More than 500 young space professionals have benefited tremendously from funding support from a foundation named after Macao business tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun since 1990, space program officials said on Tuesday.

Wang Liheng, director of the Science and Technology Commission under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, said the Hong Kong-based foundation offered funding support totaling nearly 30 million Hong Kong dollars to about 100 training and exchange programs for bright young space professionals.

The funding support was crucial for the young space professionals who benefited from the programs and the corporation, the manufacturer of China's carrier rockets, spacecraft and strategic missiles, since Chinese space professionals had been paid insufficiently until recently.

The exchange or training programs involved carrier rockets, manned space programs, rocket engines with liquid propellant, international trade and economic law, project and human resources management, said Wang, the former deputy head of the China National Space Administration.

Some of the space personnel who benefited from the support had become managers of related companies or leading officials of space institutes.

Four hundred and seventy young professionals, 83 teachers and 23 postgraduates from four prestigious space universities on the Chinese mainland were awarded bonuses or scholarships for their outstanding performance over the past decade.

More than 50 technical workers selected by the corporation have received short-term training in Germany thanks to funding support from the foundation.

Meanwhile, Tsang Hin-Chi, chairman of the Hong Kong Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, has announced his decision to donate 100 million Hong Kong dollars (12.88 million US dollars) to set up the Tsang Hin-Chi Space Development Fund.

He was speaking at a dinner Saturday night in Hong Kong in honor of China's first astronaut Yang Liwei and the delegation of China's first manned space mission.

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