Yuelong, Yuegang and Yueqi have two things in common: they're triplets in the Yang family, living in Beijing, and they have been approved to join the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) together, according to military sources.

They are also expected to serve together as part of a border-protection regiment in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China.

Their grandfather and father were also soldiers, joining the Army in the 1950s and 1980s, respectively, said an official of the local military recruitment department of Beijing's Shijingshan District.

The triplets are 18-year-old high-school graduates standing at 1.74 meters, 1.75 meters and 1.76 meters in height, respectively.

Yang Hongqian, their father, said the triplets had a difficult birth and might have died had they not received life-saving care at a military hospital. So, he said, their lives were due to the PLA and joining the Army was a way of repaying the nation.

(Xinhua News Agency, December 4, 2007)