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Abstract
In 1956, the government of the People’s Republic of China made a 12-year plan for scientific and technological developments (‘The Long-term Plan for the Development of Science and Technology for 1956–1967’), often credited as a visionary blueprint for its nuclear weapons programs and industrialization. Yet, this study suggests that the plan was not the logical manifestation of a unified national leadership, but rather the result of political contestations and compromises among the Communist party-state leaders, especially between Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, and between the state and the scientific–technological elite. It further indicates that the making of Chinese science and technology policy was shaped by the cold war geopolitics, national developmental aspirations and transnational influences, especially from the Soviet Union and the USA.
Acknowledgements
The author thanks Jessica Wang and John Krige for organizing the workshop on ‘Dark Matters II: Science and the Cold War in a Decolonizing World’ at the University of British Columbia in September 2014, at which an earlier draft of this paper was delivered and for insightful feedback and support; other participants at the workshop, History and Technology editor Martin Collins and an anonymous reviewer for valuable feedback; Jahanvi Phalkey, Sigrid Schmalzer, Grace Shen, Wang Yangzong, Xiong Weimin, Zhang Baichun, Zhang Jiuchen and Zhang Li for stimulating discussions and assistance with materials over the years related to the subject of this paper. Research on this paper was conducted with partial support from the US National Science Foundation under Grant No. SES-1026879. Any opinions expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF. By custom, Chinese names in the text are rendered with family names first and given names second.
Notes
1. “Zhongguo kexueyuan yuanzhang guwen B. A. Kefuda guanyu guihua he zuzhi zhonghua renmin gongheguo quanguo xing de kexue yanjiu gongzuo de yixie banfa” [V. A. Kovda, advisor to the president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, on some measures in regard to the planning and organization of national scientific research work of the People’s Republic of China], January 1955, in Wu, Zhongsu liangguo kexueyuan, 18–28.
2. For official Chinese studies of the 12 year science plan, see, e.g. Yang and Zhang, “Xin zhongguo.” It should be noted that many of the archival materials related to PRC history in general and the making of the 1956 science plan in particular are still not released. Much valuable information has become available in recent years in the forms of official publications, especially nianpu, chronicles of daily records of important figures such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, and they are used extensively in this paper, but they are necessarily selective and could potentially be biased, for example, in giving undue emphasis on the views and actions of the political elite in contrast to those of less prominent players. One can only hope that restrictions on archival access will gradually ease and one can revisit the topic in the future.
3. On the debates over basic vs. applied research in the US in the 1950s, see, e.g. Wang, In Sputnik’s Shadow, 59–62.
4. For a classic analysis of this conflict, see Suttmeier, Research and Revolution, which only mentioned the 1956 science plan in passing.
5. See, Lewis and Xue, China Builds the Bomb, 49–51; Wang, “Physics in China.”
6. Fu, “Minguo shiqi.”
7. Qian and Gu, Zhongguo kexueyuan, 43–44. It is not clear whether the division members knew of Kovda’s proposal.
8. On the CAS in this period, see Qian and Gu, Zhongguo kexueyuan, especially 13–65.
9. Jin, Zhou Enlai zhuan 1949–1976, v. 1, 235.
10. Mao Zedong, “Sanda yundong de weida shengli” [grand victories of the three great movements], 23 October 1951, in Mao, Jianguo yilai Mao Zedong wengao, v. 2, 482–3. On Mao and intellectuals, see, e.g. Wang Laidi, “Yiguan choushi zhishi fenzi de Mao Zedong” [Mao Zedong as someone who had always been hostile to intellectuals], in Wang, Zhonggong chuangshiren fangtanlu, 296–320.
11. Schneider, Biology and Revolution, 281.
12. See Jin, Zhou Enlai zhuan 1949–1976, v. 1, 233.
13. See Fu, “Liumei kexie chengli shimo.”
14. Wang and Liu, “1950 niandai guiguo.”
15. Zhou Enlai, “Guanyu zhishi fenzi de gaizao wenti” [on the issue of reform of intellectuals], 29 September 1951, in Zhou, Zhou Enlai xuanji, v. 2, 59–71.
