In the summer of 1955, Premier Zhou, who was working at the West Flower Hall in Zhongnanhai, received a secret letter calling for help, and he unfolded the letter paper to read the contents, and his face showed a happy expression, and a good word blurted out. Premier Zhou did not delay, immediately got up and called the staff, and only said one word: Quickly send this letter to Wang Bingnan in Geneva! This is ironclad evidence, be sure to let him take advantage of it!
After receiving the secret letter and instructions sent by Premier Zhou, Wang Bingnan was also very excited and shouted that he was sure! In the Sino-US ambassadorial talks on August 1, Wang Bingnan took the lead in proposing the early release of 11 US pilots to express China's sincerity, and at the same time once again proposed the return of scientist Qian Xuesen.
The representative of the United States did not pay attention to the sincerity of our country, and still had only one cold sentence: There is no evidence that Qian Xuesen wants to return to China, and there is no evidence that we have obstructed it, personal freedom is the right of every citizen, and please do not slander it without any basis! Seeing that the US deputies had a tough attitude, Wang Bingnan directly published the secret letter, and the US deputies were dumbfounded after seeing it, and were silent for half a day, and had to face this problem head-on. On September 17, Qian Xuesen, who had lost his freedom for five years, finally embarked on a cruise back to China.
In August 1956, the Fifth Academy of National Defense was established, with Qian Xuesen as the dean, and began his road of rocket and missile research and development. However, just when Elder Qian was concentrating on his research, he encountered two assassinations in China, which directly alarmed Zhongnanhai, and Chairman Mao gave Elder Qian a privilege that none of the ten marshals had. What did Elder Qian go through in those years?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" > a big country with heavy arms and thirst for talents</h1>
In 1950, the Korean War broke out, and the United Nations army, mainly the United States, intervened in the battlefield and spread the war to the Yalu River. In order to safeguard national territorial sovereignty, millions of Chinese volunteer troops have successively crossed the Yalu River to resist the United States and aid Korea, and after three years of arduous struggle, we have blocked the US shells with flesh and blood and won the final victory.
Although we succeeded in making the United States bow our heads, we lost so much in this war that hundreds of thousands of volunteers never had the opportunity to look at their hometowns that they thought about day and night. Reflecting on the post-war period, the great man realized that the military weapons of our country are too different from those of the United States, and at the same time, we do not have missiles, atomic bombs and other extremely deterrent weapons, otherwise this war would probably not have happened. In order to break the nuclear threat of Western countries to us, we decided to develop our own zhenguo killer, and the country urgently needs relevant high-tech talents!
At this time, Qian Xuesen, a top talent in the United States, had the idea of returning to China long ago. In 1935, Qian Xuesen embarked on a ship to the United States alone and went to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology alone, which was 20 years. He studied aeronautical engineering at school and earned a master's degree before transferring to Caltech for further studies.
Here Qian Xuesen encountered a good opportunity, and his teacher was von Carmen. Von Carmen was one of the earliest experts in the United States to study rockets, and Qian Xuesen also got the opportunity to start research on rockets. In 1943, von Carmen took Qian Xuesen into the American Rocket Research Institute and participated in the military's top-secret "Manhattan Project", where Qian Xuesen received good technical and financial support.
He quickly caught up with his teacher, became an authoritative expert in world-class rocket research, and was awarded the rank of colonel by the U.S. Air Force, and obtained a confidentiality license from the military, which can be involved in the U.S. Department of Defense, the Army Ordnance Department, and the Air Force. At the age of 36, Qian Xuesen became the youngest tenured professor at MIT. By this time he had achieved fame.
But even if he enjoys the best treatment, Qian Xuesen still misses the motherland that has been devastated by the war. On October 6, 1949, the first Mid-Autumn Festival in New China, Chinese students in the United States gathered to celebrate. At this time, Qian Xuesen stood up and loudly proposed: Students, the country has restored peace, we should go back! Hearing this sentence, the students were all silent, and one of the students said: The motherland is now in ruins, even eating in China is a problem, and it is not appropriate to go back to scientific research now, everything is starting from scratch, it is too difficult!
This situation was an objective fact at the time, so most international students did not consider returning home immediately. But Qian Xuesen is not afraid of difficulties, and others are not willing to return to China, so I will go back by myself. He first spoke out with his wife, Jiang Ying: I came to the United States, and all my research and study was to prepare for returning to China. I always strive to learn more knowledge, so that I can make more contributions to my return home.
