The first female warship captain in the 67-year-old history of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) might assume command within the year.
Interim Captain Wei Huixiao, 40, currently commands the CNS Zhengzhou (151), a Type 052C Luyang-class destroyer designed for long-range fleet air defense and assigned to the East China Sea Fleet. She became the first female Deputy Captain in PLAN history when she took command of the CNS Changchun (150), another Type 052C destroyer, in March 2016.
PLAN said Interim Captain Wei will soon be assessed and is "only one step closer to becoming the country's first female Navy Captain."
Interim Captain Wei, who hails from Baise in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is a member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and obtained her bachelor's degree from Nanjing University, one of China's leading universities, where she majored in atmospheric sciences.
After graduation, she worked at telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co, Ltd before pursuing her master's degree and doctorate at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong. She decided to join the PLAN when taking her doctoral program and wrote a letter to the PLAN commanding officer in October 2010 expressing her wish to join the military.
PLAN called here three days after she sent the letter, and sent a team to inspect her two weeks later. Wei finally chose to join the carrier strike group of China's first aircraft carrier, CNS Liaoning (CV-16), in 2012. At the time, she was the marine department's first female deputy director.
