神舟 in Chinese / Japanese...

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Shenzhou Spacecraft

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shén zhōu

神舟 is the name of the Chinese spacecraft “Shenzhou.” The name means “divine craft” or “saintly vessel.”

The name is a play on words in Chinese, as there is an alternate name for China that is pronounced “Shenzhou” but means “Divine land” or “Land of the Gods” (just the second character is different).

The first flight of a Shenzhou spacecraft was in 1999, with more missions following. The next is planned for 2008, and will include China's first “spacewalk.” The tenth Shenzhou mission is planned for 2015, when China has promised its people that a Chinese astronaut will walk on the moon (or at least orbit the moon - there are two ways to interpret the announcement made in 2005).

For those of you concerned, this word is pronounced more like “Shen Joe” (with a slightly soft “J”) than the Romanization would suggest.

2016 Update: I wrote the above in 2006. Imagine that, 10 years later, none of the promises came true.

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Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your 神舟 search...

Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese	Pronunciation Romanization	Simple Dictionary Definition
神舟 see styles	shén zhōu shen2 zhou1 shen chou shenchou / shencho シェンチョウ	More info & calligraphy: Shenzhou Spacecraft Shenzhou (spacecraft); Hasee (computer manufacturer) (obj) Shenzhou (spacecraft)
神舟電腦神舟电脑 see styles	shén zhōu diàn nǎo shen2 zhou1 dian4 nao3 shen chou tien nao	神舟電腦 Custom Scroll Hasee (computer manufacturer)
神舟號飛船神舟号飞船 see styles	shén zhōu hào fēi chuán shen2 zhou1 hao4 fei1 chuan2 shen chou hao fei ch`uan shen chou hao fei chuan	神舟號飛船 Custom Scroll Shenzhou (spacecraft)

The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...

Title	Characters	Romaji (Romanized Japanese)	Various forms of Romanized Chinese
Shenzhou Spacecraft	神舟		shén zhōu shen2 zhou1 shen zhou shenzhou	shen chou shenchou