The enormous dry dock (1200 ft by 270ft) at Dalian, out of which they just floated the Type 001A Shandong CV17,
did not exist ten years ago. In the last ten years, they built that dry dock from scratch, then used it to assemble at least two very large (1100 ft long) cargo ships, rework the Liaoning CV 16 and then assemble the Shandong. All since 2006.
The first Type 002 70,000 ton CV 18 (alleged steam catapults and arrester wires) is already in ‘recognisable shape’ in the 1150 by 300 ft Hudong-Zhonghua twin dry dock on the Huangpu river in downtown Shanghai.
There are three other bigger dry docks (up to 1800 ft by 380 ft) in operation at the Jiangnan shipyard on Changxing Island just across the Yangtse from Shanghai. I don’t think they existed twelve years ago. ............ You gotta hand it to them.
More pics here -
China launches aircraft carrier, boosting military presence - BBC News
LFH