As family waits, they share memories of son, brother

Tian Junwei was a passenger on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

The 29-year-old unmarried man from a village in Wendeng, Shandong province, works for Huawei Technologies Co's branch in Malaysia. He hasn't been home in 15 months.  [Special coverage]

Tian's 65-year-old mother had cooked some local snacks that her son likes. She finished them long before March 8, the date that should have seen the reunion of mother and son.

Before he set out from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tian made an appointment with his brother-in-law to get together in Weihai. The two haven't seen each other since they graduated from high school in 2004.

Tian's brother-in-law, who works in Osaka, Japan, had planned to be in Weihai from March 4 to 8, but decided to stay an extra day to see Tian.

Tian had planned to catch a flight from Beijing to Weihai. On March 7, Tian told his older sister, Tian Fang, via instant-messaging service QQ: "Just come and pick me up in Dashuipo International Airport (Weihai) at 2 pm."

While Tian's family was waiting for his return home and preparing a warm welcome, the news came in that the flight Tian Junwei had boarded is missing.

After hearing the news, Tian's 67-year-old father and 65-year-old mother became ill, and they remain hospitalized. Tian's sister, Tian Fang, and sister-in-law, Ma Aihong, went to the Metropark Lido Hotel in Beijing on March 10 after they got their passports to await news from Malaysia Airlines. The two have already returned home.

Before her flight to Beijing, Tian Fang had never been on an airplane before, and she never expected to fly for the first time for such a reason, Ma told China Daily.

Her brother's promise

Tian Fang had assisted her younger brother a lot with his tuition, and Tian Junwei once promised his sister that he would pay all the tuition for his sister's 8-year-old child.

"Who expected this to happen to him?" Ma said with a sigh.

Tian was born in Dongquan, a small village with only several dozen households, on September 7, 1985, five days earlier than his brother-in-law.

The two played and went to school together almost every day, Tian Junwei's uncle, Tian Mingzhong, told China Daily.

"All villagers are envious when they mentioned the two brothers," the uncle said, adding that they are the pride not just of the family but of the entire village.

Tian Junwei graduated from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China with a master's degree in 2011. He joined Huawei in May the same year and was sent to Malaysia in 2012.

"In the rural areas of our hometown, it's not easy to enter a prestigious university," Tian's uncle said.

"Usually, only three out of 10 can enter senior high school, and no more than one of them can enter a key university," he added.

The University of Electronic Science and Technology of China is under Project 985, a government-run project for founding world-class universities in the country. Now there are only 39 universities in China participating in the project.