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Nuclear testing is a necessary step to verify the performance of nuclear weapons and conduct research on new nuclear weapons, but conducting nuclear tests can easily lead to condemnation from public opinion at home and abroad.

In June 1959 the Soviet uNion stopped technical aid to China. In order to arouse the nationalistic spirit, China's first atom bomb was named the "June 59" mission. On 15 August 1958, a small special train from Henan's Shangqiu, carrying a prospecting team of 120 military personnel and various equipment, pulled up at Xiadong station near Dunhuang and starting the prospecting work in the nuclear testing field. At that time, those carrying out the mission were told "not to disclose it to their parents, nor pass it down to their children." The publication "Contemporary China's national defense science and technology" said that there were three nuclear tests did not reach their intended purpose. The first failure was on 24 December 1967, the hydrogen bomb test only achieved fission and did not achieve fusion. This failure was identified by Western intelligence. Chinse sources report a that at the end of 1970, a hydrogen bomb exploded in a Lop Nur experiment, but the expected thermonuclear reaction did not happen. The hydrogen bomb had failed and the problem had to be investigated. In 1975, as part of the effort to accelerate the DF-5 ICBM warhead test, the first of three tests failed. It was later identified that the test technology was wrong. In 1975 a later test was conducted which was a success.

The third failed 13 September 1979, because the parachute did not open, nuclear bomb material scattered on impact. Ren Wande: "Giant nuclear science shield", first disclosed the second defeat, March 18, 1972. According to the description, an advanced gas-assist [ie booster] nuclear bomb only fissioned and did not achieve fusion. Leading designer Deng Jia was the first to find the nuclear bomb, and held pieces of debris. He suffered serious radiation illness. Initially this event was not included in the lists of tests published internationally, because there was no nuclear reaction, and strictly speaking, could only be counted as a nuclear accident. But this time in accordance with the nuclear test preparations, indeed a nuclear test failed, and the nuclear industry department has strict historical data.

The last atmospheric hydrogen bomb test was originally scheduled for 1983 years and was postponed until November 1985, when it was accurately readied but was canceled due to political reasons.

References

• Database of nuclear tests, China-PRC by Wm. Robert Johnston
• Biography of Nuclear Teeth - Previous Nuclear Tests
• Nuclear Explosions by China @ Center for Monitoring Research
• Cancer Mortality in Populations in Kazakhstan Subjected to Irradiation from Nuclear Weapons Testing in China [test list has major discrepancies]
• CATALOG OF KNOWN AND PUTATIVE NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS FROM UNCLASSIFIED SOURCES Compiled by James E. Lawson Jr.
• PRC Nuclear Weapons Employment Policy and Strategy - March 1972