- [Foreword]
At 15:00 on October 16, 1964, with a loud noise coming from the northwest of my country, a huge mushroom cloud slowly rose. China's first atomic bomb finally exploded successfully.
This loud noise means that China will break the nuclear monopoly of nuclear countries in the world; it means that China's status in the world structure and its right to speak in the international community will be greatly improved.
In October 1966, our country decided to disclose relevant photos of nuclear tests.
As a journalist, Meng Zhaorui couldn't wait to publish this news that shocked the world. This was due to his innate sense of national pride and national identity. Soon, Meng Zhaorui handed over several photos of the atomic bomb explosion to Premier Zhou for personal review.
Looking at these photos, Premier Zhou frowned, thoughtfully. Not long after, he issued a secret order: Cut off the ground part below the mushroom cloud picture before publishing it.
Meng Zhaorui did not understand why the Prime Minister would make such a decision. You must know that the main purpose of publishing pictures of atomic explosions in newspapers is to announce to the world that China's sword has been forged. At this time, China is no longer what it used to be, and no country can Stop trying to carry out nuclear threats and nuclear blackmail against China.
But Premier Zhou has to put up a cropped photo that is no longer complete, which is really puzzling. Later, after Premier Zhou explained this, everyone was impressed by Premier Zhou's foresight and thoughtfulness.
So, why did Premier Zhou cut off the ground underneath the mushroom cloud image? What's the meaning of this?
This matter needs to start with China starting to study the atomic bomb.
- ["The atomic bomb is a paper tiger, but also an iron tiger"]
In 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. Japan was "fortunate" to be the first country in the world to be baptized by an atomic bomb.
After other countries in the world saw the huge power and horrific destruction of the atomic bomb, they all realized that the US atomic bomb had become a sharp sword hanging over the heads of all countries in the world, and there was no shield to defend it for the time being. The only way to withstand the power of this weapon is to own such a sharp sword yourself.
Therefore, countries around the world have invested a lot of manpower, material and financial resources in researching atomic bombs.
China is naturally no exception.
If this incident made China realize the importance of possessing nuclear weapons , then the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China made China realize the urgency of possessing nuclear weapons.
During the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, MacArthur had requested the use of nuclear weapons against the Chinese People's Volunteers and the Korean People's Army. Although the then US President Truman rejected this suggestion, he dismembered the nuclear weapons and placed them closest to the Korean battlefield. On a aircraft carrier .
This means that our military is always exposed to the nuclear threat and nuclear blackmail of the United States.
We should know what it feels like to have a sharp sword hanging over your head all the time that will fall down without knowing when. Besides, we have no power to fight back against this sword. This is helpless and even more shameful.
In addition, the world structure at that time gradually evolved into a bipolar structure led by the Soviet Union and the United States. As an important part of the socialist camp , the relationship between China and the United States was naturally very delicate, and could even be directly said to be hostile.
As the "big brother" of the socialist camp, the Soviet Union had successfully tested a nuclear weapon in 1949. This means that the United Statesâ primary nuclear attack target may be China, which ranks second in the socialist camp. This also makes our country's leaders keenly aware that possessing nuclear weapons has reached the point where it is urgent to delay.
Although weapons of mass destruction such as atomic bombs will not be used easily, having them and not using them are completely different things, and others having them and having them yourself are two completely different things. In short, you have to rely on yourself for everything.
The great leader Chairman Mao always held this belief: It is better to rely on oneself than to rely on others.
He believes that the atomic bomb is both a paper tiger and an iron tiger. We should despise it strategically, but we should pay attention to it tactically.
Faced with the nuclear threat, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made a strategic decision to develop the atomic energy industry. Since then, the arduous process of my country's atomic bomb research has begun.
- [China began to study the atomic bomb]
1. China decided to develop the atomic energy industry. In the autumn of 1953, Qian Sanqiang, then director of the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, proposed to the central government the development of the atomic energy industry.
If we want to build an atomic bomb, the first problem that must be solved is the excavation of raw materials - uranium ore . But no uranium ore was discovered in China at that time. As for uranium mines, which are strategic resources, Western countries have imposed a blockade on China. Without uranium, everything about the atomic bomb would be empty talk.
In order to solve the problem of uranium mines as soon as possible, Zhou Enlai specifically instructed the Ministry of Geology to speed up the exploration of uranium mines.
