On September 13, Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a presidential order to confer national medals and honorary titles, the highest state honors, to 15 individuals on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Four of the 15 individuals that were awarded the Medal of the Republic were Wang Yongzhi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Wang Zhenyi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Li Zhensheng, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and veteran war hero Huang Zongde.

Wang Yongzhi (November 1932 - June 2024) was born in Changtu county, Liaoning province. He was a retired senior military cadre at Chaoyang No.4 Retired Cadre Sanatorium of the Beijing Garrison Command, the chief designer of Project 921 of the General Armament Department, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, a member of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and an alumnus of Beihang University enrolled in 1952.

Wang Yongzhi was one of the first batch of students when Beihang University was founded. He graduated from Moscow Aviation Institute in 1961 and received the title of engineer. In 1992, he was elected as an academician of the International Academy of Astronautics and a foreign academician of the Russian Academy of Astronautics. In May 1994, he was elected as one of the first batch of academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He was honored as a Meritorious Scientist of Manned Spaceflight, and received the State Preeminent Science and Technology Award, the Special Prize of the State Science and Technology Progress Award, and the title of National Outstanding Communist Party Member.

Wang Yongzhi was one of the pioneers of China’s manned space program. He devoted decades of effort to the nation’s space industry, leading the research and development of missiles and rockets, and participating in drafting the blueprint for China’s manned spaceflight. He made outstanding contributions to the modernization of national defense and the manned spaceflight program.

Reviewed by: Li Jianwei

Edited by: Jia Aiping

Translated by: Han Xu