To China's children, astronaut Yang Liwei symbolizes pride,
history and the stuff of which dreams are made.
But to one kid at Beijing's Zhongguancun No.1 Primary School,
he's just "Dad."
And that reality has all the youngsters attending classes at the
local campus greeting each morning's news much like 8-year-old Yang
Ningkang, the astronaut's son, always greets his father
happily.
There's an eye-catching red banner hanging at the school's gate,
celebrating Yang's safe return.
In fact, both Yang Liwei's son and Zhai Tianxiong, son of
China's second-leading candidate for space travel, astronaut Zhai
Zhigang, study in a third-grade class at the school.
Li Hongyan, their teacher, told China Daily the two
astronauts' sons are enrolled at the school along with six other
children whose parents also work for the space program.
"The successful launch of Shenzhou V has inspired children's
dreams of working in the future for space exploration," Li
said.
Wang Luya, 8, who used to want to be a doctor after growing up,
now wants to be a space flight surgeon. Her classmate Ji Jiang said
she wants to be a researcher, and study items returned from
space.
As for boys interviewed at the school, most have changed their
occupational dreams after seeing the launch and Yang's safe return.
Now, they say, they want to fly to space and return as heroes.
Having talked with Yang Liwei a few times, Li said the
lieutenant colonel impresses her as "a simple and low-key
person".
"When I knew he was trained to be an astronaut - and exalted the
importance of his job once in a phone conversation - he said in a
calm tone that he was just doing a job as ordinary as mine," the
teacher said.
Parents like Yang Liwei working for the country's space project
are busy with their jobs most of the time, and usually leave caring
for their children to their spouses, Li said.
Zhai Tianxiong said he can only see his father once or twice per
week.
Yang's son Ningkang is not a child who causes parental
headaches, and is good at writing, publishing a story about his
father in a newspaper.
Like many other boys, he is clever and sometimes naughty, the
teacher said.
The astronaut's elder sister, Yang Lijun told People's
Daily that her brother was diligent and brave as a child. One
of Yang's primary school classmates Chen Suixin said the pilot
saved his life as a child when Chen fell in the water. "If it were
not for Yang Liwei's cool mind and bravery, I would not have
survived.''
Yang Yuhua, the flyer's teacher in northeast China's Liaoning
Province, said Yang Liwei had organized many activities in
school.
"When I sent him to get a physical exam for his pilot
recruitment, we even joked about me taking a plane when he would be
the pilot flying it," the teacher recalled.
Now the joke has turned into reality, and what's more exciting
is that Yang has become China's leading astronaut.
"When I heard Yang Liwei and the spacecraft were successfully
launched, I could not hold back my tears," the teacher said.
(China Daily October 17, 2003)