Yang Liwei, the first Chinese astronaut to go into space, will be conferred an honorary doctorate by the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the congregation will be held on Dec. 9, according to a press release of the university.

Yang Liwei will be conferred the degree of Doctor of Science. He received his bachelor's degree from No. 8 Aviation College of the People's Liberation Army and became a member of the national astronaut team in 1998.

Yang, the Chinese astronaut who commanded China's first manned space flight, went aboard Shenzhou-5 on Oct. 15, 2003, and flew round the Earth 14 times, traversing a distance of about 600,000 kilometers.

Including Yang, the university is going to confer honorary doctorates on a total of four distinguished persons.

(People’s Daily September 29, 2004)