CHINA'S first woman in space has been called a "goddess" and pioneer by some and window dressing and an "empty vase" by others. Yao Minji and Yang Jian report.

Liu Yang, China's first female "taikonaut" (astronaut), is widely known to the online public as the "goddess" or shen nu, meaning heavenly or magical woman.

She was the first woman to fly in Shenzhou-9 (Magic Boat) and stay in the space station Tiangong-1 (Heavenly Palace).

Her successful landing last Friday, with two male crew members, after a 10-day mission is also referred to lightly as the "goddess descending to the earth" on the Internet.

The Henan Province native has inspired both admiration and mockery among Chinese online. Some call her a heroine who has taken a big step for Chinese women. She has many fans. But persistent criticism and some sexist jokes also fill cyberspace. In essence, critics say she's window dressing, a so-called "pretty vase," ornamental but empty.

Before the mission, the married, 33-year-old pilot was said to have no significant role in the mission. Her major responsibility was medical experiments and observation, mainly taking measurements of blood pressure and other readings of her fellow taikonauts.

However, this monitoring function is performed on all space missions, and scientists point out that it is essential to have comparative readings for the female human body in space and how it's affected by weightlessness.

During her time in the Tiangong module, Liu was criticized by some people for having too much "fun" when she used a spacecraft camera to take a self-portrait and practiced tai chi in a video beamed to Earth.

After she landed (as the junior member, she was the last to exit), some people said she must have been busy putting on makeup, while the males came out quickly.

Furious Internet discussion started even before Liu was launched, when people speculated about her background and that of the other female candidate Wang Yaping, whether they were married and had children and why a female taikonaut was allowed to take cosmetics into space.

Liu was allowed, but not required, to take nontoxic and environmentally friendly cosmetics including lipstick and skin cream, according to her habits, according to Pang Zhihao, a researcher with the China Academy of Space Technology. He often speaks on space missions on behalf of Chinese authorities who are generally not available.

When Liu was taken out on a stretcher (as were the men) from the capsule on Friday, she appeared with red lips and a bright smile. During her space broadcasts, she did not appear to wear makeup.

She was recorded smiling frequently in outer space, when the craft arrived at the Tiangong-1 module. But she did not appear to be wearing makeup in her smiling self-portrait and tai chi video.

According to Zhang Bonan, chief designer of the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft, the Tiangong module has two "bedrooms," each about seven meters square. The guys bunked together, Wang had her own quarters for privacy, a separate toilet and extra water supply so she could take a sponge bath.

None of the three taikonauts took a bath during the 10-day stay in the Tiangong module.

The former Soviet Union was the first to send a woman, a textile worker, into space in 1963; the first American woman astronaut was sent into space in 1983 and over the years the United States has sent 46 women into space. They have been engineers, biologists, physicists and other scientists; they have also commanded the US Shuttle.

According to researcher Pang, the United States and Russia have different views on makeup for females in space. He said US experts considered lipstick, skin cream and other items necessary since they would make female astronauts look better during live broadcasts of space missions. But the Soviets argued that time was precious, makeup was frivolous and the females were busy with serious work.

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration did not reply to a query from Shanghai Daily.

Yelena Kondakova, the third Russian female cosmonaut and the first to make a long-duration spaceflight (five months) in 1994-5, said she was too busy with work to wear anything but occasional light makeup when they were filmed.

Both Chinese candidates are 33-year-old former air force pilots. Both are married, presumably because they would be more mature and stable than younger women. Liu has no children while Wang is a mother.

"China's manned space mission never set the standards like giving birth naturally for selecting the first female astronauts," Wu Bin, director of the astronaut selecting and training center, says. There had been media reports and widespread rumor that a mother would be chosen but Caesarian sections were out because of the scar that potentially could reopen in space.

"I once suggested that we only select women who have given birth, for fear of any impact (on conception) from space radiation. But we later found it was unrealistic because most female pilots around 30 years old had yet to give birth," says Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut and deputy director of China's manned space program.

"I don't think the Shenzhou-9 mission will affect Liu Yang's future reproductive health, since years of women in space have demonstrated that they later can have babies," Russian cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya, first woman to walk in space, told CCTV.

"If Liu likes the job, she can fly into space again before giving birth," Savitskaya said.

Liu said she would discuss with her husband when to have a child after the space mission. "But the missions for me will always be the top priority," she told China Central Television before she took off for space.

"I don't think gender will be a problem in space, because the first lesson I learned from my training was I am no different from my male colleagues and I don't need extra attention."

Gender studies experts say the case of Liu Yang is great to show that women can certainly go into space and many other fields, but it doesn't change women's situation on Earth in China.