On April 27, 2026, Beijing hosted a national awarding ceremony where China’s most prestigious youth honor, the China Youth May Fourth Medal, was granted to 29 outstanding individuals and 30 exemplary organizations in recognition of their extraordinary contributions to society. Hosted jointly by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China and the All-China Youth Federation, this year’s awards highlighted two recipients whose stories of courage, selflessness and relentless ambition have resonated deeply across the country.
One of the most moving honorees was 26-year-old Jin Chenglong, a medical student at Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, who received the award posthumously. Jin grew up in Fushun, Liaoning province, a city widely known as the second hometown of Lei Feng, the iconic Chinese soldier celebrated nationwide for his lifelong commitment to selfless public service. From a young age, Jin embraced the core value of serving people, which led him to pursue a career in medicine with the firm goal of saving lives.
Long before his final heroic act, Jin dedicated himself quietly to helping others. Three personal items found among his belongings offer a clear window into his lifelong commitment: a portable red first-aid kit he always carried after failing to save an elderly man who suffered a sudden heart attack when Jin had no emergency tools on hand; a voluntary organ donation registration card he signed as a first-year college student, unknown to most until after his death; and a worn handwritten notebook filled with his personal reflections, including the powerful line: ‘Do earthshaking deeds while remaining unknown.’ It was also revealed that Jin had donated blood 13 times over six years, totaling 4,000 milliliters, with his final donation taking place just two days before he died.
Jin’s final act of heroism came on a frigid January day in Shenyang, Liaoning. When he heard desperate cries for help coming from a frozen river, he did not hesitate. Grabbing a wooden plank to stabilize himself, he rushed onto the thin ice to rescue those trapped. The ice cracked beneath his weight shortly after he began, plunging all three—Jin, the 7-year-old boy he ultimately saved, and the boy’s father—into water chilled to below minus 20 degrees Celsius. Jin successfully pulled the boy to safety, but both Jin and the boy’s father lost their lives to the deadly cold.
Jin’s parents accepted the highest youth honor on his behalf at the Beijing ceremony. Through tears, his mother Ning Xiaoguang shared that Jin had long planned to visit Beijing again during the 2026 winter break, booking a train ticket for February 8, but he lost his life on January 23. ‘Now we have come to Beijing in his place, and I miss him deeply,’ she said. Jin’s father, Jin Hai, noted that his son never shrank from danger, adding: ‘As his father, I am proud, and grateful to the country for bestowing such a high honor upon him.’
Alongside Jin Chenglong, another award winner, Wang Qinjin, captured public attention with his rags-to-riches story of relentless ambition that took him from a rural village childhood to the cockpit of a cargo plane. Growing up in a rural area of Jiangxi province in southeast China, Wang developed a childhood dream of flying after watching planes soar overhead. When he chased passing planes across open fields as a small boy, no one would have guessed that he would one day captain a 60-ton cargo aircraft.
After graduating from college in 2009, Wang took an entry-level position as a warehouse clerk with major logistics company SF Express, sorting parcels day after day. Even at this most basic grassroots position, Wang held fast to his standards: ‘Even at the most grassroots post, I told myself to do every small thing to perfection,’ he said.
His chance to chase his long-held dream came in 2010, when SF Express launched an internal recruitment drive to hire new cargo pilots. Wang applied immediately, despite facing steep barriers. He had only barely passed the national College English Test Band 4 after five attempts, but pilot training abroad required full English proficiency for academic study and daily communication. For Wang, there was no turning back: ‘There was no retreat, only a fight to the end,’ he said. Over three months, he fully immersed himself in study, memorizing thousands of vocabulary words and technical aviation terms day and night, and ultimately passed the rigorous entrance interview.
Additional challenges waited for Wang at flight school overseas. As a non-aviation major, he was initially barred from operating aircraft, and many peers and instructors doubted his ability to succeed. While his classmates spent their free time on leisure activities, Wang dedicated every spare moment to reviewing flight theory and completing extra training practice. He eventually finished all required assessments ahead of schedule, winning high praise from his lead instructor. In 2019, Wang earned his promotion to captain. To date, he has inspired dozens of frontline logistics workers to pursue their own career dreams in aviation.
Reflecting on his journey, Wang shared a thoughtful reflection at the award ceremony: ‘The power that lifts a 60-ton cargo plane into the sky is silent and invisible, but it is the power of our era and the power within us that lift me up so I can continue to realize my dream in the sky.’
