Three recipients awarded highest military honor

President Xi Jinping conferred the August 1 Medal, the highest honor awarded to individual members of the Chinese military, to three People's Liberation Army personnel on Wednesday.

At a ceremony in Beijing, Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, gave medals to Du Fuguo, a sergeant in the PLA Southern Theater Command, Professor Qian Qihu, a retired researcher at the former PLA University of Science and Technology, and Nie Haisheng, a renowned astronaut from the PLA Astronaut Division.

Xi hung the medal around each recipient's neck, presented them with a certificate, and posed for a photo with each one.