Chapter 48 Atomic Bomb Explosion 1964

Journalist: “The atomic bomb was a weapon of mass killing, you celebrated the atomic bomb explosion in grand style?”

Mao: “Yes, China’s first atomic bomb, on October 16, 1964, was successfully exploded over Lop Nor in Xinjiang. Lop Nor was chosen with the help of the Soviets. Engineers and soldiers, scientists and technicians camped here, living in dry barricades and tents year after year, living in isolation from their families and the outside world. On the day of the explosion, I waited inside the Great Hall of the People. I was waiting for the 3,000-strong performance of the opera ‘The East is Red,’ with the general director Zhou Enlai beside me.

When the news of the atomic bombing came, the hymn ‘The East is Red’ was sung in the hall, and the overhead and wall lights were all lit up together. I walked into the light with the sound of music and smiled, waving to the 3,000 people and asking Zhou Enlai to speak. Zhou said, ‘Chairman Mao asked me to tell you the good news that our first atomic bomb has been successfully exploded!’ At first, the crowd was overwhelmed, having received no prior instructions on how to react. Zhou prompted, ‘You can forget to be happy, just don’t collapse the floor of the assembly hall.’ Only then did people cheer and jump up and down.”

Journalist: “Wow, 3,000 performing troupes dedicated to your celebration?”

Mao: “Yes, I am the only national leader in the world who publicly celebrated the explosion of the atomic bomb. I expressed my feelings in a poem: ‘The atomic bomb exploded when it said it would, and it was so much fun!’ Celebrations were organized all over the country, and people realized that the government was building the bomb and that it was thought to have been built by ‘self-reliance,’ and that the decisive role played by the Soviet Union had been concealed.”

Journalist: “Oh, and you wrote a poem about it? Glorify the killing?”

Mao: “Yes, the Great Famine had only just passed, and people didn’t know how much money had been spent on the bomb. Zhou Enlai said it only cost a few billion yuan. But according to expert estimates, it actually cost $4.1 billion. This money, such as buying food, the 40 million people who died of starvation in the Great Famine would not have starved to death.”

Journalist: “Are you saying that starvation is a small matter and the atomic bomb is a big matter?”

Mao: “Yes, the atomic bomb is my treasure. I remember in 1945 when Japan was hit by two atomic bombs and tens of thousands of people died, they surrendered. In 1949, when I went to Moscow, I kept pestering Stalin for this thing. I sent Qian Sanqiang to Moscow to obtain the technology, and he stayed there for three months. But Stalin refused to give it to me. He wouldn’t even provide military-industrial projects, only selling weapons to me. Since I didn’t have money, I used a borrowing method, repaying the debt with large quantities of agricultural products, food, and mineral products every year. During the Korean War, after two years, Stalin wanted to cease the fighting, but I kept dragging on because I wanted the atomic bomb. Still, Stalin wouldn’t give it to me, so I continued. It was only after Stalin died that I had no choice but to stop the war. When Khrushchev came to power, I resorted to extortion to obtain military-industrial projects. The atomic bomb technology was also gradually given to me bit by bit.”

Journalist: “Oh, the atomic bomb technology, you cheated from Khrushchev little by little?”

Mao: “Yes, it was September 1954, Khrushchev was coming to Beijing, I ordered on September 3, to open fire on Kinmen, triggering the First Taiwan Strait crisis, that was to show to Khrushchev and the Americans.

When Khrushchev arrived in Beijing on September 29, he promised me 141 military-industrial projects, plus 15 large enterprises, and a new loan of 520 million Rubles. I said to Khrushchev: ‘We are interested in atomic energy, nuclear weapons, and we hope that you will give us help to build something. In short, we want to start this industry too.’ Khrushchev was stunned, not expecting this problem, and he hastily refused, ‘It’s too expensive to start that thing. We have a nuclear umbrella for the family, no need for everyone to engage in it. It is not necessary for everyone to work on it. It is costly, time-consuming and labor-intensive, and cannot be eaten or used. To get it, all the electricity in China at present is used, and it may not be enough.’ I was not satisfied with what I heard. But he still agreed to help me build a small atomic reactor first. That way I finally got a start.”

Journalist: “And in 1954 you blackmailed Khrushchev into building an atomic reactor?”

Mao: “Yes, in 1955 I fired another gun and pulled off an attack on Kinmen and Matsu, and Khrushchev, afraid of being involved in a confrontation with the U.S., promised to provide me with nuclear technology again, and I achieved my goal, ending the Taiwan Strait crisis. That year, the Soviet Union contracted to provide us with a heavy water reactor, a cyclotron, necessary to build the atomic bomb. 1956 we made a 12-year plan to develop the nuclear industry and discovered uranium mines in Guangxi, I was happy than the liberation of the country in 1949.”

