On October 15, 2003, Yang Liwei became the first Chinese astronaut to step into space.
Since then, Yang Liwei's name has become well-known throughout the country. Everyone knows this aerospace hero. His growth process and inspirational experience are hot topics that people talk about.
Many people also cast curious eyes on the family life of this aerospace hero.
As the wife of the "first man in space", Zhang Yumei seems to be particularly low-key and rarely accepts interviews. There is not much information about this woman on the Internet.
The first time people noticed this woman was when Yang Liwei was on the phone with his family before he ascended to heaven. Yang Liwei's wife, children and parents were sitting in the lobby of the Space Command and Control Center, looking at the big screen.
Zhang Yumei asked him: "Do you feel good?"
Yang Liwei said loudly: "It feels very good, don't worry!"
Perhaps because they knew that many people were watching, the couple did not say too much personal words. A simple reply with his eyes was enough for a tacit understanding and left a deep impression on countless people.
A gentle and quiet small town girl
Zhang Yumei's hometown is Gujiazi Village, Zhuangzi Township, Suizhong County . She is a fellow villager with Yang Liwei. They once studied in the same middle school in the county.
Later Zhang Yumei was admitted to Jinzhou Normal University . After graduation, she was assigned to Xiaozhuangzi Township Middle School and became a teacher.
Before she formally met Yang Liwei, Zhang Yumei had heard of his name, because Yang Liwei was selected as an air force pilot and was even included in the Suizhong County Chronicle, becoming a local celebrity.
There is an airport in Suizhong County. Zhang Yumei’s sister and brother-in-law both work there. When Zhang Yumei was a child, she often went there to play.
At that time, she was listening to the roar of the plane. She was more curious and admired about the job of a pilot, and she also had a dream of flying in her heart.
But when she grew up, Zhang Yumei was short-sighted and had no chance of joining the army. However, she still had a very good job as a teacher.
Zhang Yumei is a teacher in school, and Yang Liwei, who has become a pilot, follows the army and is often stationed in some remote and desolate places.
Although these two are fellow villagers and alumni, in fact, they are incompatible with each other as far as work is concerned.
But there is a person who gradually brings these two lines closer.
This person is Yang Liwei’s mother.
As the eldest son, Yang Liwei has been a worry-free child since he was a child. As an adult, he joined the army and later became a pilot that everyone envied. His parents were very proud.
The children were successful and had a successful job, but as Yang Liwei grew older, Yang's mother was concerned about her son's lifelong events.
But my son is in the army every day, looking up and down like a hormonal old man. He has no chance to interact with young girls at all, so where can he find a partner?
I am afraid that this path of free love will not work, so I can only take the family route and let my family be responsible for matchmaking and blind dates with suitable girls.
Most of Yang Liwei’s teammates who have romantic partners also go through this method, so Yang Liwei is not opposed to blind dates, but Yang Liwei still has his own standards in mind for his future partner.
If the other party is a girl with education, decent job, and a common language with me, that would be the best.
However, he just thought about these thoughts in his heart. Whenever colleagues or family members asked him about his criteria for choosing a spouse, Yang Liwei would just laugh it off and not go into details.
Yang Liwei is actually not very anxious about the blind date. He feels that the time is still long and he just needs to take his time.
But Yang’s mother had already made plans for her son. She told her son on the phone that it was best to find a wife from her hometown. The Yang family didn’t have many relatives in Suizhong. Find a local in-law, and the two families would be mutually exclusive from now on. There is also a care. Yang Liwei, who was opposite
, said yes.
After hanging up the phone, Mother Yang continued to plan the standards for her future daughter-in-law. It would be best if she had a college degree or above, be dignified and delicate, and most importantly, have a gentle and gentle personality. Of course, it would be best if she was a native of Suizhong.
Mother Yang is a teacher at Suizhong No. 3 Middle School. She has a good relationship with Ren Yanqiu, the school doctor at No. 3 Middle School. Asking relatives and friends around her to help see if there is a suitable partner is the first stage of the blind date. Mother Yang will set her own standards I told Ren Yanqiu in detail and asked him to help me find out more.
The enthusiastic Ren Yanqiu agreed immediately.
The academic qualifications are not too high, but they must have a gentle personality and be a local. Most importantly, they do not mind Yang Liwei's job as a "pilot". Ren Yanqiu is thinking about the candidates around him who meet these conditions.
After thinking about it, Ren Yanqiu slapped his thigh: Zhang Yumei is quite suitable!
The girl from this family is a college student from a normal college. She is a teacher just like Yang's mother. It is not clear whether she has something in common with Yang Liwei. Anyway, Yang's mother will definitely have a good impression of the young people in the same industry.
Ren Yanqiu immediately told Mother Yang. Mother Yang was very happy after hearing this, and the two started making plans for the two children to meet.
But the great man Yang Li was in the army and couldn't come, so in the end Yang's mother decided to go and see the little girl first. ;
was attracted by Yang Liwei’s mother at a glance.
The first time she saw Zhang Yumei, Yang’s mother’s eyes lit up.
