http://alert5.com/2012/09/25/breaking-varyag-is-named-liaoning-officially-inducts-into-plan/

Interview with the carrier's first captain (in English):

 

Caption on that is wrong - CCTV identify him as a "Senior Admiral", when he's only a Senior Captain. News sources are the same the world over...

Very interesting. I was thinking all the interview in the language question, and at last the reporter remarks it!

My very limited connection with the Chinese culture is in the Oriental restaurants.

Some five years ago I was with a very innocent ex-girl-friend in a Chinese restaurant, my friend ask to the restaurant owner if we would learn Mandarin Chinese (Sometimes I think my ex-girl friends are centred on exotic languages: Sanscrit, Chinese (another girl), modern Greek, Russian, Modern Israeli Hebrew...) and the restaurant owner, of Cantonese origin, almost expell us from the restaurant, shouting: "Mandarin it's not a natural language, it's not a real language, Mandarin is an artificial language, Mandarin is the Beijing dialect!!!".

I think Mandarin was institutionalized/standarized as late as 1949, and perhaps the interview in English language is a reflect of those Chinese internal turmoils ....

That's broadly true - Cantonese is the southern dialect and much of the diaspora uses it.

From http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/in-focus-china-takes-leap-in-naval-aviation-with-aircraft-carrier-376932/

 

[excerpt]

 

IN FOCUS: China takes leap in naval aviation with aircraft carrier

By Greg Waldron Singapore

 

Chinese naval aviation took an important step on 25 September, with the delivery of the first aircraft carrier to the People's Liberation Army Navy, although fixed-wing aircraft flight tests have yet to commence.

Some mention to other two carrier projects (085 and 089) in Mer et Marine:

http://www.meretmarine.com/fr/content/la-marine-chinoise-integre-officiellement-son-premier-porte-avions

Petits frères à l’horizon

Le pays ne souhaite d’ailleurs pas en rester là puisqu’au moins un autre porte-avions dérivé du Liaoning (285 mètres, 64.000 tonnes) serait déjà en construction (projet 089) pour une mise à flot en 2015, la réalisation d’un autre étant évoquée. Les Chinois auraient, par ailleurs, l’intention de se doter, au cours de la prochaine décennie, d’un porte-avions à propulsion nucléaire (projet 085), qui pourrait s’appuyer sur le modèle de l’Ulyanovsk russe (300 mètres, 85.000 tonnes), mis sur cale en 1988 et abandonné en 1991 suite à l’effondrement de l’URSS.

Can you translate that please for readers who don't speak French?

From http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/09/26/the_calm_before_the_storm?page=0,0

 

[excerpt]

 

The Calm Before the Storm

China’s about to find out how hard it is to run an aircraft carrier.

BY ANDREW S. ERICKSON, GABRIEL B. COLLINS | SEPTEMBER 26, 2012

 

It's finally official. China's first aircraft carrier, named Liaoning after the province in which it was refitted, has just been commissioned and delivered to the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). On Sept. 25, President Hu Jintao, who also chairs the Central Military Commission, presided over a ceremony at a Dalian naval base. Joining him were Premier Wen Jiabao, PLAN Commander Wu Shengli, and other top officials. All must have felt the weight of history on their shoulders as they witnessed the unfulfilled ambitions of their civilian and military predecessors.

From http://killerapps.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/09/26/who_left_skidmarks_on_the_flight_deck_of_chinas_new_aircraft_carrier

 

[excerpt]

 

Who left skidmarks on the flight deck of China's new aircraft carrier?

Posted By John Reed Wednesday, September 26, 2012 - 4:46 PM

 

This is interesting: as far as anyone knows, the Chinese have not conducted fixed-wing flight operations from the deck of their brand new aircraft carrier, the Liaoning. ...

 

However, pictures that emerged on Chinese Internet forums of the ship's commissioning ceremony very deliberately show what might be aircraft tire skidmarks on Liaoning's flight deck just in front of the ship's arrestor cables (other pictures from the commissioning show a jet that resembles one of the J-15 mock ups sitting inside her hangar deck).

From http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20120927/176262402.html

 

[excerpt]

 

China Denies Second Aircraft Carrier Reports

MOSCOW, September 27 (RIA Novosti)

 

China is not building a second aircraft carrier, Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said on Thursday.

Some mention to other two carrier projects (085 and 089) in Mer et Marine:

http://www.meretmari...er-porte-avions

Petits frères à l’horizon

Le pays ne souhaite d’ailleurs pas en rester là puisqu’au moins un autre porte-avions dérivé du Liaoning (285 mètres, 64.000 tonnes) serait déjà en construction (projet 089) pour une mise à flot en 2015, la réalisation d’un autre étant évoquée. Les Chinois auraient, par ailleurs, l’intention de se doter, au cours de la prochaine décennie, d’un porte-avions à propulsion nucléaire (projet 085), qui pourrait s’appuyer sur le modèle de l’Ulyanovsk russe (300 mètres, 85.000 tonnes), mis sur cale en 1988 et abandonné en 1991 suite à l’effondrement de l’URSS.

Basically:

Little sisters on the horizon:

China will not rest only on only a carrier design, at least they are another carrier building as Liaoning derivative: Project 089, 285 m, 64000 tns, to be launched in 2015, and perhaps another third. The Chinese perhaps will be equipped in the next ten years with a CVN: Project 085, derived from the Russian Ulyanovsk design (300 m, 85000 tns). The Ulyanovsk was laid down in 1988, and abandoned in 1991, after the USSR demise.

Thanks. The title is actually "Little Brothers", but you got the gist across.

From http://killerapps.fo...ircraft_carrier

 

[excerpt]

 

Who left skidmarks on the flight deck of China's new aircraft carrier?

Posted By John Reed Wednesday, September 26, 2012 - 4:46 PM

 

This is interesting: as far as anyone knows, the Chinese have not conducted fixed-wing flight operations from the deck of their brand new aircraft carrier, the Liaoning. ...

 

However, pictures that emerged on Chinese Internet forums of the ship's commissioning ceremony very deliberately show what might be aircraft tire skidmarks on Liaoning's flight deck just in front of the ship's arrestor cables (other pictures from the commissioning show a jet that resembles one of the J-15 mock ups sitting inside her hangar deck).

 

Might be, but could easily be another vehicle.

Might be, but could easily be another vehicle.

 

Already postulated in the article:

 

Now, who knows, maybe the Liaoning's crew took a tow-truck for a spin and stomped on the brakes as they crossed the cables to give the appearance that someone has done at least a touch-and-go on the ship.