Half an hour after the spacecraft blasted off, China state television showed footage of the launch, the rocket climbing slowly into the clear blue sky. Although it was filmed from a distance, the roar as it thrust upwards was clearly audible. A plume of white smoke marked the falling away of the rocket's first stage. The launch initially had been expected to be shown live. But the government's cautious media management seems to have dictated that that would have been too risky. Provided the mission concludes successfully though, the state media are likely to fuel a surge of triumphant patriotism. It'll be a far cry from the legendary Ming dynasty official hundreds of years ago who's believed to have tried to propel himself into space using gunpowder rockets and a couple of kites with disastrous results: and many Chinese will feel their country has taken a proud step towards modernity. That's despite the fact that on the internet bulletin boards in recent days, a small but vocal minority from the cyber chattering classes have criticised the venture as a waste of money that could have been better spent on the poor.
Francis Marcus, BBC, Beijing
Vocabulary:
blasted off
left the ground to begin its journey into space
footage filmed pictures
A plume
something that’s described as a plume is shaped like a feather
to fuel a surge of
if you fuel a surge of something, you help to create a sudden increase of it
a far cry from
one thing that is very different from another is a far cry from it
propel
push
modernity
a more modern way of life
the cyber chattering classes
people who often share their views by using chat rooms on the internet