How handsome he is in this life. Wearing a pair of glasses does not detract from his beautiful appearance. He is well-educated and elegant. He is simply the "chosen daughter-in-law" that all mothers-in-law will fall in love with at a glance.
After meeting the person, Yang's mother hurriedly picked up the phone and called her son in the army, telling him that his family had introduced him to someone and asked him to come back and meet him when he had time.
Yang Liwei was a little stunned after hearing this, thinking that his mother acted too quickly.
But he still followed his mother's advice, applied to the army, and took advantage of family leave to go back to his hometown for a blind date.
When the two young people met, they had a good impression of each other. Naturally, they should strike while the iron is hot and spend more time together to cultivate their relationship.
But before the feelings could sublimate, Yang Liwei hurried back to the army because the vacation was over.
Mother Yang was not happy that the two of them had missed each other like this, and she frequently urged her son to take the initiative, call her girls more often, and write letters. Yang Liwei also felt very good about Zhang Yumei, and the two began to communicate remotely.
Contacting with a blind date is not like an occasional phone call at home. Letters have become the best communication tool.
The two of them wrote down their life patterns and past experiences on paper through words. A pilot and a teacher seemed to have endless topics to talk about. As the two of them got to know each other better, they both had the idea of further development.
But Yang Liwei has concerns.
He had a failed love affair. It was 1986. Yang Liwei met a girl who had just graduated. The two fell in love and exchanged letters for several years. They were close to talking about marriage, but something went wrong.
The girl's parents disagreed with the marriage.
It turned out that there was a rumor in the county that a plane crashed at the airport and the pilot lost only his big toe.
Both the girl and her parents believed it and felt that the risk of being a pilot was too great. The girl was reluctant to break up with Yang Liwei and begged him to change careers with tears in her eyes.
Those days were the most painful and entangled days for Yang Liwei. On one side was his beloved girlfriend, and on the other was the blue sky he loved, and he couldn't make a choice.
After much thought, Yang Liwei felt that he could not go against the instinct of a soldier and he could not give up flying.
In the end, the girl cried and hugged Yang Liwei for the last time, and the two broke up.
It took Yang Liwei a while to come out.
The failed relationship made him hesitate, so he repeatedly emphasized his situation to Zhang Yumei.
"I am a pilot. The army only has one opportunity to visit relatives once a year. We can only meet during this period. The profession of pilot is also risky..."
But no matter how Yang Liwei emphasized, Zhang Yumei's attitude was always firm: I know, I understand.
Yang Liwei’s identity as a pilot has never been a minus in Zhang Yumei’s eyes.
Yang Liwei finally threw himself into this relationship without any scruples.
At the end of 1990, Yang Liwei went home to visit relatives and was urged to get married by his parents. Yang Liwei did not object. Taking advantage of this time at home, he formally proposed to Zhang Yumei, arranged the marriage, and brought the girl back home.
According to army regulations, after a pilot gets married, his family members can immediately join the army. Zhang Yumei did not want to be separated from her husband for a long time, so she resolutely quit her stable job as a teacher and followed Yang Liwei to Xi'an.
But the situation changed, and Yang Liwei was notified again that he had to rush to Xinjiang for training.
Zhang Yumei could not accompany her this time. Although she felt disappointed, this considerate woman still quietly helped her husband pack his bags and sent him off for a long journey.
After that, the couple followed the army to Sichuan and Beijing, and traveled to several places. In the remote northwest, they saw the vast desert and the towering mountains in the southwest. Everything was what this small town girl had learned from An experience I've never had before.
The living environment is often very difficult, but Zhang Yumei never complains.
After getting married, she finally realized what Yang Liwei meant when he said "pilots are at risk".
It turns out that it means that if there is an accident, it may be life or death, so every time Yang Liwei takes off, Zhang Yumei is worried.
Later, this worry was gradually smoothed away, and she gradually figured out that her worries were in vain. Instead of making life difficult for everyone in the world, she could calmly and steadily take care of everything for her husband behind the scenes, so that he could be the best person in the world. The free eagle soars in the vast world.
Due to Yang Liwei's work, Zhang Yumei knew nothing about meteorology, and now she can even judge whether the current weather conditions are suitable for flying based on weather visibility.
Two-way love
1996 was the turning point of their lives and destiny.
In August of this year, 1,500 pilots from the entire Air Force participated in the astronaut screening and physical examination. After more than two years of rigorous screening, Yang Liwei finally stood out.
In the spring of 1997, Yang Liwei ushered in his final inspection.
The subject of this inspection is not Yang Liwei, but Zhang Yumei.
Because the wife's support or not is a crucial factor in determining whether the husband can become an astronaut.
The political commissar from Beijing repeatedly asked the quiet and frail woman in front of him.
"If Li Wei is selected as an astronaut, your life will change in the future. Can you get used to it?"
Zhang Yumei said calmly: "Get used to it. It has been like this for so many years."