Hard work pays off. In the autumn of 1954, the Second Office of the Census Committee, personally chaired by Liu Jie, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Geology, discovered uranium deposits in Guangxi for the first time. Although this is only a secondary mine with little mining value, it also proves that uranium mines do exist in China.
Liu Jie reported the discovery of uranium mines to Premier Zhou immediately. Premier Zhou said excitedly: "Great, what good news." Mao Zedong was also particularly excited when he heard the news, and On the spot, he offered to interview the person in charge of the Geology Department.
On January 15, 1955, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Chen Yun and other party and state leaders met with Li Siguang, Liu Jie and Qian Sanqiang in Zhongnanhai.
At the meeting, Li Siguang introduced the close relationship between uranium resources and the development of atomic energy, as well as the distribution of uranium mines in my country. Subsequently, Qian Sanqiang introduced a brief history of the development of atomic energy science, and focused on the work done by our country in recent years.
At that time, Qian Sanqiang put a piece of uranium ore into his pocket and walked into the uranium ore detector. When the detector sensed uranium ore and sounded an alarm, everyone in the room laughed. We finally solved the first problem of building an atomic bomb.
Mao Zedong held the uranium ore in his hand and said: "The Soviet Union has promised to provide us with assistance. We should build the reactor as soon as possible. As long as we have people and resources, we can create any miracle."
It is here At this meeting, the central government made major strategic decisions to develop my country's atomic energy industry and develop atomic bombs.
2. âYou donât need a reason to return to the country, but you need a reason not to return.â
Although it has been confirmed that uranium mines exist in China, and the problem of raw materials for making atomic bombs can basically be solved, making atomic bombs cannot be achieved by just having a passion for it. The most advanced scientific theories at the time were needed as guidance.
Because the Peopleâs Republic of China had just been founded, its talent training mechanism was not perfect enough, and coupled with the lack of scientific and technological leaders, China was in short supply of talents at that time, especially high-end scientific and technological talents.
On the eve of the founding of New China, the Party Central Committee realized the important role of talents in the future construction of New China. Therefore, Premier Zhou Enlai tried every means through various channels to arrange for elites studying abroad to return to China and participate in the construction of New China.
According to statistics, from August 1949 to November 1955, a total of 1,536 elites in various fields returned to China, of which 1,041 returned from the United States alone.The return of these people played an irreplaceable role in the construction of New China.
Later, many people became leaders in the atomic energy industry and won the honor of "Two Bomb Heroes".
including Deng Jiaxian , Qian Xuesen , Qian Sanqiang, Cheng Kaijia and Peng Huanwu , etc.
It is worth mentioning that the industrial system of New China established in ruins was weak. It can even be said that China was still an agricultural country at that time. And these elites who have been exposed to the world's most advanced scientific theories are likely to be useless when they return to China.
Under such objective conditions, they still resolutely gave up the favorable treatment abroad and chose to return to China.
In this regard, Peng Huanwu, who has obtained 10 doctorates in the UK, said: "You don't need a reason to return to the country, but you need a reason not to return."
Such an answer is very convincing.
Science has no borders, but scientists have borders. In order to build China, these patriotic scientists gave up generous treatment abroad and went through many difficulties and dangers before returning to their motherland. It is precisely because of the selfless dedication and hard work of these patriotic scientists that China has been able to gain a firm foothold among other countries in the world.
They returned to their impoverished motherland. Without superior experimental equipment, they found ways to make experimental equipment themselves; without any teaching materials on atomic energy, they wrote their own to cultivate subsequent talents; without redundant information on atomic energy, they used The only book was translated and copied overnight; without computers, they used abacus and to calculate various complicated data day and night.
These intellectuals are doing the most technologically advanced and greatest undertakings in the world, but they have the worst living and research conditions in the world. They live anonymously in the deserted Gobi Desert, and they starve in the vast northwest.
But it was their persistence and unknown dedication that completed a great cause that countless people thought was impossible to accomplish no matter what.
They did respond to Chairman Mao's words and created miracles.
3. The mysterious disappearance of military academy cadets
On June 3, 1958, more than 20 party members of the Shangqiu Infantry School received an order: No one was allowed to contact the outside world or ask where they were going. They only had to follow Qiao Guanglin.
Subsequently, these 20 people, led by Qiao Guanglin, passed through Henan to Shaanxi and then to Gansu, and finally arrived quietly at Jiuquan, and then came to Dunhuang to set up camp.
At this time, the 20 people did not know why they traveled across mountains and rivers to the Gobi Desert. Only later did they find out that they were the advance team sent by the central government to Dunhuang to survey the atomic bomb testing base.
