Rare glimpse of life aboard the aircraft carrier Liaoning

The People's Liberation Army Daily has revealed what China's first carrier, the Liaoning, looks like on the inside.

Western naval and shipbuilding experts say the hull's design is totally different from that of the ship from which it was adapted, the Soviet Kuznetsov-class carrier Varyag.

High-resolution pictures carried by the newspaper yesterday showed areas such as the canteen, laundry room, broadcasting studio, post office, supermarket and medical centre, while feature stories explained how sailors on board had been trained and how they live.

It said naval officers and sailors had proposed more than 4,000 recommendations for improving the Liaoning since it entered service in September.

The report did not reveal how many sailors are on board the Liaoning, but said that more than 98 per cent of the bluejackets are university graduates, with nearly 18 per cent having master's degrees. The daily said some engineers were trained in Russia's naval engineering institute in Pushkin, St Petersburg.

Glimpses of the inside of the conventionally powered carrier were first provided by China Central Television and some mainland military websites, but the PLA Daily gives the first comprehensive view.