On October 16, 1964, China successfully conducted its first atomic bomb test in the Lop Nur area, which was a great milestone in the history of Chinese science and technology and a great victory for the Chinese people.
In the afternoon of the same day, the Great Hall of the People in Beijing was full of colorful flags and beaming with joy. At 7 o'clock in the evening, the Prime Minister announced the momentous news in the Great Hall of the People, and the audience burst into warm applause and cheers.
People all over the country also celebrated with firecrackers, fireworks, singing and dancing, expressing their joy and pride.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, faced with a severe international environment, the United States, as the first country in the world to possess nuclear weapons, has been carrying out nuclear deterrence and nuclear intimidation against China, and even threatened to use nuclear weapons against China.
In 1954, he put forward the strategic idea of "we should also build atomic bombs", and he believed that only by possessing nuclear weapons can we effectively defend the country's security and sovereignty.
** It was also pointed out that the development of atomic energy is not only for the purpose of building atomic bombs, but also for the purpose of using atomic energy to serve the national economy and promote the progress of science and technology and the development of socialist construction.
In October 1954, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev visited China, and during the talks, he was presented with the idea that China wanted to receive nuclear assistance from the Soviet Union, and Khrushchev agreed at that time.
In January 1957, China and the Soviet Union signed the "Agreement on the Supply of Atomic Bombs, Missiles and Atomic Energy Technology by the Soviet Union", in which the Soviet Union promised to provide China with a complete sample of the atomic bomb, as well as related technical materials and equipment.
After the signing of the agreement, the Soviet Union sent its first atomic energy technologists to China, and China and the Soviet Union began to cooperate in the nuclear field. But only a year later, serious differences in ideology and international policy between China and the Soviet Union led to a sharp deterioration in relations between the two countries, and the Soviet Union decided to suspend nuclear assistance to China, withdrew all technical experts and equipment, and did not even hand over atomic bomb samples to China.
The sudden betrayal of the Soviet Union brought great difficulties and challenges to China's nuclear program, and China lost almost all external support and could only rely on its own strength to start from scratch and develop nuclear weapons.
Instead of being intimidated by the betrayal of the Soviet Union, our leaders and scientists have strengthened their determination to be self-reliant, and they have issued the heroic slogan of 'not afraid of hardship, not afraid of death, we must make it', and vowed to build China's own atomic bomb in the shortest possible time. In order to realize China's nuclear dream, the first Ministry of Machinery Industry was established in 1958, which was responsible for the development of nuclear weapons.
The nuclear design work is very complex and precise, it requires a large number of theoretical calculations and experimental verification, and China lacked advanced computers and instruments at that time, so it could only rely on abacus and manual calculations to carry out the design of nuclear **.
China's nuclear design team, composed of a group of outstanding physicists and mathematicians such as Qian Sanqiang and Deng Jiaxian, has carried out countless calculations and deductions in Beijing's Tsinghua Garden, using a simple hut as a design studio, a wooden table as a workbench, and an abacus as a calculation tool. They have to overcome not only theoretical difficulties, but also material deprivation, they often work overtime, forgetting about hunger and fatigue, and they even do not hesitate to experiment with their own bodies in order to verify the safety of nuclear **.
In order to ensure the safety and secrecy of the nuclear test, a special engineering command was established in Jiuquan City in 1959, which was responsible for the organization and command of the nuclear test, and the leading personnel of the command were personally appointed.
The Special Engineering Command conducted a number of nationwide inspections and selections of nuclear test sites, and finally determined that the Lop Nur area in Xinjiang was used as the shooting range for nuclear tests, which is suitable for nuclear tests due to its flat terrain, dry climate, and sparsely populated population.
In order to build the Lop Nur nuclear test site, the special engineering command mobilized a large number of manpower and material resources, overcame various difficulties such as deserts, plateaus, water shortages, and oxygen shortages, and established a complete set of test facilities and measurement systems.
In the process of nuclear development, some overseas Chinese have made important contributions to it, they gave up their superior life abroad, returned to the motherland, and participated in the construction of the nuclear industry, such as Lee Tsung-dao, Yang Chenning, Li Siguang, Lee Kuan Yew, etc., their patriotic spirit and scientific spirit are admirable.
On October 16, 1964, after years of hard work, China's first atomic bomb was finally ready, and the Special Engineering Command decided to test the explosion at 11 a.m. on the same day, and all personnel entered a tense combat state.
Before the test explosion, the Special Engineering Command arranged for several shooting teams to record this historic moment with cameras and video cameras in different positions and angles, all wearing special protective clothing and sunglasses to protect themselves from intense light and radiation.
When the time for the test explosion came, the head of the command pressed the launch button, and with a loud bang, a flash of fire rose into the sky, followed by the formation of a huge mushroom cloud, thousands of meters high, spectacular, the audience resounded with cheers and slogans, and China successfully conducted the first atomic bomb test.
After the successful test explosion, the special engineering command sent the captured ** and images to Beijing, which was personally reviewed by the premier, and he expressed a high degree of satisfaction and appreciation for the results of the test, and also put forward an important requirement.
It is required that when the mushroom cloud is announced to the public, the ground part must be cut off, leaving only the mushroom cloud in the air, and the purpose of this is to avoid leaking information about the power of the atomic bomb and the test site, so as to prevent it from being used or destroyed by hostile forces.
He is not only concerned about the success of China's nuclear tests, but also about China's nuclear safety and nuclear strategy, and he has safeguarded China's nuclear interests and national interests with practical actions.
On the evening of October 16, 1964, Premier ** announced to the people of the whole country and the world the good news of China's successful first atomic bomb test at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
** speech, caused the audience warm applause and cheers, inside and outside the Great Hall of the People, hung full of colorful flags, jubilant, people all over the country also held celebrations, firecrackers, fireworks, singing and dancing, expressing their joy and pride.
The success of China's first atomic bomb test has greatly enhanced the self-confidence and national pride of the Chinese people, and has also greatly enhanced China's status and prestige in the international community. ยท
China's development of nuclear weapons is not for the purpose of engaging in a nuclear race or nuclear terror with any country, but for the purpose of defending national security and sovereignty, safeguarding world peace and justice, and promoting human progress and development.
China's development of nuclear power has broken the nuclear monopoly and hegemony of the United States, changed the international nuclear pattern and nuclear balance, and provided strong support and guarantee for the multipolarization and diversification of the world.
China has always adhered to its position of peaceful nuclear policy and nuclear non-proliferation, pledged not to be the first to use nuclear weapons, not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear countries, and supported the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons, thus making positive contributions to the realization of the goal of nuclear disarmament and nuclear zero.