On May 28, 2010, the Nanjing Yangtze River Tunnel (now known as Nanjing Yingtian Avenue Yangtze River Tunnel) proposed by Academician Qian Qihu is completed and opened to traffic. This is the first river-crossing tunnel in Nanjing. [Photo by Zhong Shan/China News Service]

Qian Qihu was born in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province in October 1937, the year when the Battle of Shanghai broke out and the Japanese invaders occupied Shanghai. His family named him, their seventh child, "Qihu" (the seventh tiger), hoping he would be brave as a tiger.

Qian lived a hard childhood during the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931–1945). Bearing in mind that "backwardness leaves a country vulnerable to attack," he was determined to devote himself to national defense and serving the country at an early age.

After the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, Qian was selected to go abroad for further studies in the Soviet Union due to his outstanding performance in Shanghai High School. Just a few days before leaving for the Soviet Union, PLA Military Engineering Institute (the predecessor of Harbin Engineering University) came to recruit students. Qian was so excited that he resolutely gave up the opportunity to study abroad and chose to pursue his study at PLA Military Engineering Institute.