Boy Who Donated 140 Yuan for a Carrier Sees His Dream Come True

In 1999, a five-year-old boy in south China emptied his piggy bank to "help the country build an aircraft carrier." Twenty-five years later, as China sails into the era of homegrown carriers, his story has resurfaced online – and touched millions.

The boy, Chen Yuwen, grew up in the coastal city of Qinzhou in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Influenced by his father, a former soldier, Chen developed a fascination with the military from an early age, China Central Television reported.

That year, after overhearing adults talk about donations for the construction of an aircraft carrier, he insisted on contributing his savings – 140 yuan – sending the money to the People's Liberation Army General Armament Department in four separate trips to the post office.

A few months later, Chen received a reply. The department thanked him for his patriotic gesture, returned the money, and enclosed a New Year's greeting card.

Now in his 30s, Chen works in Beijing after graduating with a law degree from a university in Zhejiang. Looking back, he says he barely remembers receiving the letter, but the experience shaped his lifelong interest in national defense.

"My childhood dream of seeing our own aircraft carriers has come true," he told CCTV in a 2023 interview. He recalled that in 1999, the NATO bombing of China's embassy in Yugoslavia left a deep impression on him – images of national mourning and public protests often appeared on television.

Even as a child, he felt that an aircraft carrier symbolized a strong defense and wondered, if we had one, would others dare to bully us?

His story has gone viral again just as China's newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, was commissioned into active service at a naval port in Sanya, Hainan Province.

Equipped with electromagnetic catapults and independently designed and built in China, the Fujian marks a new milestone in the nation's naval modernization.

Online, users have flooded comment sections with messages such as "A handshake across time" and "The nation didn't let you down."