Liu Boming (astronaut) space walk. Liu wore a Russian Orlan-M spacesuit, while Zhai wore the Chinese-made Feitian space suit. Liu remained in the open portal of the orbital module, assisting Zhai on his spacewalk; later in the space walk, Liu also performed a stand-up extra-vehicular activity, partially leaving the orbital module in order to hand Zhai a Chinese flag. After the spacewalk, Liu said in an interview that his inspiration and idols have always been Neil Armstrong and Yuri Gagarin. Liu Boming (astronaut) Liu Boming (; born September 1966) is a Chinese pilot selected as part of the Shenzhou program. A fighter pilot
Chinese as a foreign language Chinese as a foreign language Chinese as a foreign or second language is the study of the Chinese varieties by non-native speakers. Increased interest in China from those outside has led to a corresponding interest in the study of Standard Chinese ("Mandarin") as a foreign language, the official language of mainland China and Taiwan. However, the teaching of Chinese both within and outside China is not a recent phenomenon. Westerners began learning different Chinese varieties in the 16th century. Within China, Mandarin became the official language in the early 20th century. Mandarin also became the official language of Taiwan when