Wife of China's "father of rocketry" dies at 93

Jiang Ying, wife of Qian Xuesen - the late rocket scientist who led China's first space programs and was dubbed the "father of Chinese rocketry," has died in Beijing at the age of 93. Jiang, an opera singer and music educator, died at 11 a.m. Sunday of respiratory and heart failure in a Beijing hospital. Born in 1919 in Haining, Zhejiang province, Jiang was the daughter of famous military strategist Jiang Baili. Jiang went to Europe with her father in 1936 and studied music in Berlin and Switzerland. She married Qian Xuesen, also known as Tsien Hsue-shen, in 1947. Jiang later became a professor of music and opera, and head of the department of vocal music at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Her husband is credited with playing a key role in China's missile and aviation programs after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Qian died in Beijing on Oct. 31, 2009, at the age of 98.