Crumbling factory walls sprawl amid the sand, weeds and grazing
sheep at this desolate spot on the Tibet-Qinghai plateau, giving
China's first nuclear weapons research center the odd look of an
ancient ruin.
The code-named No. 221 Plant of the China Nuclear Industry
Corporation is 101 kilometers from Xining, capital of the northwest
province of Qinghai, and 3,200 meters above sea level.
When it opened in 1958 it was regarded as a mysterious and
forbidden zone, covering an area of 1,170 square kilometers. To the
outside world, it was known as the Qinghai Mine.
Now the local government has erected billboards near the site to
attract tourists.
Dotting one wall of a geometrically shaped building surrounded by
reinforced cement structure are the holes researchers peered
through to observe the nuclear testing explosions. The dilapidated
site at present was the former No. 6 Factory of the base, called
the "shooting range."
Some hundreds yards away is the famous "No. 1 Pit in Asia," where
nuclear waste is buried.
Insiders say that the Chinese government has organized experts to
thoroughly clean the testing area with special chemicals over the
following two years. The team has already buried waste materials
over an area of 5,400 square meters.
The government has spent some three billion yuan (US$370 million)
ensuring the waste removal to meet strictest international
standards, they say.
The ruined factories are now open to sightseers, who know little
about how such places operate. The No. 4 Factory is totally covered
by weeds. Nearby, sheep nose about for food. Another site looks
like a telecommunications and command center. Only farmers
collecting grass to feed their pigs can be seen.
Through this bleak scene winds a rusted railway, on which a special
train once carried China's first atom bomb to its test field in a
remote desert.
The No. 18 A Zone was the assembling plant of China's nuclear
weapons. Now it is a hog farm, where hogs and dogs howl at the
sight of strangers intruding on their domain.
In
the center of the zone is a red-brick, six-storey building, the
"generals' tower," where the "fathers" of China's nuclear movement,
Wang Ganchang, Zhu Guangya, Deng Jiaxian and Zhou Guangzhao, put
their imaginations to reality.
Not far from there stands a tall granite monument, on top of which
is a model atom bomb made of steel. The inscription on the monument
reads: "This is the place where China's first nuclear bomb was born
and China's first hydrogen bomb was successfully researched. On
October 16, 1964, China exploded its first atom bomb, declaring to
the world that the Chinese nation finally had its atom bomb, making
a great contribution to breaking the nuclear monopoly and
safeguarding world peace."
It
says that over the past 30 years China has successfully launched 16
nuclear tests there, and developed a number of types of strategic
nuclear weapons.
All of China's nuclear tests were carried out with strict safety
protection, causing no radioactive harm to anyone.
In
1996, China announced a temporary suspension of nuclear testing in
a move toward nuclear disarmament.
Since 1996, the nuclear test center has received 300,000 tourists.
The local government is discussing ways to repair the ruined
factories and build power, chemical and aluminum plants to develop
the local economy.
(
Xinhua News
Agency 10/04/2001)