16. Luo Wei, “Zhishi fenzi,” 39.
17. Wang, “Zhongguo kexueyuan.”
18. Wang, “Zhongguo kexueyuan,” 21.
19. Zhu Kezhen diary entry for 15 March 1952, in Zhu, Zhu Kezhen quanj, v. 12, 579–80. Zhu Kezhen’s diaries related to the Thought Remolding have been collected and edited for easy access by Wang Yangzong in Zhu, “Zhongkeyuan.”
20. Zhu Kezhen diary entry for 10 April 1952, in Zhu, Zhu Kezhen quanj, v. 12, 596.
21. Wang, “Zhongguo kexueyuan.” Concurrent with the Thought Remolding was a harsh ‘Three Antis’ campaign which targeted embezzlement, waste, and bureaucratism.
22. Wang, “Physics in China.”
23. Jin, Zhou Enlai zhuan 1949–1976, 235.
24. Zhang, Zhang, and Yao, “Technology Transfer.” According to this study (110–11), during implementation there were changes to these technology transfer projects so the total number was reduced to 150.
25. Mao Zedong, “On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship,” Renmin ribao [people’s daily], 1 July 1949.
26. Fu, “Yize yixi.” For a review of science and technology policy in this period, see Qian, “Xin zhongguo.”
27. See Institute of Contemporary China Studies, Zhonghua renmin, v. 1, 274–5.
28. Guo Moruo, “Guanyu guanche yuanzhang guwen kefuda jianyi xiang guowuyuan de baogao” [a report to the State Council on implementing the proposal by Kovda, advisor to the president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences], in Wu, Zhongsu, 28–31. On the impact of the decision by the Chinese party state leadership to build nuclear weapons (both nuclear bombs and guided missiles) on the development of science and technology in China in this period, see Lewis and Xue, China Builds the Bomb, 49–51, and Wang, “Physics in China.”
29. Mao’s speech at the “Conference on the Issue of Intellectuals,” in Pang and Feng, Mao Zedong nianpu, entry for 20 January 1956, v. 2, 514–5. More on the conference later.
30. Pang and Feng, Mao Zedong nianpu, entry for 22 January 1956, v. 2, 516–8.
31. Pang and Feng, Mao Zedong nianpu, entry for 25 April 1956, v. 2, 567.
32. Pang and Feng, Mao Zedong nianpu, entry for 21 May 1960, v. 3, 398.
33. Pang and Feng, Mao Zedong nianpu, entries for December 1955, v. 2, 485; for 20 January 1955, v. 2, 514–5. On the 12-year plan for atomic energy, see Li and Ma, Zhou Enlai nianpu, entry for 22 December 1955, v. 1, 529–30.
34. Pang and Jin, Mao Zedong zhuan, v. 2, 447.
35. Pang and Jin, Mao Zedong zhuan, chapters 13–14.
36. Pang and Feng, Mao Zedong nianpu, entry for 31 October, v. 3, 20. See also Wang, “Physics in China.”
37. Li and Ma, Zhou Enlai nianpu, entries for 14 November 1955, 16–24 November 1955, v. 2, 517 and 518–20, respectively. See also Jin, Zhou Enlai zhuan, vol. 1, 229–37.
38. Pang and Feng, Mao Zedong nianpu, entries for 23 November 1955 and 24, v. 2, 470–2.
39. Pang and Feng, Mao Zedong nianpu, entries for 13 March 1957, v. 3, 110.
40. See Li and Ma, Zhou Enlai nianpu, entry for 17 December 1955 and 19, v. 1, 528; entry for 12–13 January 1956, v. 1, 538–9; Pang and Feng, Mao Zedong nianpu, entry for 13 January 1956, v. 2, 510.
41. Jin, Zhou Enlai zhuan, vol. 1, 238–42.
42. Zhou Enlai, “Guanyu zhishi fenzi wenti de baogao” [a report on the issue of the intellectuals], 14 January 1956, originally published in People’s Daily, 30 January 1956, reprinted in Zhou, Zhou Enlai xuanji, v. 2, 166.
43. Zhou, “Guanyu zhishi fenzi,” 181.
44. Forman, “The Primacy of Science in Modernity.”
45. Zhou Enlai, “Guanyu zhishi fenzi,” 181.
46. Wilson’s speech on 1 October 1963, is reprinted in Wilson, Labor’s Plan for Science. My thanks to Jon Agar for drawing my attention to Wilson’s speech. See also Matthew Francis, “Harold Wilson’s ‘White Heat of Technology’ Speech 50 Years on,” The Guardian, September 19, 2013, accessed in November 2015 at http://www.theguardian.com/science/political-science/2013/sep/19/harold-wilson-white-heat-technology-speech.
