New York Times article:
The three-day mission is part of Project 921, Chinaβs ambitious manned space program, and was expected to include the countryβs first attempt at a space walk, which would make China only the third country to accomplish the feat, after Russia and the United States.
The Chinese government has spent billions of dollars in recent years building up a space program that it hopes will establish a space station by 2020 and eventually put a man on the moon.