(XINHUA)

Ma Xiaotian, former Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), was recently appointed as the PLA Air Force Commander, becoming the 11th person to hold the position after the PLA Air Force was founded in 1949.

Ma was born in 1949. He joined the PLA at the age of 16. He learned to fly fighter planes at an aviation school from 1966 to 1968, becoming a PLA Air Force pilot at the age of 22. Three years later, a promotion made him the youngest assistant regimental commander in the Air Force. He had been chief of staff and army commander of the 10th Army of the PLA Air Force before being named major general of the Air Force at the age of 46. Ma was titled lieutenant general and general of the Air Force in 1999 and 2009, respectively. In 1998, Ma awed audiences while piloting an SU-20 fighter at an air show in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province.