Aiming for the stars

There is a growing interest in astronomy and the exploration of outer space in China. Yang Yang reports.

When 39-year-old Chen Dongni was studying cosmology in Shanghai more than 10 years ago, she could not have imagined that one day her knowledge of the cosmos would help farmers and herdsmen from the Hui, Tibetan and Uygur ethnic groups in China's remote western regions.

As the deputy director of the Beijing Planetarium, Chen now often travels to the Xinjiang Uygur and Tibet autonomous regions to give lectures to farmers and herdsmen.