School work comes first for a hero's son

The nation's first man in space decided not to bring his son to Hong Kong to avoid disrupting his studies.

Su Shuangning, commander-in-chief of the astronauts in the manned space flight programme, said yesterday the space delegation to Hong Kong had invited Yang Liwei's wife, Zhang Yumei, and his eight-year-old son, Ningkang, to join their tour.

'But Colonel Yang rejected the invitation because he wanted his son to stick to his studies at school,' Mr Su told a gathering of 1,700 primary and secondary pupils at Piu Kiu Middle School in North Point.

'He did not want to see his son's progress affected by the trip to Hong Kong.'

Colonel Yang called on the pupils to study hard so they could contribute to China's development. He also planted a tree on the school's campus before his departure.

During a meeting with media representatives, Colonel Yang extended an apology to his wife for having spent too little time caring for his family. 'I will do more housework in future,' he pledged.

Looking to future missions, Colonel Yang said he would prefer to land on the moon than work in the proposed space lab.