Tu Youyou nominated for China's Medal of the Republic

Chinese scientist Tu Youyou, winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize for the discovery of artemisinin, a group of drugs used to combat malaria, has been nominated for China's Medal of the Republic.

Chinese scientist Tu Youyou, winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize for the discovery of artemisinin, at her home in Beijing. [Photo/Xinhua]

A selection of candidates for the national medal and honorary title will be held for the first time in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Tu, born in 1930, has been dedicated to medical research with an aim to find a cure for malaria and saved the lives of millions. She is also the first Chinese woman to win the Nobel Prize.

The Medal of the Republic is the country's highest honor for prominent figures who have made great contributions to the construction and the development of the PRC.

Together with Tu, seven other role models, including Zhang Fuqing, a 94-year-old war hero who served as a soldier in the Chinese People's Liberation Army during the Liberation War and was twice awarded the title of "Combat Hero," and Yuan Longping, Chinese agricultural expert who is also called the "father of hybrid rice," are nominated for the Medal of the Republic as well.

Another 28 figures have been nominated for the national honorary title. The candidates for this category of honor feature outstanding figures from multiple ethnic groups such as Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur and Hui.

The honorary title nominees are from wide-ranging fields, including an economist, a writer, a former badminton player, a mathematician, a former diplomat, and a police officer who sacrificed his life in the hunt for fugitives.

Among them are Nan Rendong, the founding scientist of China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST); Tung Chee-hwa, the first chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Cheng Kaijia, a nuclear weapons expert who participated in experiments of the country's first atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb and the combination of the two bombs.

The list of names of the national medal's and the national honorary title's candidates was made public Tuesday, and members of the public may submit their opinions on the nominations before Sept. 2.

The national medal and the national honorary title are usually awarded once every five years on major occasions of the PRC anniversary.

This year marks the first time that both the national medal and honorary title are conferred on such a large number of people, and a grand award ceremony will be held prior to the National Day which falls on Oct. 1.