In ancient China, people’s names had three parts: their family name, given name and courtesy name (字). Why did ancient Chinese have more than one name?

Take Li Bai, a famous Tang Dynasty poet as an example. His family name was Li, his given name was Bai, and his courtesy name was Taibai.

People used their given name when they were among family members. But in a famous Tang Dynasty poet social (社交的) life, they called each other by their courtesy names to show respect (尊重).

Men would get their courtesy name when they turned 20. It was a symbol of adulthood (成年). Women would get their courtesy name after getting married (结婚).

One’s courtesy name often had something to do with one’s given name. For example, Mencius’ name was Meng Ke (孟轲). His courtesy name was Ziyu (子舆). Both Ke and Ziyu mean “carriage (马车)”. Zhuge Liang’s given name was Liang (亮), which means “bright”. His courtesy name was Kongming (孔明), and it means “very bright”.

In 2003, China sent its first astronaut, Yang Liwei, into space. Since then, 13 Chinese astronauts have “reached for the stars”. Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu are three of them.They carried out the latest(最近的) Shenzhou XIII mission(任务). Have you ever dreamed of becoming an astronaut like them? How did they get there?

•Health is important

To be an astronaut, you need to be very healthy. Good eyesight(视力), a strong heart and lungs(肺) are important. You’d better not have other small problems. For example, a decayed tooth(龋齿) could get worse in space and bring trouble to astronauts. You can’ t have scars(伤疤) either. They may split(裂开) in space, as Pang Zhihao, a space scientist, told the Beijing Morning Post.

•Become stronger with hard training

In China,you must be a great pilot before you can be an astronaut. You must fly more than 600 hours without accidents. You’ ll start training when you become a backup(预备的) astronaut. It’ s very difficult. For example, you need to build your muscles(肌肉) as strong as professional(职业的) athletes by running, swimming and doing pull-ups(引体向上). You will also wear a 200-kilogram suit and do tasks underwater for six or seven hours without eating or going to the toilet. This is like doing tasks during a spacewalk.

•Learn science

Knowledge(知识) is important as well. Astronauts take 60 courses to get ready for a mission, including math, English, spacecraft design(设计), physics and many more. So they will know what to do when emergencies(紧急情况) happen during the mission. They can also do scientific experiments(实验) in space.

Yang Qian, 21, won the first gold of the Tokyo Olympics on July 24, 2021. She looked very calm in the women’s 10-meter air rifle final(女子10米气步枪决赛) and won the prize with 251.8 points.

The third-grade student from Ningbo, Zhejiang Province is studying at Tsinghua University (大学). She became popular in China quickly, and her performance(表现) in the Olympic Games made people show more interest in the games. The Tokyo Olympics were put off because of COVID-19. Yang wore a face mask, but her smiling eyes and hand heart(比心) on the podium(领奖台) have touched people around the world.

“We trained how to do well under pressure(压力),” Yang told reporters. “The game was really tight(紧张的) today, but I was so happy that I could win.”

“Yang Qian is brave and clever, and she isn’t afraid of pressure. She has innate talent(天赋) for shooting(射击) and she keeps training hard,” said Gao Jing, a coach at Tsinghua. “She keeps up with the strict study and trains hard. She always competes(比赛) on my team. Yang Qian is strong inside, so she could win the prize.”