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 were studying the language in US colleges and universities. While far behind the more than 800,000 students who study Spanish, the number is more than three times higher than in 1986. The Institute's report includes graphs and details on the popularity of other languages. As of 2008, China had helped 60,000 teachers promote its language internationally, and an estimated 40 million people were studying Chinese as a second language around the world. Other than Standard Mandarin, Cantonese is the only other variant of Chinese that is widely taught as a foreign language. It is the official language of Hong Kong