Those who stayed in the school at that time, both the instructors and the students, thought that there might be a war. While everyone was still in confusion, the military order came to the small courtyard of Shangqiu Infantry School again. Subsequently, after receiving the order, Zhang Zhishan, the vice principal of Shangqiu Infantry School, led more than 100 instructors and students from the school to board the tanker truck.
After the tank truck rumbled for five days and five nights, it finally stopped at a small station near Jiuquan. Then the instructors and students from Shangqiu Infantry School transferred to buses and came to Dunhuang.
At this time, more than a hundred soldiers still did not understand what this was going to do. But the duty of a soldier is to obey.
When everyone knew that what they were doing now was to survey and test the site for the atomic bomb, everyone swept away the gloom when they first arrived, because this was a great thing, and it was going to be recorded in the annals of history, a big event that could change China's destiny. . If you can participate in such things, you will have a full sense of honor and pride.
Therefore, even if their bodies are burned by the strong sunshine of the Gobi Desert, even if their feet and hands have blisters and blood blisters, they do not feel tired.
According to confidentiality regulations, they cannot contact their families when they come to Dunhuang. In this way, they "suddenly disappeared" from the Central Plains, and suddenly disappeared from their relatives. The family members could not wait for a letter from their son or husband.
Soldiers were not allowed to write letters to their families until 1960. The credible content could only be that they were on military missions, and each letter had to be reviewed by inspectors before being sent out.
At that time, what all the base workers and their families did not expect was that their business trip would be forty years old.
They may be just ordinary soldiers with no professional theoretical knowledge, but they have been sweating profusely in the Gobi Desert for forty years, and they are also an indispensable part of the ability of the atomic bomb to explode. They played as great a role as those intellectuals who returned from overseas.
4. The Soviet Union withdrew its aid to Chinese experts
As early as 1956, Mao Zedong asked Khrushchev who was visiting China whether the Soviet Union could provide assistance to China in manufacturing nuclear weapons. It was not until Poland and Hungary defected that Khrushchev realized the importance of China and agreed to provide assistance to China.
Subsequently, China and the Soviet Union signed the "New Defense Technology Agreement" after repeated negotiations.
Just when China was looking forward to data and information from the Soviet Union, what finally came was: on June 20, 1959, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union "will not provide China with teaching models and drawings of atomic bombs for two years." "
On July 16, 1960, the Soviet Union tore up the agreement and wanted to withdraw all experts, take away important drawings, and stop supplying equipment and materials. Faced with the Soviet Communist Partyâs unilateral tearing up of the agreement, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to do it on its own and start from scratch.
The Soviet Unionâs tearing up of the agreement and three years of natural disasters brought great difficulties to our countryâs atomic bomb research work. The living conditions of the base staff are extremely difficult. But no one complained. Everyone is working hard to create their own atomic bomb as soon as possible so that they no longer have to rely on others.
Through the strong support of countless staff and countries, our countryâs first atomic bomb was finally successfully tested at 15:00 on October 16, 1964.
From now on, China can finally feel proud and proud. This is when China has truly stood up. No country dares to bully China; no country dares to threaten China; and no country dares to despise China's national status.
- [Mushroom cloud photos published in newspapers, Premier Zhouâs secret order]
In October 1966, the Chinese government decided to release the true photos of the atomic bomb explosion to the outside world. This move can act as a deterrent to the outside world, especially against Western countries such as Japan and the United States.
reporter Meng Zhaorui submitted the picture to Premier Zhou for review before publication.
Premier Zhou looked at the photo carefully, and after a while, he asked to cut off the ground of the mushroom cloud image.
So, why did Premier Zhou make such a request?
There are two main reasons:
one, explosion equivalent to . If the mushroom cloud on the ground in the photo is also published, then interested parties can estimate the explosive yield of China's atomic bomb through the distance from the mushroom cloud to the ground. When other countries know the explosive yield of China's atomic bombs, the strategic deterrence of China's atomic bombs will be weakened.
Second, exposed location. If the ground where the mushroom cloud exploded had not been cut off, then interested parties might be able to determine the location of China's nuclear test site based on certain buildings and surface features on the ground. Then they can launch attacks anywhere and destroy our country's nuclear facilities.
Therefore, Premier Zhou asked to cut the floor.
It can be seen that Premier Zhou is indeed thoughtful and far-sighted, which is beyond the reach of ordinary people.