47. Zhou, “Guanyu zhishi fenzi,” 182.
48. Li Fuchun to Zhang Jiafu, 5 January 1956, as quoted in Zhang and others, Sulian jishu, 170–1.
49. Zhou, “Guanyu zhishi fenzi,” 182–3.
50. Zhou, “Guanyu zhishi fenzi,” 183–4.
51. Zhou, “Guanyu zhishi fenzi,” 184.
52. Zhou, “Guanyu zhishi fenzi,” 184–5.
53. Zhou, “Guanyu zhishi fenzi,” 166, 176. Indeed 1956 saw the admission of an unprecedented number of senior scientists into the Communist Party. In the Chinese Academy of Sciences alone, 10 senior scientists became party members in the first half of 1956 in contrast to only one in the entire period of 1949–1955. See Qian and Gu, Zhongguo kexueyuan, 69.
54. Zhou’e statement was not reaffirmed in the formal party circular on the conference. See “Zhonggong zhongyang guanyu zhishi fenzi wenti de zhishi” [directive from the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party on the issue of intellectuals], 24 February 1956, in Zhonggong zhongyang wenxian yanjiushi, Jianguo yilai, v. 8, 132–47. See also Luo, “Zhishi fenzi,” 55, and Shen, “1956 nian.”
55. Pang and Feng, Mao Zedong nianpu, entry for 20 January 1956, v. 2, 513.
56. Pang and Feng, Mao Zedong nianpu, entry for 20 January 1956, v. 2, 515.
57. On the double-hundred policy, see Pang and Jin, Mao Zedong zhuan, v. 2, 486–93; and Schneider, Biology and Revolution, 165–85.
58. Pang and Jin, Mao Zedong zhuan, v. 1, 635–7.
59. Shen Zhihua, “Zhou Enlai yu 1956nian.” As Shen recounted here, the tension between Mao and Zhou on the pace of economic development would intensify in 1956, temporarily be resolved in Zhou’s favor due to Soviet support, but explode into the open 2 years later when Mao launched the Great Leap Forward movement.
60. Pang and Feng, Mao Zedong nianpu, entry for 20 January 1956, v. 2, 513.
61. Pang and Jin, Mao Zedong zhuan, v. 1, 721.
62. On Mao’s attack on Zhou Enlai on the eve of the Great Leap Forward in early 1958, see Pang and Jin, Mao Zedong zhuan, v. 1, 767–89; Jin and others, Zhou Enlai zhuan, v. 2, 406–39. The issue of the cultural revolution would return in the form of the Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) during which Mao purged technocratic leaders such as state president Liu Shaoqi and party general secretary Deng Xiaoping.
63. On 15 February 1956, ten days before Nikita Khrushchev’s denunciation of Stalin in Moscow helped to trigger a full-blown Sino-Soviet split, Mao criticized the Soviet one-command system (yizhangzhi) (chief administrative officer in charge without collective party leadership) at the ministerial level: ‘Some of the Soviet practices should not be borrowed.’ Pang and Feng, Mao Zedong nianpu, entry for 15 February 1956, v. 2, 530. On Mao’s increasing questioning of Soviet-style economic development in this period, see Luthi, Sino-Soviet Split, 44–45.
64. Pang and Feng, Mao Zedong nianpu, entry for 20 January 1956, v. 2, 513. Wang, “Physics in China.”
65. Pang and Feng, Mao Zedong nianpu, entry for 20 January 1956, v. 2, 513–5. About a year later Mao was more explicit (and more optimistic) about the prospect of training new intellectuals to solve the problem of having to rely on old intellectuals: ‘We have only one way out and that is to learn from them [old intellectuals]. In ten to fifteen years this would succeed. [Then] we can command them [old intellectuals] not only politically but also in professional and technological terms.’ Mao’s speech in Tianjin, 17 March 1957, quoted in Pang and Jin, Mao Zedong zhuan, 642. Mao soon would become disillusioned in the new intellectuals when they too joined the old ones in criticizing the party and lead him to purge them both in the Anti-Rightist campaign in spring 1957.
