Individuals, including retired soldiers, teachers and students, from Shuikou township, Changxing county, Huzhou, pay tribute to Wang Wei at his grave on April 1. [Photo/hz66.com]

Huzhou in East China's Zhejiang province recently hosted a series of activities to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the death of Wang Wei, a Chinese fighter jet pilot who was killed on April 1, 2001 in a collision with a United States spy plane near Hainan, China's southernmost island province.

Wang, born in April 1968 in Huzhou, underwent five years of training at a flight college under the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force. He achieved the rank of junior lieutenant and was subsequently deployed to a fighter jet unit of the PLA Navy in July 1991.

On the fateful morning of April 1, 2001, Wang, then a lieutenant commander, along with his wingman Zhao Yu, were tasked with monitoring a US Navy EP-3E Aries II intelligence-gathering aircraft that had departed from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, and had entered Chinese airspace over the South China Sea.

A subsequent PLA investigation determined that the US plane had disregarded warnings from the Chinese jets and engaged in hazardous maneuvers, resulting in a collision with Wang's fighter jet. Wang was compelled to eject from his damaged aircraft.

Despite an extensive 14-day search by the Chinese military in the South China Sea, Wang was not located. His body was never recovered, and he was declared deceased.

Wang was posthumously honored as a revolutionary martyr and bestowed with the honorary title of "Guardian of Air and Sea".