The run-up to the launch of China's first lunar orbiter at the
end of this month has caught the country's imagination, with more
than two thirds of the nation hoping to see the launch live on TV,
according to a survey.
According to a survey by the China Youth Daily and
qq.com, almost the entire nation hopes to catch images of the event
at some point, with 99 percent of the 10,358 respondents saying
that they expect to witness the satellite launch and 68.9 percent
saying that they felt certain of watching a live broadcast of the
launch.
On qq.com and sina.com, two popular Chinese web portals,
Internet users have contributed some 2,000 poems and 5000 drawings
on the theme of Chang'e I.
"The satellite launch means much more than just saying 'hello'
to the moon. Maybe in the future we could also send some people up
to accompany sister 'Chang'e'," said a college student polled
during the survey.
Remarkably, many people expect to visit the moon one day, with
93.4 percent of the respondents saying that they expected to do
so.
Chang'e I is named after Chang'e, a famous character from
Chinese mythology. She ascended from earth to live on the moon as a
celestial being after drinking a magical elixir.
There is also another connection between the moon and China. In
the 1970s, a crater on the moon was named after a Chinese
stargazer, Wan Hu, who is said to have been the first astronaut in
human history.
Legend says that about 600 years ago, around the middle of the
Ming Dynasty, Wan Hu, a local government official, tried to fly
into space with the help of a chair, two big kites and 47 self-made
gunpowder-filled rockets. According to the legend after the rockets
were lit there was a huge bang and lots of smoke. When the smoke
cleared Wan was nowhere to be found.
China's first astronaut flew into space in 2003 with the launch
of the Chinese-made spaceship Shenzhou V. China became the third country,
after the Soviet Union and the United States, to conduct manned
space missions.
(Xinhua News Agency October 22, 2007)