Jiang Ying also has the idea of waiting to return to China, but after listening to her husband's voice, she is very supportive. After the two reached an agreement, Qian Xuesen quickly approached Dubridge, the dean of the California Institute of Technology, on the pretext of returning to China to visit relatives, and prepared to go through long-term leave procedures.
The Dean expressed understanding and directly agreed to his request. Although schools respect the choices of intellectuals, the U.S. government will not be so generous. At that time, Qian Xuesen participated in many secret studies of the US military, and his achievements were also the world's top, so it can be said that once he left and could not come back, it would cause unimaginable losses to the United States, and the huge help to China was not what the United States wanted to see.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="44" > 5 years of house arrest and finally freedom</h1>
For this kind of important scientist, the United States has always been paying close attention, when they learned that Qian Xuesen was preparing to return to China, they held an emergency meeting, and the US Navy Undersecretary Kimbull directly said: Qian Xuesen knows all the missile secrets of the United States, no matter where he is, he can be worth the strength of 5 divisions, even if killed, he can not let him leave the United States!
In the summer of 1950, Qian Xuesen packed all his luggage and 800 kilograms of books and notebooks and transported them to the "President Wilson" steamship bound for Hong Kong, but when passing through customs, the books and materials carrying most of Qian Xuesen's achievements were detained, and Qian Xuesen and his family who were preparing to board the ship were also stopped.
Not long after, when Qian Xuesen was working in the office of California Institute of Technology, several men dressed in black suddenly came in, and they took him away without saying a word. A few days later, Jiang Ying received a complaint from the US Immigration Bureau, accusing Qian Lao of being a member of the Communist Party of the United States and attempting to unite with the Red forces to overthrow the US regime.
Even though Elder Qian firmly denied this crime, the U.S. side was unmoved and directly escorted him to the U.S. prison on Themina Island. Here, Qian Lao experienced severe mental torture, endless interrogation during the day, and at night, he also had to face the interference of the prison guards' glare on his eyes, making it impossible for him to sleep.
Until 14 days later, at the request of his wife Jiang Ying, caltech also intervened in the matter. Mr. Qian was forced to write a pledge that he would not leave the United States without permission from Kimbur and Dean Dubridge. The school paid $15,000 in bail to save Mr. Qian from prison. After being released from prison, because of nearly half a month of torture, Qian Lao suffered from a short period of aphasia and lost 30 pounds of weight.
At this time, in order to ensure that Qian Lao stayed in the United States and cut off contact with the outside world, there were agents who supervised Qian Lao 24 hours a day, and all his mail had to be inspected, and once he encountered a suspicious situation, agents would break into the house at any time to search. It is in this environment that Elder Qian and his family have lived for 5 years, which also strengthens their determination to return to China.
At that time, although communication was not too convenient, the news that Elder Qian was tortured under house arrest was still spread. After Premier Zhou learned of this, he has also been trying to find a way to welcome Qian Lao back to China. In 1954, China, the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain and France met in Geneva. In the Sino-US talks, the United States hoped to release the American servicemen imprisoned in China, and China also proposed the conditions for the United States to allow Chinese scientists staying in the United States to return to China.
In order to show sincerity, our country released 4 American pilots in advance. But the United States is very shameless, refusing to release Qian Xuesen, and said: There is no evidence that Qian Xuesen wants to return to China, and we will not restrict civil liberties! The shameless attitude of the United States has increased the difficulty of negotiations, and qian Lao wants to return to China, which greatly increases the difficulty. Until 1955, Qian Lao himself sent evidence.
By chance, Elder Qian learned that there was an old man he knew next to the great man, the old man's name was Chen Shutong, he was a good friend of his father, and now he was the vice chairman of the National People's Congress, which should be of great help to him return to China. So he wrote a secret letter to Elder Chen, and when he was shopping with his wife, he attracted the stalking agents outside and asked his wife to put the letter into the mailbox of the mall.
In this way, the letter came to the hands of Jiang Ying's sister in Europe. Jiang Ying's sister also knew that the matter was urgent, and soon entrusted someone to send the secret letter back to Qian Xuesen's father in China, and passed it on to Elder Chen through his father. Elder Chen knew that Premier Zhou attached great importance to Qian Xuesen, so he forwarded the letter to Premier Zhou.
