People enjoy the color run in Guangzhou, Guangdong province of China on May 29, 2022. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A woman rides an electric bicycle on her way as she wears a sunscreen mask towards off strong ultraviolet rays in Fuyang, China on August 14, 2022. The Central Meteorological Observatory of China issued a high-temperature red warning. It is expected that the maximum temperature in some parts of China will reach above 40°C on August 14. (Photo by Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Water vapour cascades down the Gold Buddha Mountain after a rainfall, drawing large crowds of visitors, on May 13, 2024 in Chongqing, China. (Photo by Qu Mingbin/VCG via Getty Images)

Icicles are seen on a handrail along the coast at Donggang business district in Dalian, Liaoning province, China on December 27, 2018. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)

The Canton Tower and skyscrapers are illuminated during a rehearsal for the 2023 Guangzhou International Light Festival on November 20, 2023 in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province of China. The 12th Guangzhou International Light Festival will be held from November 21 to 30. (Photo by Wu Wenjun/VCG via Getty Images)

Holloways Beach resident Lisa Methven watches the storm across the Coral Sea as Cyclone Jasper approaches landfall in Cairns in far north Queensland on December 13, 2023. A tropical cyclone was building strength as it rolled towards northeastern Australia on December 13, with authorities warning “life-threatening” floods could swamp coastal regions for days. (Photo by Brian Cassey/AFP Photo)

Aerial view of villagers drying chili peppers at a rural cooperative on August 21, 2024 in Bozhou, Anhui Province of China. (Photo by Yang Zhongqin/VCG via Getty Images)

China has sent its first woman into space on a mission to dock with an orbiting station, the latest step in an ambitious programme to go to the moon and on to Mars.

Photo: China's first female astronaut Liu Yang, waves during a sending off ceremony before she departs for the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft rocket launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, China, Saturday, June 16, 2012. China will send its first woman and two other astronauts into space Saturday to work on a temporary space station for about a week, in a key step toward becoming only the third nation to set up a permanent base in orbit. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)