The Chinese People's Liberation Army navy, is continuing its five-nation tour of the South Pacific. Besides goodwill visits, to other countries, training future sailors is another important duty.

Recently, a group of four female cadets, went on board the Mian-yang frigate from their training ship, to learn how to operate a vessel. This makes them the first group of Chinese women, to board a warship. Wang Guan has followed their journey and filed this report from the ship.

This is Training Vessel Zhenghe of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. We are on our way from Auckland, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia. Among the 208 cadets on board, 20 are women. They are still outnumbered by men, but they have equal aspirations if not greater, to become future Chinese sailors, captains or naval officers.

Yet a journey of one thousand miles begins with this first step.

20-year-old Ma Wenjiao is in the radar room. With the captain's guidance, she is learning how to monitor the screen for other ships and objects that might get in their way. And soon after she goes on duty, an unexpected situation happens. The screen shows that a commercial ship is approaching.

Ma Wenjiao: Captain, a commercial ship is 30 degrees to our right.It's 3 nautical miles away at a speed of 12 knots.We will meet it in six minutes."

Captain Zhang Yu :5 degrees to your right. Direction 090.

Executing the order from the captain, Liu Xiaotong steers the vessel clear of the commercial ship.

In the nearby chartroom, Ren Zhengzheng is reading an English nautical map. Since they are now traveling in unfamiliar waters, she needs to update their location every half an hour. At one point, she found that the ship was deviating from its planned course. She locates the nearest satellite so that the vessel can be guided back on course. Another danger cleared.

Yet not everyone is at the fore. Cadet Huang Yingzhi's task is to make sure the engines and other parts of the ship work well, and troubleshoot if they don't. It's a painstaking job as she needs to constantly record the temperature and running speed of key components and endure the intense heat generated by the engines.

One night's internship soon comes to an end. And when we met the cadets the next morning on the dock, they were still savoring the excitement of boarding the warship.

Currently, nearly one in ten cadets in China's military academies are female. They might not have much physical advantage over guys, but operating a vessel also requires graphical knowledge and analytical skills. In such fields, women are no less competent than men.

Choosing to become a sailor means choosing a life associated with uncertainty and risks. The female cadets are well aware of this and say they don't want to follow the paths of their peers. Instead they want to go where no Chinese women has gone before and blaze a trail.

Go to Forum >>0 Comments