The next step is the opening scene, with the help of this letter, our country uses the captured American pilot as a chip, and finally wins Qian Xuesen back to China. On September 17, 1955, Elder Qian and his family boarded a ship bound for China, and after more than half a month, they finally returned to the motherland where they were thinking about day and night.
After returning to China, Elder Qian was greatly valued and received cordially by Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou. The great man personally arranged Elder Qian at the first table at his side at the banquet, and said happily: The Americans regard you as five divisions! But it's not enough for us, you're much better than five divisions. I'm also learning your engineering cybernetics and using it to direct our economic construction!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="45" > scientific pioneers and patriotic masters, worthy of this treatment</h1>
At the beginning of 1956, Elder Qian submitted to the Central Committee the "Opinion on Establishing China's National Defense Aviation Industry," on the basis of which the Central Committee established the Aviation Industry Committee, of which Elder Qian served as a member. Not long after, Elder Qian received another task to prepare for the establishment of the Fifth Research Institute of the Ministry of National Defense, which was the first research institute on rockets and missiles in China, with Elder Qian as its president. Since then, scientists led by Qian Lao have begun a great journey of studying and manufacturing two bombs and one satellite.
Elder Qian's attitude toward work has always been very serious, and he once said: "Personnel engaged in missile work must have the spirit of dedicating their lives to the country and the conviction of being an unsung hero."
After determining the target of two bombs and one star, Qian Lao often worked overtime on business trips, and even his wife Jiang Ying could not see others for several months. As for the content of his work, Qian Lao has always adhered to the principle of confidentiality, and Jiang Ying has no idea what her husband is busy with every day. In this regard, Qian Lao once said: Our life of being married for decades is generally very happy... She managed the house, made a great sacrifice for that, and I was at least half as successful as hers.
In 1960, China's first missile was successfully launched; in 1964, China's first atomic bomb was successfully detonated; in 1967, China's first hydrogen bomb was successfully detonated; in 1970, China's first artificial satellite was successfully launched. The two bombs and one satellite plan was a complete success, which included the efforts of countless scientists and the silent efforts of their families behind them, of which Qian Xuesen's contribution was undoubtedly great, and the sacrifices were extremely many, even including life safety.
As early as 1955, before returning to China, Elder Qian received a telegram from Premier Zhou in the name of his father: I am very happy that you can go home, don't get off the road in the middle, be careful on the road, and when I get there, I will let my friends pick you up. After seeing the telegram, Elder Qian realized that the way back to China was not necessarily peaceful, and even his wife had already discussed with him, once he encountered danger, Elder Qian immediately lay down, and then his wife threw herself on him again to escort him! Fortunately, on the way, the Qian family did not encounter danger, and they did not stay in beijing at all.
After the successful launch of China's first missile, both the United States and Japan and Chiang Kai-shek in Taiwan had a sense of threat, so they had the intention of killing Elder Qian and sent many spies to carry out assassination work. However, due to the tight defense of the domestic public security forces, the assassination operations of the agents were repeatedly smashed.
In September 1964, Taiwanese agent Chen Binghong went to Qinghai to carry out the operation of collecting military intelligence and poisoning and assassinating Qian Xuesen. His son Chen Anyi has been carrying out intelligence work here, and Chen Anyi and his classmates are working in the nuclear weapons base, which can be said to be a great hidden danger to us. Fortunately, the public security organs discovered and arrested the two spies in a timely manner, so as to avoid the leakage of important information and protect the safety of Elder Qian and Elder Deng.
In the same year, there was also a vicious poisoning incident in Beijing, and the public security organs determined after investigation that the target was also qian Xuesen. This matter immediately attracted the attention of Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou, and under Premier Zhou's arrangement, Elder Qian and his family moved into the military compound with strict scrutiny and high security.
Later, under chairman Mao's instructions, a special person was assigned to be responsible for the food safety of Qian Lao. In the future, all the food of Qian Lao must first pass the food inspection of this person! To this end, the state has also specially imported a refrigerator and a set of high-powered microscopes, and all the food that can enter Qian's hometown must first be tested and archived under the microscope. This treatment even Zhu De and Peng Dehuai among the ten marshals did not have, let alone other marshals, generals or leaders!
China's strength does not come from one day or two days of progress, nor is it the efforts of one person or two people, but because countless Chinese people have paid their lives, played their own strengths, and worked hard to have today's beautiful country. And Elder Qian is the representative of countless patriots, we should inherit his patriotic feelings and dedication spirit, and strive for the motherland to go further!