In 1999, a five-year-old boy from southern China walked to the post office four times, clutching handfuls of coins from his piggy bank. His mission was simple but heartfelt: to help the country build an aircraft carrier. Twenty-five years later, that boy, now grown, has lived to see his dream realized.
The boy’s name is Chen Yuwen, from the coastal city of Qinzhou in Guangxi. Raised by a father who served in the military, Chen developed a fascination with China’s armed forces early on, according to China Central Television. That same year, after overhearing adults discuss donations for a national carrier project, Chen insisted on sending all his savings, 140 yuan, to the People’s Liberation Army’s General Armament Department.
Chen Yuwen
Weeks later, the department wrote back. In a letter that Chen still treasures, officials thanked him for his patriotic gesture, returned his money, and included a New Year’s greeting card. The note told him that his heart mattered more than his donation, and that one day, China would indeed have its own aircraft carrier.
Today, Chen lives in Beijing, working as a lawyer after earning his degree from a university in Zhejiang. He says the experience left a lasting mark. “My childhood dream of seeing our own aircraft carriers has come true,” he told CCTV last year. He recalled watching television in 1999 as news of NATO’s bombing of China’s embassy in Yugoslavia filled screens nationwide. Even as a child, he connected those images of grief and anger with a sense of national vulnerability. “I thought, if we had an aircraft carrier, maybe they wouldn’t dare to bully us,” he said.
Now, that symbol of strength he once imagined has become reality. China’s newest and most advanced carrier, the Fujian, was recently commissioned at a naval port in Sanya, Hainan Province. Fully designed and built domestically, the Fujian is equipped with electromagnetic catapults that place it in the same technological league as the U.S. Navy’s Gerald R. Ford class. It represents not only China’s growing naval power but also the fulfillment of decades of ambition and a child’s wish.
As news of the Fujian’s commissioning spread, Chen’s story resurfaced online, striking a chord across the country. Millions shared the tale, flooding comment sections with messages like “A handshake across time” and “The nation didn’t let you down.”
For many, Chen’s childhood gesture now feels like a quiet metaphor for China’s rise, a story of belief, perseverance, and national pride maturing over decades. And for the boy who once carried his coins to the post office, that belief has finally sailed into view.
