Major Achievements

During the past 50 years, China has made remarkable achievements in the fields of science and technology, as follows:

The discovery of the Daqing Oilfield
In 1953, the leading geologist Li Siguang, based on his geomechanics theory and thorough geological investigation, pointed out that China had abundant oil and gas resources. In the morning of September 26, 1959, oil was extracted near Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province. Through the painstaking efforts of oil workers, it took only three years to construct the Daqing Oilfield, which soon reached the advanced world level, with an annual output of more than 50 million tons of crude oil. The Daqing Oilfield provided valuable experiences for the further development of the Chinese petroleum industry.

China's first experimental production line of polycrystalline silicon with an annual output of 100 tons and with its own intellectual property rights has been passed appraisal. This shows that China's polycrystalline silicon production has been  up to  the world level. 

On Nov. 20, 1999, China's first manned space ship "Shenzhou" was successfully launched.

The successful testing of atom and hydrogen bombs
On October 16, 1964, China successfully detonated an atomic bomb in Lop Nor in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, thus becoming the third country to possess the atom bomb, following the United States and the former Soviet Union. In June 1967, China successfully detonated its first hydrogen bomb.

The synthesis of crystalline insulin
After six years of arduous work, in cooperation with other research units, the Biochemistry Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, on September 17, 1965, synthesized crystalline bovine insulin, a bioactive protein. China thus became a world leader in this research field.

The positron and negatron electronic collider
In October 1988, the Beijing Positron-Negatron Electronic Collider was successfully installed, not only to develop scientific research in particle physics, energy, materials, biology, chemistry and integrated circuits, but also to produce products for export.

Nuclear power stations
In 1970, China began to design its first nuclear power station, the Qinshan Nuclear Power Station, in Haiyan County, Zhejiang Province. The first-stage project of this power station, with an installed capacity of 300,000 kw, began to be constructed at the beginning of 1985. Meanwhile, construction began on the Dayawan Nuclear Power Station, 60 km east of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, with an installed capacity of 1,800,000 kw.

Carrier rockets
In May 1980, China successfully launched a carrier rocket to a predetermined area in the Pacific Ocean, which was the first time for China to launch a rocket to land in international waters from its territory. In 1982, a China-made rocket passed its first space flight test, thus making China the fourth country to possess new-type space microthrust rocket engines, following the United States, the former Soviet Union and Japan. In October 1982, China successfully launched a carrier rocket from a submerged submarine, and in September 1988, from a nuclear submarine. Chinese carrier rockets include the Long March carrier rockets and the “Storm I” carrier rocket.