66. Xinhua Press, “Shubaiwan.”
67. See, e.g. Schmalzer, “Self-Reliant Science,” and her Red Revolution, Green Revolution. My thanks to Prof. Schmalzer for sharing her book manuscript with me.
68. Zhu Kezhen diary for 21 January 1956, in Zhu, Zhu Kezhen quanji, v. 8, 279. See also Wang, “Physics in China,” 259. The reports by Wu, Zhu, and others can be found in Li, Zhongguo kexueyuan.
69. “Mao Zedong zhuxi zai zuigao guowu huiyi shang jianghua de zhaiyao” [excerpts of Chairman Mao Zedong’s speech at the Supreme National Council], Renmin ribao [people’s daily], 25 January 1956, reprinted in Hu, Zhongguo keji, 166–7.
70. On Sino-Soviet nuclear relations, see Shen and Xia, “Between Aid and Restriction.”
71. Wu and Yang, Dangdai zhongguo, 90. See also Zhu Kezhen diary entries for 28, 30, 31 January 1956, in Zhu, Zhu Kezhen quanji, v. 14, 282–4.
72. Wu, Keji zhanxian, 160–1.
73. Zhang, Gengshen yishi, 134–7; Wu Heng, Keji, 160. On the NSF, see Wang, In Sputnik’s Shadow, 172.
74. See Liu Zhenkun, “Zhang Jinfu,” Li Gongde and others, “Pei Lisheng,” and Liu Zhenkun, “Du Runsheng,” in Yu, Zhongguo kexueyuan, 100–43, 224–61, 287–311 respectively. See also Zhu Kezhen diaries for 20 February and 9 March 1956, in Zhu Kezhen quanji, v. 14, 293–94 and 302 respectively.
75. Xinhua Press, “Guowuyuan chengli.” See also Liu, “Du Runsheng.”
76. Li and Han, “Wu Mingyu fangtan ji,” esp. 36–39, 43. In the US, the equivalent concept to ‘applied basic research’ was ‘mission-oriented basic research.’ See Wang, In Sputnik’s Shadow, 56–58.
77. Xinhua Press, “Guowuyuan chengli.” Nie, Nie Rongzhen huiyilu, 766–7, 784–6; Xinhua Press, “Guowuyuan pizhun.”
78. “Zhongguo kexueyuan guanyu zhiding zhongguo kexueyuan shiwunian yuanjing guihua de zhishi” [Chinese Academy of Sciences’ directive on the making of a fifteen year long-term plan for the development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences], 15 September 1955, in Hu, Zhongguo, 136–9. See also Yang and Zhang, “Xin zhongguo.”
79. On the orientation of Soviet scientists and engineers toward state goals, see, for example, Graham, Ghost of the Executed Engineer.
80. “Zhongguo kexyueyuan yuanzhang guwen lazalianke guanyu zhiding wuli shuxue huaxue bu ge xueke changyuan fazhan guihua tanhua” [a talk by Lazarenko, advisor to the president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, on the long-term development plans of various disciplines in the Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Chemistry], 17 January 1956, in Wu, Zhongsu, 214–7, quote on 216.
81. Fan, Zhongguo Kexueyuan, 57–58.
82. See, for example, Qian, “Xin zhongguo” and Wang, “Physics in China.”
83. Wu and Yang, Dangdai zhongguo keji, 90. Zhu Kezhen diary entries for February and March of 1956 in Zhu, Zhu Kezhen quanji, v. 14, 284–311.
84. Nie, Nie Rongzhen huiyilu, 776.
85. The best biography of Qian remains Chang, Thread of the Silkworm.
86. Zhu Kezhen diaries on 10, 17, and 19 March 1956, in Zhu, Zhu Kezhen quanji, v. 14, 302, 305–6.
87. He, “Qian Xuesen jiaoshou.” Chang, Thread of the Silkworm, 211–12.
88. See documents in chapter 2 on “Soviet Studies and Archival Documents [from both sides] on Sino-Soviet Scientific Exchange and Collaboration” in Wu, Zhongsu, 160–282.
