine more ships that could be called "light carriers". The US ships are also nuclear powered and equipped with more advanced technology. That being said, many experts believe China's ambitions won't end with just two ships. And military experts say they are expecting more China-designed warships to come along in the next few years.