Once reedy marshland in the town of Zhuqiao in Pudong, Shanghai, has become the launch pad for China's aeronautical aspirations. There, the nation's first domestically developed narrow-body passenger jet was manufactured.

The vast assembly and manufacturing complex of Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China was built on reclaimed land in 2009, covering an area roughly equivalent to 350 football pitches.

Six years later, the first C919 airliner rolled off the assembly line, completing its maiden flight at nearby Pudong International Airport in May 2017.

The Pudong complex handles an aircraft industry chain, from research and design to manufacturing, assembly and test flights. The Pudong government said the facility is focused on China's "blue sky dream" of developing its own the aircraft sector.

C919 single-aisle aircraft are the jewels in the crown of that ambition.

"To develop China's own passenger aircraft demonstrates the national will," former Premier Wen Jiabao said in 2007, when the country's long-distance commercial aircraft project was approved.

Current Premier Li Keqiang has reaffirmed his predecessor's commitment to creating a strong domestic aircraft industry, calling it the "pearl" of all industries.

The C919, with 168 seats and a range of 5,555 kilometers, competes for orders with Airbus and Boeing jetliners. Commercial Aircraft has won 850 orders from 30 foreign and domestic airlines for the C919.

The jetliner was showcased to a global audience at the 2020 Nanchang Flight Convention last month. China's first domestically developed regional ARJ21 jet was also on display at the air show in Jiangxi Province.

The 105 C919, which is undergoing test flights in Nanchang, performed takeoff, landing, turning and other maneuvers at the show. Professional cameras were installed in the cockpit and on the wings to livestream the jet's performance on the Internet.

Meanwhile, the CR929 passenger jet, a Sino-Russian project, has entered the detailed design phase.

The assembly line of the ARJ21 has been moved to Pudong. China's first turbo-fan regional passenger jetliner has a range of 3,700 kilometers.

Commercial Aircraft has so far delivered 39 ARJ21s to Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, Chengdu Airlines, Jiangxi Air, Urumqi Air and Genghis Khan Airlines. Orders for 600 ARJ21s have come in from domestic and international customers, the company said.

More than 1.3 million passengers have traveled on the ARJ21 via multiple Chinese carriers. Since the jet started commercial operations with Chengdu Airlines in June 2016, it has been flown on 64 domestic and international routes. Shorter-haul routes to eastern Russia, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and South Asia are planned.

Commercial Aircraft Corp was established in Shanghai in 2008, charged with the development of the C919 project. But the origins of the “blue sky dream” go back much further.

In the 1970s, China developed the 25-seat Y10, its first commercial jet. It flew for more than 170 hours in test flights between 1980 and 1984, but in the end, the project was scrubbed because of economic and political factors.