Tortuous path

As a major symbol of the space age, manned spaceflight first emerged in China's space plans in the mid-1960s.

Chinese scientists and engineers soon began research and development for a crewed spaceship and started training a small group of astronaut candidates selected from elite Air Force pilots. All of their work was kept secret.

However, the endeavor had to be stopped in the mid-1970s due to financing and technological obstacles.

From the mid-1980s, Chinese scientists began to urge the government to consider reopening the manned space program as they were convinced that it would be crucial to the future of the country's space industry.

In August 1992, a special governmental committee decided that China should develop manned spacecraft and train astronauts with the ultimate goal being to assemble and operate a space station in the near future. The plan was approved in September that year by the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, officially unfolding the nation's manned space program that involves hundreds of thousands of researchers, engineers and technicians.

On Oct 15, 2003, the country carried out its first manned spaceflight, sending Yang Liwei on a 21-hour journey around the mother planet in the Shenzhou V spacecraft.

Since then, China has conducted six manned spaceflights, which totaled 68 days and orbited Earth 1,089 times, while 11 Chinese astronauts have traveled more than 46 million km in space and conducted more than 100 experiments.

Chinese astronauts have undertaken extravehicular activity, conducted several extended missions inside two prototype space stations, and delivered a 40-minute lecture from space that was watched by more than 60 million students at about 80,000 schools.

Those accomplishments have become a source of pride and growing confidence in the nation, in addition to sparking patriotic sentiments in Chinese communities across the world.

The first Chinese in space, Yang recalled that during a visit to New York in 2004, an 80-something Chinese-American held his hands and tearfully told him that, for overseas Chinese, China's achievements in space reflected the fact that "our motherland has risen", which gave them renewed courage and strength.