Yang Chen-ning, a Nobel prize-winning physicist, listens to questions raised by a student at the opening ceremony of the first CAS-Leopoldina Joint Conference in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 9, 2019. File Photo:Xinhua

A group of 10 high-profile figures and common citizens gifted with wisdom, bravery and tenacity, including Nobel Prize-winning physicist Yang Zhenning, China's legendary sprinter Su Bingtian, as well as China's space community, were honored as inspirational role models in this year's Touching China awards announced by China Central Television on Thursday. 

Renowned Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Yang Zhenning, became the first Chinese-American scientist who applied to return to China after the US just lifted the ban on visits to China in 1971. Yang also sponsored hundreds of Chinese scholars to further their studies in the US through a committee for education exchanges he established in New York. These talents later became the backbone of the construction of China. 

Chinese sprinter Su Bingtian celebrates after the men's 100 meters semifinal during the Tokyo Olympic Games. Photo: IC

Another nominee was Su Bingtian, the first Chinese sprinter to compete in the men's 100-meter sprint final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. 

At the age of 32, he shocked the world by finishing first in his group with a time of 9.83 seconds on the semi-final, 0.08 seconds faster than his Asian record of 9.91 seconds in 2018. 

This year's Touching China awards also focused on China's space community for opening new horizons in the starry ocean of the cosmos, including building China's own space station, a smooth interplanetary travel and landing beyond the Earth-Moon system with the Mars probe, Tianwen-1, and the exploration of Mars. 

In 2021, the war epic film, The Battle at Lake Changjin, by renowned Chinese director Chen Kaige and starring popular Chinese patriotic actor, Wu Jing, took the Chinese audiences to the site of a battle during the War to Resist the US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53). Moviegoers learned about Zhu Yanfu, the only survivor of the battle and one of the nominees for this year's Touching China. 

The film depicts the brave fight of the Chinese People's Volunteers Army in a key campaign at Lake Changjin, also known as the Chosin Reservoir, under freezing temperatures. Although Zhu survived, he remained in a coma for 93 days and lost both his hands and feet after 47 surgeries. 

However, when he went back to his hometown, he opened a school and gave lessons to local illiterate villagers for five years. At the age of nearly 60, he started to write, holding a pen in his mouth, about the stories of his comrade-in-arms who sacrificed their lives in the battle. It took him seven years to finish the book. 

This year's recipients of the awards also include Peng Shilu, first chief designer of China's nuclear submarine, Gu Songfen, chief designer of the J-8 and J-8II fighter aircrafts,  exemplary citizen Jiang Mengnan and a couple with disabilities, Zhang Shundong and Li Guoxiu.