CHINA / SOCIETY
First art exhibition in space: Chinese astronauts display paintings from children in space-ground chat
Published: Jan 01, 2022 06:32 PM Updated: Jan 01, 2022 07:31 PM
Screengrab
 
The Shenzhou-13 crew that has been living and working in China's space station displayed on Saturday, the first day of 2022, paintings by children across the country during an event where they spoke to student representatives from Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao via video link.

TheSuch paintings are works by young students from 11 provinces and regions in central and western part of China, including Xizang and Xinjiang, the Global Times learned from the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on Saturday. 

The paintings not only carrycarries not onlythe young students' best wishes to the three taikonauts but also their dreams of spaceinnocent space dreams and aspiration for knowledge. 

One fourth-grader from Central China's Hunan Province painted his imaginary scene in which aliens from Mars come to visit his hometown in Shibadong Village. Behind the works are this isthe proud feelings of the young child, saying that "My hometown used to be a poverty-stricken area. But through precision poverty alleviation, people here are enjoying a much better-off live." 

Likewise, a student from China's Xizang Autonomous Region also described aliens visiting his hometown where living standards havelivelihoodhas been improved through the country's poverty-relief campaign. 
Screengrab
In fact, during the launch of Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft and the Shenzhou-13 manned spacecraft in September and October in 2021, many student and faculty representatives from the said regions went to Wenchang spaceport and the Jiuquan launch center to witness the breathtaking occasionsmoments right on the spot. 

Right before the launch of Shenzhou-13 spaceflight mission and at a taiknonaut face-to-face press event on October 14, 2021, one little girl from Xinjiang told Wang Yaping, a female taikonaut who was about to take on the space journey, that "children have prepared 'mysterious gifts' for the crew and those gifts have been sent to the space station. We hope you will like them." 

Two months later, the three taikonauts unboxed those gifts on the first day of 2022 and displayed them at the Saturday event. 

According to the CMSA, such ceremonial decision is to inspire more to follow their dreams of spacepursuit the space dreams. 

According to the CMSA, thesuch " atalk between youth and starry space" event will be carried out throughout the construction and operation of the China Space Station, in a cohesive way with major missions, so that to give full play to the special advantages of the manned space project in promoting patriotism, boosting people's morale, and strengthening China's independence. 

It will also help spread spiritual fire of looking up at the stars and flying in the sky to pursue dreams in the hearts of young people, inspiring the enthusiasm for carrying forward the spirit of spaceflight and devoting to the aerospace industry, the agency said.