In 1956, the first batch of flight attendants of New China stepped onto the plane to serve the Party and state leaders. Chairman Mao once affectionately called the stewardesses "red air hostesses" when he took the plane. The red air hostesses became a unique landscape in the sky of the Republic in that era. Under the care of the Party and state leaders, Chinese stewardesses and civil aviation gradually made progress.
When recalling, Ma Hongzhi, the first generation of stewardesses of New China, said that once, on the way back from Premier Zhou's visit to Hanoi, Cheng Yuangong, the premier's guard, fulfilled our crew's wish and gave each of us a photo of the premier holding a bouquet while reviewing the three armed forces honor guards in the Vietnamese capital. We were very happy. Comrade Lao Song, the navigator, proposed that could we ask the premier to sign his name on the photo? Then everyone elected me to handle it. Although I had been looking forward to this for a long time, I hesitated for a long time when I really did it. Finally, I took the opportunity to give the premier tea and water and explained everyone's wishes to him.