Young heroes make the People's Daily front page

Two young Chinese men who fought a knife-wielding attacker on a bus made the front page of the People's Daily, which is usually reserved for major national events and leaders.

The Sunday edition of the People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China (CPC), featured a picture of Liu Yanbing, one of the young men, lying in a hospital bed with his head bandaged. The photo was placed prominently on the paper's front page.

The People's Daily usually runs only big domestic events, leaders' activities in particular, on its front page.

The two final-year students at a high school in Yichun City in east China's Jiangxi Province disarmed an assailant who was stabbing passengers on a bus on May 31.

The two youngsters, who were scheduled to take China's college entrance exam, or gaokao, days later, were seriously injured during the fight and were unable to attend the annual exam.

The People's Daily said in the photo caption that the Ministry of Education pledged to organize extra sessions exclusively for the two examinees, and some colleges have already expressed willingness to admit the young heroes.