三十七, Zhurong
-Chiang Kai-shek, announcing the success of the Zhurong Project
Despite immense progress over the decades, China in the 1960s still had a lot of catching up to do if it wanted to be a superpower like the United States or the Soviet Union. One of the biggest disadvantages China had was that it possessed no nuclear weapons. This was a cause of much concern for China. The problem was compounded by the fact that both the US and USSR had (in secret at first) began to develop and test new nuclear weapons in violation of their previous agreements not to. War with the Soviet Union was always a possibility, even if it didn’t seem too likely. And if China went to war with the USSR, China’s major cities could be wiped out. By 1960, Chiang Kai-shek determined that China needed to have nuclear weapons.
Chiang first went to the US with his request for help in developing nuclear weapons. His requests were denied. China had scientists, but none that already had the knowledge necessary to create nuclear weapons. Thus, China’s nuclear program did not get very far. In 1961, this all changed. Several nuclear scientists defected from the Soviet Union to China. They had been recruited by the Juntong, and were lured by the promises of extra pay. Chinese scientists began to study under them. In 1962, the Zhurong Project was started, named after the Chinese god of fire. Throughout its existence, the scientists of the Zhurong project reported not to any military hierarchy, but Chiang Kai-shek himself. The Chinese and Russian scientists soon got to work outside the town of Delingha in Qinghai province.
(Zhurong)
China unsurprisingly took great precautions to keep the project a secret. The Soviet Union was very well aware that some of its own scientists had defected. The Soviets were also aware that they had last been seen in either the East Turkestan Republic or Vladivostok. They knew China was doing something, and they even flew spy planes on reconnaissance missions over Xinjiang, where they believed nuclear tests would take place. They were unable to actually find the testing sites, however. Several years of hard work finally paid off, as China detonated its first nuclear weapon in September 1966. Chiang Kai-shek proudly announced to the world that China was now a nuclear power. Proponents of nuclear non-proliferation were disheartened while Chinese nationalists were overjoyed.