"When Li Wei becomes an astronaut, will you be able to get used to it?" Are you willing? "
" Yes. Li Wei attaches great importance to his career. No matter what he does, I will support him. "
" Being an astronaut is very risky. Are you willing? "
" I am willing to do it every day. Dealing with airplanes has long been a test of life and death. "
Her determination is just like the time when she used three "I know" to soothe Yang Liwei's uneasy heart. Now she uses this determination to once again seek for her husband's career. get to a higher stage.
The political commissar finally showed a satisfied smile on his face.
After that, Zhang Yumei and her son Xiao Ningkang were sent to the hospital and underwent strict physical examinations, because astronauts must not only be in perfect physical condition, but their family members must also be in good health.
Fortunately, both mother and son passed the physical examination successfully.
Yang Liwei was officially selected as an astronaut.
The day when the notice came down, Yang Liwei's troops were excited. Everyone was extremely proud that their comrades could become astronauts.
While Yang Liwei was undergoing arduous astronaut training, Zhang Yumei fell ill due to overwork.
As soon as the examination report came out, Zhang Yumei's heart sank heavily. She had kidney disease and her situation was not optimistic.
Zhang Yumei often suffered from insomnia and cried at night, but she made up her mind never to tell her husband about her condition, at least not now.
But Yang Liwei still knew about it, and he was so anxious that he immediately asked for leave and rushed to the hospital.
Zhang Yumei still remembers the way her husband looked at her before she was pushed into the operating room.
"When I saw Yang Liwei's eyes that were filled with concern, love and guilt that I had never seen before, my heart was as sharp as a knife." Zhang Yumei recalled.
After the operation, Zhang Yumei was weak and could not live without others. However, on the third day after the operation, Yang Liwei had to leave his wife and return to the air force base in Jilin to continue training.
The night before leaving, Yang Liwei sat in front of his wife's hospital bed all night. It was not until Zhang Yumei urged him to leave quickly that Yang Liwei reluctantly left. The leader of the
base knew about the situation at Yang Liwei's home and asked him if he wanted to postpone his visit for a few days.
Yang Liwei said firmly: "Please rest assured, chief, I have asked my old mother to come and take care of me. Nothing will affect my training."
Yang Liwei knew his wife's painstaking efforts and expectations, and had no distractions in the training center, despite the huge pressure. The pressure achieved three consecutive perfect scores in the intensive training phase.
The couple were very excited.
Zhang Yumei's health is still not good, and Yang Liwei doesn't have much time to go home. But as long as he is at home, Zhang Yumei can't do any housework, including mopping the floor, cooking, and doing laundry. Yang Liwei does it all.
In 2002, Yang Liwei's father-in-law contracted cancer. He did not dare to tell his wife the bad news for fear of irritating her, so he secretly sent money to his father-in-law for medical treatment. During the Spring Festival, he took his wife and children back to his hometown to celebrate the New Year, hoping that his wife would spend more time with his father.
When Zhang Yumei returned home and learned everything, she burst into tears. She understood her husband's painstaking efforts.
Early in the morning on October 15, 2003, a three-bedroom house in the center of Suizhong County was crowded with people.
This is the home of Yang Liwei's parents. Some of the people who come here are neighbors, and some are Yang Liwei's relatives, friends, classmates, and teachers. The house and courtyard are crowded with people.
This day is the day when Yang Liwei takes off on a spaceship.
Everyone stood in front of the TV, waiting with bated breath. When Yang Liwei, wearing spacesuit , appeared in front of the camera, they all shed tears of excitement and joy.
Yang Liwei's ex-girlfriend, accompanied by her husband, turned on the TV and shed tears of joy when she saw Yang Liwei on the screen preparing to fly into the sky.
Suizhong County was abuzz with gongs and drums, and everyone was giving this hero their greatest encouragement and support. The moment the
rocket ignited and took off, Zhang Yumei, who had been staring at the screen, suddenly looked away.
"I was so nervous, my heart was beating so hard, I didn't think about anything, I couldn't think about anything, my mind was blank, I didn't dare to look at the big screen."
All the cheers reached their climax when Yang Liwei returned safely from space.
Yang Liwei has become a national hero in the minds of people across the country.
Zhang Yumei came to greet her with her son. Yang Liwei stepped off the cabin and held his wife and children in his arms, his face full of happiness.
In 2022, Yang Liwei wrote an article in People's Daily , reviewing and sharing his childhood experiences, conveying wishes to the children, hoping that they can build the motherland together.
Zhang Yumei is still low-key now. She works in Beijing Aerospace City and is a data clerk at the Beijing Institute of Aerospace Medical Engineering. Both of them focus more on their families.
Yang Liwei has achieved much attention in the aerospace industry, while Zhang Yumei has quietly acted as the shield behind her husband, running a warm family that provides enough support for her husband. Their mother has brought them together, and they will spend this long life happily and satisfactorily. lifetime.
Information source:
Yu Wei.Yang Liwei: Behind the one-step rise to the sky[J]. News World, 2003(11):33-35.
Zhao Yan. "The first person to fly Shenzhou" and his family life[J]. Military Camp Culture World ,2003(11):4-7.
