Selection of astronauts to fly the Project 921 / Shenzhou manned spacecraft began at the end of 1995. Only PLAAF pilots were considered. Review of service records identified 1504 candidates, further reduced to 886 after stricter screening. In the summer of 1996, 60 candidates passed initial testing at their home bases and were sent to Beijing for final tests and interviews. By April 1997 the candidate list had been pared down to 20, and the final 12 were selected at the end of 1997. The group was officially established in January 1998. In March, 1998, the two Chinese astronauts trained in Russia in 1996, who were also the trainers of this first group of 12 cosmonauts, joined the group officially as candidates for future spaceflights, bringing the total to 14.

	Chen Quan	Chen Quan. Chinese Pilot Yuhangyuan. .
	Deng Qingming	Deng Qingming. Chinese Pilot Yuhangyuan. .
	Fei Junlong	Fei Junlong. Chinese Pilot Yuhangyuan. Born May 1966.
	Jing Haipeng	Jing Haipen. Chinese Pilot Yuhangyuan. Born October 1966.
	Li Qinglong	Li Qinglong. Chinese Pilot Yuhangyuan. Born August 1962.
	Liu Buoming	Liu Buoming. Chinese Pilot Yuhangyuan. Born September 1966.
	Liu Wang	Liu Wang. Chinese Pilot Yuhangyuan. Born 1970.
	Nie Haisheng	Nie Haisheng. Chinese Pilot Yuhangyuan. Born 13 October 1964.
	Pan Zhanchun	Pan Zhanchun. Chinese Pilot Yuhangyuan. .
	Wu Jie	Wu Jie. Chinese Pilot Yuhangyuan. Born October 1963.
	Yang Liwei	Yang Liwei. Chinese Pilot Yuhangyuan. Born 21 June 1965. First Chinese man in space.
	Yuhangyuan 1?	Yuhangyuan 1?. Chinese Pilot Yuhangyuan. .
	Yuhangyuan 2?	Yuhangyuan 2?. Chinese Pilot Yuhangyuan. .
	Zhai Zhigang	Zhai Zhigang. Chinese Pilot Yuhangyuan. Born 10 October 1966.
	Zhang Xiaoguan	Zhang Xiaoguan. Chinese Pilot Yuhangyuan. .
	Zhao Chuandong	Zhao Chuandong. Chinese Pilot Yuhangyuan. .