"I will do my best to build my country with Chinese people and let my compatriots live a happy life with dignity."
He was once called by the U.S. military: he can match the strength of five divisions wherever he goes. He is our national hero, the backbone of the nation, the "father of China's missiles" and the "father of China's aerospace" - Qian Xuesen
In the early 1950s, the smoke of war had just dissipated. Devastated countries and peoples are poor.
At that time, if a country wanted to protect itself through the level of military equipment, it had to develop a military industry and must have its own talents in the field of cutting-edge science and technology that could not be imported from abroad.
In 1949, when the news of the founding of New China reached the United States. Qian Xuesen, who was teaching at The California Institute of Technology, immediately decided to return to the embrace of his mother in his homeland. But politicians, led by McCarthy, obstructed. At first, Qian Xuesen was restricted from participating in the research and development work of the US military. The always polite U.S. military officers changed their faces, ordered the soldiers to take away Qian Xuesen's license, and strictly forbade him to come and visit. Qian Xuesen's every move was secretly monitored. Later, the US military even brazenly arrested qian Xuesen's family and imprisoned them.
Later, with the help of caltech mentors and colleagues, he was released on bail, but this strengthened his determination to return to China.
At that time, the Immigration Department repeatedly refused to let them go. They were instructed by their superiors in the U.S. military. In public reports, U.S. Navy Vice Secretary Danny Kimbre said that "wherever Qian Xuesen goes, he can withstand the strength of five divisions." As soon as these words came out, the persecution of the US government became more and more serious.
Within a month, during the day, the U.S. military strictly forbade him to go out. In the evening, they also conducted various interrogations from time to time. Lacking sleep and exercise, the middle-aged scientist's body deteriorated rapidly, losing thirty pounds in a month.
A world-renowned scientist has fallen to such a point that everyone feels sorry for him.
In the summer of 1955, a grand parade and assembly was held in Beijing to celebrate Labor Day. Qian Xuesen saw the grand celebration through the People's Pictorial.
Suddenly surprised to find that standing next to Mao Zedong on the upper floor of Tiananmen Square was Chen Shutong, vice chairman of the National People's Congress, who was the teacher of Qian Xuesen's father, Qian Junfu, and an old friend of the Qian family for many years
Therefore, with the help of his academic peers and friends, Qian Xuesen secretly wrote a letter of help, which read: "It has been five years since he was detained by the US government, and he did not want to return to China to participate in the great construction for a single moment..."
In his letter, he expressed in the most direct way his current predicament and his expectations for his return.
Over the course of several months, the letter was sent to Beijing via Hong Kong and handed over to Chen Shutong, then vice chairman of the Central People's Congress. At that time, it attracted great attention from the central authorities.
The Foreign Ministry immediately sent a telegram to Wang Bingnan, who was participating in sino-US ambassadorial negotiations in Geneva, asking him to ask the US side to release Qian Xuesen.
At the negotiating table When U.S. representatives insisted that Chinese citizens who did not want to return home were detained, Qian Xuesen's letter became the most powerful response
In the end, the Chinese government released 11 captured US military spies in advance and Qian Xuesen's handwritten letter
U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower was only able to agree to Qian Xuesen's return to China.
On September 17, 1955, Qian Xuesen's family boarded the "President Cleveland" cruise ship and embarked on the road back to his homeland, for which he fought for a full five years
Before leaving the ship, he addressed the press: "I will do my best to build my country with the Chinese and let my compatriots live a happy life with dignity."
On October 8, 1956, the first anniversary of Qian Xuesen's return to the motherland, Qian Xuesen was commissioned to set up China's first rocket and missile research institute, the Fifth Research Institute of the Ministry of National Defense.
In 1958, Qian Xuesen submitted an application to join the party, in which he wrote: "I have been educated by the party for nearly three years after returning to China, which has made me realize the greatness of the party. The Party is great in realizing the goal of communist society, and I am willing to strive for and be loyal to the Cause of the Party for this goal."
In 1966, China successfully tested its first missile nuclear weapons launch.
In 1970, China's first artificial earth satellite was successfully launched...
In just over a decade, China's cutting-edge defense technology has made a series of major breakthroughs, reaching the strength of a few developed countries in the world.
Qian Xuesen gave up his preferential treatment and extremely high academic status as a tenured professor in the United States, broke through the heavy resistance set up by the anti-China forces in the United States, and returned to the embrace of the motherland after hardships. Under his efforts and leadership, a group of high-tech talents have created in a very short period of time under extremely difficult conditions the "two bombs and one satellite" that have never been seen before or since.
Today, the old man has passed by for twelve years, and he has given his life's work to a dream of his own.
It is this dream that makes almost every Chinese have witnessed the brave and great exploration story of our nation at some point in their lives.
Remembrance, tribute!