Zhang Xiaoguang——China's first ethnic minority astronaut

Published : 15/06/2026

Zhang Xiaoguang came from a Manchu farming family in Liaoning.

Zhang Xiaoguang is of Manchu ethnicity, born in May 1966 in a small mountain village in Heishan County, Jinzhou, Liaoning. He was the fourth child in his family. As a child, he often saw planes leaving trails of smoke, and thought to himself: How wonderful it would be if I could fly a plane like that!

Since he was young, Zhang Xiaoguang was competitive and willing to endure hardship, he studied diligently. His grades in junior high school gradually improved, and he was admitted to a key senior high school in the county town. His parents also placed all their hopes on him, hoping that he would get into university and be able to leave the mountain valley.

In March 1985, as Zhang Xiaoguang was in the final push for the college entrance examinations, the Air Force came to his school to recruit pilots. Having dreamt of flying since childhood, he signed up immediately. However, the start of his military career was not smooth.

The school arranged students who had signed up to gather at 4 a.m. to travel together by bus from the town to the city for a medical examination. Unexpectedly, by the time Zhang Xiaoguang rushed from countryside to the town, the bus had already left.

A classmate's encouragement changed Zhang Xiaoguang's life.

There was no bus, but he could take a train. But when he got to the train station, Zhang Xiaoguang gradually lost his confidence. He felt he was too short and there was little hope even if he went, so he cancelled the train ticket and prepared to head home.

Fortunately, his benefactor appeared at just the right time and in the right place. It was his classmate, Liu Yingfu.

It turned out that Liu Yingfu had also applied and also missed the bus, and was planning to take the train to Jinzhou. When he learned that Zhang Xiaoguang intended to go home, he persuaded him, saying: "It's not easy for us rural kids to get an opportunity like this. We should give it a try even if there's only a glimmer of hope."

Encouraged by Liu Yingfu, Zhang Xiaoguang bought another train ticket and set off with Liu Yingfu. The money from the refund, after deducting the service charge, was not enough to buy a new ticket, so Liu Yingfu lent Zhang Xiaoguang 20 cents.

However, during the medical examination, Liu Yingfu was eliminated during the vision test, while Zhang Xiaoguang passed all the medical and written examinations. He stood out from hundreds of students and finally became a fighter pilot, defending the blue skies of his motherland.

Zhang Xiaoguang is also China's first space cameraman

By 1998, he passed a rigorous selection process and, along with 13 others including Yang Liwei, Nie Haisheng, and Jing Haipeng, became one of China's first astronauts. Zhang Xiaoguang, Manchu ethnicity, was also China's first ethnic minority astronaut.

In 2003, Zhang Xiaoguang gave Liu Yingfu a book. An article in the book, titled 'My Aerospace Mentor', was written by him for Liu Yingfu. He would never forget his good friend.

After joining China's astronaut team, Zhang Xiaoguang continuously learned new knowledge and underwent a series of hellish training sessions. On 11 June 2013, his moment to fly to space arrived, as he carried out the Shenzhou-10 mission with Nie Haisheng and Wang Yaping.

At that time, the construction of the China Space Station had not yet begun, but they entered the Tiangong-1 experimental module. During their stay, Wang Yaping's first space lecture was filmed by Zhang Xiaoguang. He has also been described as China's first space cameraman.

Zhang Xiaoguang suspended space flights in 2025

The mission ended on 26 June, and they returned to Earth safely. Zhang Xiaoguang later said: "Everyone says one day in heaven is like a year on Earth. I truly exchanged 15 years of effort for 15 days of flight."

Times flies, and in the blink of an eye, more than a decade has passed. Will Zhang Xiaoguang fly to space again and be able to go on a travel to the completed China Space Station?

The chances are probably slim. In February 2026, writer Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut and the deputy chief designer of the China Manned Space Programme, revealed on the China Central Television programme "Voice" that China's first batch of astronauts stopped space travel on October 2025.

Not having step on the China Space Station is perhaps a small regret for Zhang Xiaoguang.

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