Yue Xicui, a meritorious pilot and deputy chief of staff of the air force in the Guangzhou Military Area Command, was awarded the rank of major general of the People's Liberation Army on July 28 in Beijing.

Thus, the 54-year-old has become China's first pilot-turned woman general in the air force. As China's most experienced woman pilot, Yue has 36 years of flying experience, with over 6,000 hours of safe flights and two million km of flying distance.

In the past 36 years, she has succeeded in refitting five types of airplanes and completed 100 military training exercises.

Since China recruited its first women pilots in 1951, the country has trained several hundred women pilots. And now, China is among the countries with the largest number of female pilots.

Nearly 400 of them have received awards for outstanding performance.