lit a candle 3h agomy dad just called me out of nowhere to tell me about this, said this man basically built China's whole space programme starting from a rocket he made in a rice field. 105 years old. wild life
Their story
Wang Xiji was born on 26 July 1921 in Kunming, Yunnan, into a merchant family, a member of the Bai ethnic minority with roots in the Dali region. As a teenager during wartime upheaval he enrolled in the mechanical engineering department of National Southwestern Associated University, the wartime merger of…
Wang Xiji was born on 26 July 1921 in Kunming, Yunnan, into a merchant family, a member of the Bai ethnic minority with roots in the Dali region. As a teenager during wartime upheaval he enrolled in the mechanical engineering department of National Southwestern Associated University, the wartime merger of China's leading universities. He graduated in 1942 and worked at local plants in Yunnan before deciding that advanced engineering training abroad would better serve the country he hoped to help rebuild.
In 1948 he entered the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in the United States, earning a master's degree in power and fuel engineering in 1949. When news arrived that the People's Republic of China had been founded, he set aside plans for a doctorate. In March 1950 he sailed home with other returning scholars. The photograph often used of him today shows him on that return voyage. He taught first at the Dalian Institute of Technology and later at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Shanghai University of Science and Technology.
In 1958, while serving as professor and vice chair of engineering mechanics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, he was suddenly appointed chief engineer of the Shanghai Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Design. Only after arriving did he learn that China had begun a satellite effort and that the institute was charged with building rockets. The workforce was largely students averaging twenty-one years old. Wang and his former classmate Yang Nansheng had to teach themselves rocketry under shortages of funds, tools, and experience. Hand calculations of a single trajectory could take more than two months. A rice field was turned into a launch site. After an unsuccessful first attempt in January 1960, China's first liquid-fuel sounding rocket, the T-7M, lifted from a beach outside Shanghai on 19 February 1960. Wang later called that flight the most important success of his career because it was China's first tangible step toward space. He went on to oversee about a dozen early sounding-rocket models that carried instruments and small animals above the atmosphere.
Drawing on sounding-rocket and ballistic-missile experience, Wang formulated the overall design for Long March 1, China's first space launch vehicle. On 24 April 1970 the rocket placed Dongfanghong 1, China's first satellite, into orbit. He then led design of China's first recoverable reconnaissance satellite. After a 1974 failure, a November 1975 recovery in Guizhou made China the third country to master satellite-return technology. Later recoverable models under his leadership achieved high operational success rates. In the late 1960s he had also proposed the early Shuguang crewed spacecraft concept, which was cancelled for lack of funds; when the Shenzhou program restarted in the 1990s he served as a senior supervisor as China prepared to send its first astronaut into orbit.
In later decades he remained an active strategist. He advocated beginning Chinese human spaceflight with non-reusable capsules rather than a costly shuttle. At about eighty he served as chief designer of the China-Europe Double Star magnetosphere program. In his nineties he promoted research on space-based solar power stations and internet applications for space systems, and he wrote professional books on return technology and space infrastructure. Elected to the International Academy of Astronautics and, in 1993, to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he received the Two Bombs, One Satellite Meritorious Medal in 1999 and became the first Chinese inductee into the International Astronautical Federation Hall of Fame in 2016.
Wang married Nie Xiufang; they had two daughters and were remembered in Chinese coverage for a long partnership. He turned 100 in July 2021. He died in Beijing on 12 August 2026 at the age of 105. A farewell ceremony was held on 20 August at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery. Colleagues remembered a rigorous engineer who said that on technical questions the majority is not always right, and that sometimes the minority who insist on following objective laws are the ones who are correct. He liked to describe his life's work as paving the road to space for others to walk.
Biography adapted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Xiji; https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202608/14/WS6a7e7126a31073853ec53413.html; CAST/CAS obituaries August 2026.
In their own words
“When it comes to technical issues, we cannot simply follow the majority. Instead, we must respect objective laws and remain committed to seeking truth from facts. Sometimes, the minority who insist on their views are the ones who are right.”
Quoted in China Daily's 14 August 2026 obituary summarizing his engineering philosophy.
“I am willing to be a paving stone on the road to space.”
Widely cited memorial paraphrase of Wang's self-description of his career role (Chinese state and regional tributes, August 2026).
“The February 1960 sounding-rocket success was the most important of my career because it was China's first tangible step toward space.”
Paraphrase of remarks recalled in China Daily and CAS retrospectives about the T-7M launch.
“We calculated trajectories by hand for more than two months; the stacks of paper were higher than our desks.”
Recollection of early Shanghai sounding-rocket calculations, reported in China Daily's obituary features.
“Start with non-reusable crewed spacecraft suited to China's conditions rather than a costly shuttle path.”
Summary of his human-spaceflight roadmap advice in the 1980s, as described by China Daily.
“Space infrastructure should be built so later generations can inherit usable systems, not only slogans.”
Theme of his later books and talks on space infrastructure, summarized in institutional biographies.
“A rice field can become a launch site if the physics are right and the team refuses to wait for perfect conditions.”
Composite of institutional storytelling about the improvised Shanghai launch field for early T-7 work.
“Returning in 1950 meant putting knowledge to work for New China instead of finishing a foreign doctorate.”
Standard biographical framing of his decision to leave Virginia Tech doctoral plans, repeated in CAST and China Daily profiles.
Photos
2Wang Xiji in 1950 on the ship returning from the United States to China
Jan 1950 · by People Forever
Sculpture of Wang Xiji at the National Southwestern Associated University Museum, Kunming
by People Forever
105 is mad, imagine seeing that much change in one lifetime