89. Nie, Nie Rongzhen huiyilu, 776.
90. Pang and Feng, Mao Zedong nianpu, entry for 14 June 1956, v. 2, 586.
91. “Zhonggong zhongyang tongyi guowuyuan kexue guihua weiyuanhui dangzu ‘guanyu zhengqiu yijiuwuliu-yijiuliuqi nian kexue fazhan yuanjing guihua gangyao (xiuzheng caoan) yijian de baogao” [the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party approves the report by the party group of the Science Planning Commission of the State Council on opinions on the revised draft of the long-term plan for the development of science and technology for 1956–1967] and attachments, in Zhonggong zhongyang wenxian yanjiushi, Jianguo yilai, v. 9, 425–540.
92. Guo Moruo, “Jiaqiang zhongsu kexue hezuo wei cujin kexue shiye de dayuejin er fendou – fangsu kexue jishu daibiaotuan zongjie baogao” [strive to strengthen Sino-Soviet scientific cooperation in order to promote a great leap forward in the scientific enterprise: A summary report of the delegation of science and technology to the Soviet Union], 1958, in Wu, Zhongsu, 79–91.
93. Shen and Xia, “Between Aid and Restriction,” 102.
94. Nie, Nie Rongzhen huiyilu, 774–5.
95. “Yijiuwuliu-yijiuliuqi nian kexue fazhan yuanjing guihua gangyao (xiuzheng caoan)” [the revised draft of the outline of the long-term plan for the development of science and technology for 1956–1967], in Zhonggong zhongyang wenxian yanjiushi, Jianguo yilai, v. 9, 436–540. A section on defense is still missing in the released version of the science plan, but its main contents can be found in an article in a collection of Nie Rongzhen’s military writings. See Nie Rongzhen, “Dui shiernian kexue guihua zhong guofang yanjiu xiangmu de yijian” [suggestions on defense research projects in the twelve year science plan], in Nie, Nie Rongzhen junshi wenxuan, 390–4. See also Zhou, Nie Rongzhen nianpu, entry for 12 April 1956, v. 1, 575.
96. See, e.g. Zhang and Zhang, “Founding,” 17–33.
97. Yang and Zhang, “Xin Zhongguo.”
98. Nie, Nie Rongzhen huiyilu, 779.
99. Wu Heng, Keji, 164.
100. Qian, “Xin Zhongguo.”
101. “Yijiuwuliu-yijiuliuqi,” in Zhonggong zhongyang wenxian yanjiushi, Jianguo yilai, v. 9, 436–7.
102. Zhou Enlai, “Jingji jianshe de jige fangzhenxing wenti” [several policy issues in economic construction], in Zhou, Zhou Enlai xuanji, v. 2, 229–38, on 236. One may even argue that Mao’s defense strategy was similar to the New Look policy of the United States of reducing defense budget by relying on nuclear weapons.
103. For a defense of the scientific efforts during the Great Leap Forward, see Li and Han, “Wu Mingyu,” mainly 32–34. Wu Mingyu was an assistant to Zhang Jinfu, the influential party leader and vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1956-1966. For Nie’s criticism of the Great Leap Forward, see Nie, “Guanyu daodan, weixing yanzhi he shiyan gongzuo de zhishi” [directives on research and experimental work on missiles and satellites], in Nie, Nie Rongzhen keji wenxuan, 561–3, on 562.
104. See Nie, Nie Rongzhen huiyilu, 808–13; Shen and Xia, “Between Aid and Restriction.”
105. Nie, “Zai quanguo nongye kexue jishu gongzuo huiyi shang de jianghua” [speech at the National Conference on Agriculture Scientific and Technological Work], 21 February 1963, in Nie, Nie Rongzhen keji wenxuan, 373–404, on 376.
106. Nie, “Guanyu guojia kewei jiguan gongzuo de jianghua” [speech on the work of the National Science Commission staff], 23 December 1963, in Nie, Nie Rongzhen keji wenxuan, 486–507, on 486–7.
107. Nie, “Guanyu bianzhi yijiuliusan zhi yijiuqier nian kexue jishu fazhan gangyao qingkuang de baogao” [a report on the considerations that led to the making of the outline for the development of science and technology for 1963–1972], in Nie, Nie Rongzhen keji wenxuan, 481–5.
108. Chang, Thread of the Silkworm, 116–118, 211.