Meet the men who give nation's aircraft carriers a cutting edge

Command Master Chief Petty Officer Zhou Xiaoyong recalled that 26 years ago when he made up his mind to enlist in the People's Liberation Army, his father strongly opposed the decision.

"He didn't want me to become a soldier," said the 45-year-old native of Hubei province.

"I had just graduated from a local vocational school at that time and since I learned skills to be used at hydropower plants, I was told by the school that I would be given a job at the water conservancy bureau of a neighboring county. That was a decent job in my hometown.

"My father, an old-fashioned farmer, wanted me to stay in my hometown. He told me 'you cannot come back home if you leave for the military!'" Zhou told China Daily in Sanya, Hainan province.

But Zhou's father failed to dissuade his son from pursuing a dream of joining the PLA. "I signed up and was soon assigned to the Navy. My father was very angry. And I was determined to become somebody in the military to show the old man that my choice was right," Zhou said.

Neither father nor son knew back in 1999 that the rebellious young man's decision would result in him becoming one of the PLA Navy's top specialists and a key figure in the carrier strike force.

Zhou is now the commanding officer of a group of "green sweaters" on CNS Shandong. Everyone associated with an aircraft carrier's flight deck has a specific job, which is indicated by the color of their sweater, vest and helmet. Zhou's men are responsible for launching the J-15 fighter jets, the spearheads of Chinese carriers.

The Shandong — China's second aircraft carrier and the first wholly designed and built in the country — is the largest and most sophisticated naval vessel of any Asian navy. Commissioned in December 2019 for the South Sea Fleet, it displaces at least 50,000 metric tons of water and is home to dozens of J-15 fighters and helicopters during deployment.

The gigantic ship has just wrapped up a visit to Hong Kong, which took place earlier this month following a long-distance exercise with CNS Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier, in the Western Pacific Ocean.

As one of the founding members of the Navy's carrier force, Zhou joined the pre-commissioning crew of the Liaoning in the late 2010s and witnessed its commissioning in September 2012.

After serving several years aboard the Liaoning, he was transferred to the Shandong as the new carrier's first launch officer. Zhou, who has by now facilitated thousands of J-15 takeoffs, helped to set up a team of well-trained "green sweaters".