Two Bombs, One Satellite

Proposal

In the 1940s and 1950s, a group of notable scientists including Qian Weichang, Qian Xuesen, Deng Jiaxian, Peng Huanwu and Qian Sanqiang returned to mainland China.^[5][6][7]

United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower's threats during the First Taiwan Strait Crisis to use nuclear weapons against military targets in Fujian province prompted Mao to begin China's nuclear program.^{[8]: 89–90} In January 1955, Mao Zedong expressed the intention of developing atomic bombs during a meeting of the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party.^[9]

In 1956, hundreds of experts were called by Zhou Enlai, Chen Yi, Li Fuchun and Nie Rongzhen to make plans for China's scientific development, eventually creating an outline of development for the period from 1956 to 1967 (1956-1967年科学技术发展远景规划纲要).^[10]

In 1958, Mao formally announced the development of nuclear bombs, missiles and satellite.^[9]

Soviet aid, its termination, and uranium enrichment

At the same time, the Soviet Union had provided China with important assistance since 1955, even though on December 10, 1957, the Soviet Union proposed that the United States, the United Kingdom, and the USSR should halt nuclear weapons tests for the next two to three years, to which China supported.^[11][12][13]

In 1956, the Third Ministry of Machinery Building was established, and nuclear research was conducted at the Institute of Physics and Atomic Energy in Beijing. In 1957, China and the USSR signed an agreement on sharing defense technology that involved a prototype boosted fission weapon being supplied by Moscow to Beijing, technical data, and an exchange of hundreds of Russian and Chinese scientists.^[14][15] A joint search for uranium in China was conducted between the two countries. A location near Lake Lop Nur in Xinjiang was selected to be the test site with its headquarters at Malan. Construction of the test site began on April 1, 1960, involving tens of thousands of laborers and prisoners under tough conditions.^[16] It took four years to complete. Being the sole site for nuclear testing in China for years to come, the Lop Nur test site underwent extensive expansion and is by far the world's largest nuclear weapons test site, covering around 100,000 square kilometers.^[17] From 1958, the Lanzhou uranium enrichment plant was constructed with gaseous diffusion technology.

Sino-Soviet relations worsened in the late 1950s.^[18][19] The Soviet Union withdrew the delivery of a prototype bomb^[13] and over 1,400 Russian advisers and technicians involved in 200 scientific projects in China meant to foster cooperation between the two countries.^[18]

After Nikita Khrushchev decided to stop helping the Chinese with their nuclear program on June 20, 1959, Mao shifted toward an overall policy of self-reliance. Project 596, named after the month of June 1959, was initiated as an independent nuclear project. The Second Ministry of Machine Building Industry, which oversaw China's nuclear industry, continued with the development of an atomic bomb.^[15] By January 14, 1964, enough fissionable U-235 had been successfully enriched from the Lanzhou plant. On October 16, 1964, a uranium-235 fission implosion device, weighing 1550 kilograms was detonated on a 102-meter tower.^[16]

In 1961–62, there was a disagreement among senior officials of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government on whether China should continue with the "Two Bombs, One Satellite" project.^[20] Eventually, in November 1962, a central committee led by Zhou Enlai, Nie Rongzhen and others was established, and the project was carried on.^[16][20]

Cultural Revolution

In 1966, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution. Academics and intellectuals were regarded as Stinking Old Ninth and were widely persecuted.^[16] In 1968, among the leading scientists who worked on the "Two Bombs, One Satellite" program, Yao Tongbin a member of the 916 "rebel" faction was beaten to death by "conservative" Red Guards, Zhao Jiuzhang committed suicide,^[21][22] and Guo Yonghuai died in a plane crash.^[23] By September 1971, more than 4,000 staff members of China's nuclear center in Qinghai were persecuted. More than 310 of them were permanently disabled, over 40 people committed suicide, and five were executed.^[24] Many researchers with overseas education background (especially from the United States and the United Kingdom) were regarded as "spies".^[25] Only a few scientists including Qian Xuesen were protected in the Revolution because of a special list made by Premier Zhou Enlai (approved by Mao) in August 1966.^[16]

Timeline of milestones

• On October 16, 1964, Project 596 detonated China's first atomic bomb in Lop Nur, making China the fifth country in the world to possess nuclear weapons.^[12]
• On October 27, 1966, China's first surface-to-surface missile (Dongfeng-2) carrying nuclear bomb was successfully launched and detonated.^[12][26]
• On June 17, 1967, Test No. 6 successfully detonated China's first hydrogen bomb in Lop Nur.^[12][27]
• On September 22, 1969, China's first underground nuclear test was successfully detonated in Lop Nur.^[28][29]
• On April 24, 1970, China's first satellite (Dong Fang Hong I) was successfully launched into space, making China the fifth nation to put a spacecraft into orbit using its own rocket.^[30]

Fissile material production