At a press conference before the launch of the Shenzhou 19 crew, Lin Xiang, deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency CMSA, said , that a decision was made to create a reusable cargo spacecraft similar to the Space Shuttle or the Soviet Buran. A year ago, a bid for the projects was opened, and two candidates were selected: a reusable shuttle and a disposable cargo ship.
CMSA is committed to reducing the cost of delivering payloads to Tiangong. The reusable shuttle seems to be a promising option for cargo missions where there is no need to worry about the safety of the containers. In any case, it won't be a people carrier. However, the second option that the agency's specialists settled on was the Qingzhou disposable space rocket.
The Qingzhou spacecraft was proposed by the Microsatellite Innovation Academy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Haolong reusable shuttle was proposed by the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute of the China Aviation Industry Corporation. Each of them will have to deliver to the station at least 1.8 tons of payload. "Qingzhou" can return to Earth by parachute, and "Haolong" will land independently on the airport runway.
There is also a similar project in the US called Dream Chaser. The reusable cargo space plane is being developed by the Sierra Nevada Corporation. It will deliver cargo into low Earth orbit and then land at an airport like an airplane. The spacecraft will hold 2 tons of cargo and another 3.5 tons in a disposable container (which is then burned up in the atmosphere). The first flight of the space plane was expected before the end of 2024, but it was postponed until next year because the manufacturer could not cope with the implementation of the project. Overall, the idea of using a reusable cargo shuttle seems reasonable and will likely be implemented by either the US or China.