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BBC News - China's female astronaut quandary
At a launch site in the desert the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft is being readied. It may blast off this weekend, and one of the three crew is likely to be a woman.
In the year that the Communist Party wants to showcase its achievements ahead of a once-in-a-decade leadership change in the autumn, you might expect China's national media to be in overdrive about the event.
Not yet, it seems. The People's Daily's brief announcement with photographs about the two women who have been shortlisted for the mission was noticeably brief.
'Heroines of today'
It may be that everyone is waiting for a safe lift-off before they hail a new national heroine. China is poised to join a small club. Seven nations have sent a woman into space, and only two, the Soviet Union and the United States, have done so using their own spacecraft.
China's Shenzhou-9 spacecraft China has an ambitious space programme
But China's internet users, websites and regional papers have been fired-up by the announcement.
The Netease website published photos of the two candidates, who are both airforce pilots.
More than 76,000 people added comments to the story, and on Monday it was the second most talked about topic on Sina's Weibo microblog.
"Finally, we are going to have our first female astronaut. They are the heroines of today. It means Chinese women have occupied another place in history," said one internet user from Shanghai.
"No matter which one gets chosen, China's proud of them both," wrote Xiaolongfei from Urumqi.
China National Radio News and Phoenix news website said both women are members of the Wuhan Aviation Troop, describing them as "outstanding pilots with super-strong mental qualities who have passed a rigorous selection procedure".
Some reports have described the women as "fighter pilots". But Zhang Jianqi, former deputy commander of China's manned space programme, is quoted as saying that the women are both from the "transport aviation troop".
He added that the selection criteria for female astronauts is similar to that used for men, "the only difference is that for female astronauts, married ones are preferred because they are more mature both mentally and physically".
'Baby eagles'
The first candidate is Major Liu Yang, 34, from Henan Province. She was honoured as a "model" pilot in March 2010 and showed a "rare calm" to land her plane safely after it was struck by 18 pigeons. On the QQ instant message service she goes by the name "little flying knight".
A Chinese father and son near the Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft Many Chinese are proud of their country's space programme
The Shenzhen Special Zone Daily says she is an only child with a penchant for making patriotic speeches.
In a letter home after her first parachute jump, she explained why she never let her parents visit her during her four years in pilot training.
"Baby eagles", she explained, "can never soar under their family's wing".
The paper adds that once, during an English speech competition, she said: "As a female pilot, the sacred rose garden in my heart is the motherland's blue sky."
At a launch site in the desert the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft is being readied. It may blast off this weekend, and one of the three crew is likely to be a woman.
In the year that the Communist Party wants to showcase its achievements ahead of a once-in-a-decade leadership change in the autumn, you might expect China's national media to be in overdrive about the event.
Not yet, it seems. The People's Daily's brief announcement with photographs about the two women who have been shortlisted for the mission was noticeably brief.
'Heroines of today'
It may be that everyone is waiting for a safe lift-off before they hail a new national heroine. China is poised to join a small club. Seven nations have sent a woman into space, and only two, the Soviet Union and the United States, have done so using their own spacecraft.
China's Shenzhou-9 spacecraft China has an ambitious space programme
But China's internet users, websites and regional papers have been fired-up by the announcement.
The Netease website published photos of the two candidates, who are both airforce pilots.
More than 76,000 people added comments to the story, and on Monday it was the second most talked about topic on Sina's Weibo microblog.
"Finally, we are going to have our first female astronaut. They are the heroines of today. It means Chinese women have occupied another place in history," said one internet user from Shanghai.
"No matter which one gets chosen, China's proud of them both," wrote Xiaolongfei from Urumqi.
China National Radio News and Phoenix news website said both women are members of the Wuhan Aviation Troop, describing them as "outstanding pilots with super-strong mental qualities who have passed a rigorous selection procedure".
Some reports have described the women as "fighter pilots". But Zhang Jianqi, former deputy commander of China's manned space programme, is quoted as saying that the women are both from the "transport aviation troop".
He added that the selection criteria for female astronauts is similar to that used for men, "the only difference is that for female astronauts, married ones are preferred because they are more mature both mentally and physically".
'Baby eagles'
The first candidate is Major Liu Yang, 34, from Henan Province. She was honoured as a "model" pilot in March 2010 and showed a "rare calm" to land her plane safely after it was struck by 18 pigeons. On the QQ instant message service she goes by the name "little flying knight".
A Chinese father and son near the Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft Many Chinese are proud of their country's space programme
The Shenzhen Special Zone Daily says she is an only child with a penchant for making patriotic speeches.
In a letter home after her first parachute jump, she explained why she never let her parents visit her during her four years in pilot training.
"Baby eagles", she explained, "can never soar under their family's wing".
The paper adds that once, during an English speech competition, she said: "As a female pilot, the sacred rose garden in my heart is the motherland's blue sky."
