People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps twelve were chosen as astronaut candidates. The Astronaut Corps was established in January 1998 and the twelve along with two PLAAF trainees sent to Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in 1996 forms Chinese Group 1. Seven pilots entered the Astronaut Corps in May 2010 as the Group 2. In 2014, Group 1 astronauts Wu Jie, Li Qinglong, Chen Quan, Zhao Chuandong, and Pan Zhanchun retired from the Astronaut Corps due to age; none of them had flown in a mission. The Astronaut Corps was part of the General Armaments Department until GAD's disbandment in January 2016. As part of the
Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language for admission or as the evaluation of applicant’s Chinese proficiency. In addition, many international businesses in Taiwan, such as LG, adopt TOCFL as reference for their employee dispatch programs. Several overseas companies also refer to candidates’ TOCFL certificates when recruiting. TOCFL is a foreign language proficiency test for non-native speakers of Mandarin Chinese. Those who wish to know their level of Chinese proficiency, and those who want to study, work, or do business in Chinese-speaking countries or contexts are welcome to register for the test. The following table sets out the suggested learning hours of Mandarin Chinese, and suggested vocabulary