  The new broadband seismic network in China will increase the number of
stations from approximately 950 to 2000. The higher-resolution monitoring of
the frequent smaller earthquakes expected inside Mainland China can be
quantified via the completeness magnitude (Mc) metric. Using the Bayesian
Magnitude of Completeness (BMC) method, we generate the spatial distribution of
Mc predicted for the new network, based on the prior model calibrated on the
current earthquake catalog (2012 to 2021) and network configuration. If 99% of
Mainland China is at present covered down to Mc = 2.7, this threshold will soon
fall to Mc = 2.0. This means approximately 3 times more earthquakes available
per year. Based on the observation that seismic precursors are most likely to
be observed at least at 3 units below the mainshock magnitude, the new seismic
network shall achieve the goal of almost total coverage for optimal
seismic-based earthquake prediction research.
