People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps The People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps () is a unit of the People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force that is responsible for the selection and training of astronauts for the Chinese manned space program (Project 921). In August 1992, the Manned Space Program Command proposed to select astronaut candidates from the People's Liberation Army Air Force fighter pilots to the Central Military Committee and the proposal was approved in September. In October 1992, a Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense-PLAAF jointed task force started the preliminary selection; 1,506 pilots were identified and
Chinese as a foreign language use of Westerners. Due to the status of Guangzhou as the only Chinese port open to foreign trade and exchange in the 1700s, Cantonese became the variety of Chinese that came into the most interaction with the Western world in early modern times. Foreign works on Chinese were largely centered around this variant until the opening up of other Chinese regions for commerce through unequal treaties, which exposed European scholars to a much larger number of Chinese varieties. In 1814, a chair of Chinese and Manchu was founded at the Collège de France, and Abel-Rémusat became the first Professor of