Journalist: “Khrushchev sent the reactor and the gas pedal again, and you were happier than in 1949?”

Mao: “Yes, in 1957, Khrushchev invited me to Moscow for the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution and the International Communist Congress, and I asked for atomic bomb technology, and he agreed, so I went to the meeting. ‘Technology Agreement’ was signed in Moscow. The Soviet Union gave China a model of the atomic bomb. Everything was provided to the Chinese side so that we could build our own atomic bombs. A large number of missile experts were transferred to China. The test sites for our atomic bombs and missiles were also set up with the help of Soviet experts.”

Journalist: “Wow, how generous of Khrushchev to send a prototype of the atomic bomb and to help build the test site?”

Mao: “Yes, Khrushchev sent nuclear experts to China to help plan the manufacture of the atomic bomb. They helped train the backbone of nuclear research, and the number of people engaged in nuclear research increased from 60 to 6,000. Zhou Enlai reported that the Soviet Union gave us the entire blueprint, including atomic bombs and missiles. The transfer of Soviet technology greatly helped accelerate the construction of my atomic bomb.”

Journalist: “The Soviet Union actually helped get the atomic bomb going?”

Mao: “The Taiwan Strait crisis I created in 1959 prompted Khrushchev to approve the transfer of a series of sophisticated technologies, and on February 4, 1959, we signed the amazing ‘New Technology Assistance Agreement,’ which provided for the Soviet Union to help China build a complete set of advanced weapons The Soviet Union helped China build a complete set of advanced weapons, warships, conventional-powered missile submarines, submarine-to-surface ballistic missiles, and so on. I was very grateful to Khrushchev, he was very sweet, and I was secretly happy that blackmail works best with people who are afraid of war.”

Journalist: “So, you shot Kinmen 3 times and created the Taiwan Strait crisis, all to blackmail Khrushchev?”

Mao: “Yes, the shelling of Kinmen, the surface seems to be directed at Taiwan, the U.S. Empire. To the United States actually does not play a role, the more I hit the gun, the harder the U.S. Empire. In fact the most important thing is to blackmail against Khrushchev, by playing blackmail and playing hooligans to him. In 1962, I wanted to speed up the pace, and instructed to concentrate human and material resources on the atomic bomb, and in November 1962, the Central Professional Committee was established, with Zhou Enlai as chair, directing a collaborative system of hundreds of thousands of people to ensure that the first atomic bomb would be exploded within two years. Countless blast tests, the entire country, regardless of industry, people’s livelihood, all give way. It took until 1964 to finally explode successfully.”

Journalist: “The atomic bomb you finally succeeded in blackmailing from Khrushchev, how much money did it cost?”

Mao: “The development of the atomic bomb, which cost $4 billion, could have killed many fewer people if the funds had been invested in disaster relief during the Great Famine. Due to the backwardness of industrial equipment, the development of the people involved and nearby by atomic radiation, micro-dust injury 6000 people. The atomic bomb was exploded from scratch in 10 years from 1954, during the period of Great Famine, and actually took tens of millions of human lives in exchange. But to me, it doesn’t matter how many people die, I can hold it up.”

Journalist: “Not only did it cost a lot of money to build the bomb, but do you know how much damage the atomic tests did to the environment?

Mao: “Yes, since 1964, 45 atomic and nuclear explosion tests, environmental damage to the Lop Nor region of Xinjiang is very serious. Lop Nor region 2000 years ago there was the Loulan Kingdom 800 years, stretching 300 miles, has been considered the source of the Yellow River. During the Qianlong era, people were sent to inspect the river, which did not shrink in winter and summer. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Lop Nor was 80-90 miles long from east to west and 2-3 miles wide from north to south.

In the 1950s, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and the Ministry of Agriculture and Reclamation have repeatedly proposed to reclaim 10,000 mu of good land in the Lop Nor area, but I did not allow it, I want to stay as an atomic bomb test base, with the assistance of the Soviet Union, the test base was built, and the atomic bomb explosion was successful in 1964.

Lop Nor after dozens of atomic nuclear explosions, the natural environment is all destroyed, not an inch of grass, become a dry sea of death, there is no sign of recovery, the destruction of human survival environment. Atomic harm, I want to harm people, but first harm themselves, harmed hundreds of millions of compatriots.”