People tend to associate the 1960s with the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976), the long political turmoil during which many publications were suspended. This magazine, however, was one of the few exceptions. It resolutely followed its editorial principle, and reported China's prominent construction achievements of the decade, thus helping China's legitimate position in the United Nations to be restored in the early 1970s.

In the 1960s and 70s, China made impressive achievements in national defense and science and technology, such as its explosion of the atom and hydrogen bombs, the launching of man-made satellites, and successful synthesizing of insulin. These achievements were obtained independently, indicating the vast capacity and potential of the Chinese nation.

Two Bombs and One Satellite

The China-made carrier rocket blasts off into outer space.

At 16:00 hours (Peking time) on May 9, 1966 China successfully conducted over its western areas a nuclear explosion which contained thermo-nuclear material.

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At the time of the explosion of China's first and second atom bombs, the Government of the People's Republic of China already issued statements explaining China's fundamental stand on the question of nuclear weapons and concretely proposed the holding of a summit conference of all the countries of the world to discuss the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons.

We solemnly declare once again that at no time and in no circumstances will China be the first to use nuclear weapons.

Workers celebrate the successful launching of China's first man-made satellite (cover of the July 1970 issue).

.......We are deeply convinced that a nuclear war can be prevented provided that all peace-loving people and countries work together and persevere in struggle. As in the past, the Chinese people and Government will continue to carry on an unswerving struggle, together with all other peace-loving people and countries, for the noble aim of completely prohibiting and thoroughly destroying nuclear weapons.

(From "China Successfully Conducts Nuclear Explosion Containing Thermo-Nuclear Material -- Press Communique," July 1966.)

On April 24, 1970 China launched its first space satellite and Chairman Mao's call, "We too should produce man-made satellites," came true!

When the news was announced, the whole nation was jubilant. Everywhere in town and country large crowds gathered beside radios or loudspeakers to listen to the press communique and hear the music of "Dongfanghong" (The East Is Red) in praise of the great leader Chairman Mao, being transmitted by the satellite. In every city hundreds of thousands of people streamed into streets carrying portraits of Chairman Mao, singing and dancing. The air resounded with the boom of drums and gongs, the sputter of firecrackers and cheers of "Long live Chairman Mao!" "Long live the Chinese Communist Party!"

The people proudly declared: the launching of China's first satellite has greatly strengthened the militancy of the Chinese people and the revolutionary people of the world and deflated the arrogance of imperialism, modern revisionism and all reaction.

People the world over rejoiced at the news. Messages from every brother Party and friendly country congratulating China's good beginning in space technology poured in to Chairman Mao, Vice-Chairman Lin Biao and Premier Zhou En-lai.

As the satellite orbits around the earth, China's newspapers announce the daily time-tables of its flight over the cities of the motherland. On clear nights, every nationality of every region in China has been able to sight the satellite.

(From "Hail the Launching of China's First Satellite," July 1970.)

Successfully Synthesizing Insulin

The stereo insulin structure model made by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, according to the analytical results of an electron density map.

Ninety years ago Frederick Engels pointed out in his Dialectics of Nature: "Life is the mode of existence of protein bodies." Today China's scientists have synthesized the smallest of the proteins. They have made the first important step in that direction and given a new and powerful support to the materialist dialectical theory of the origin and evolution of life. China was the first in the world to successfully separate and recombine the two chains of natural insulin, the first to obtain crystalline insulin by combining the synthetic B chain with the natural A chain or by combining the synthetic A chain with the natural B chain, and the first to succeed in the total synthesis of crystalline insulin.

Since their first success in totally synthesizing insulin on September 17, 1965, the Chinese scientific workers have produced 57 batches of the synthetic substance, all of them with biological activity. Five of these batches were purified to give crystalline insulin which is identical with natural insulin in crystalline form and biological activity. Most of the amino acids needed for the synthesis could not be made in China at that time. But the policy of self reliance is well understood in our country and without hesitation our scientific workers set out to create the necessary conditions. A shock force group mastered the manufacture of a dozen kinds of amino acids in less than half a year. The success of our scientists in the first complete synthesis of a protein has made a brilliant contribution to the study of the origin of life.

(From "Approaching the Answer to the Enigma of Life," March 1967.)

Apart from national defense, this period also witnessed great achievements in economic construction. The first bridge was erected over the Yangtze River, Daqing began to yield oil, and construction of the Chengdu-Kunming Railway was completed. Chinese constructors created many miracles, with the help of scientific guidance, and no small measure of daring. The Chengdu-Kunming Railway can be said to be one of the most challenging engineering feats in the world, but China succeeded in building it. A work of art bearing a motif of the railway is on display in the UN building.

The Yangtze Bridge

In all parts of the country workers looked upon it as an honor and a heavy responsibility to contribute to the construction of the Nanjing bridge. The Shanhaikuan Bridge Girder Plant made the steel girders. The Tianjin Steel Wire Plant sent a newly developed high-strength steel wire. The Wuhan Bridge Construction Machinery Plant sent the necessary equipment. From the chemical works of Tienjin and Liaoning province came a new kind of paint for coating the girders that will last many years.

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In the autumn of 1964 heavy rains swelled the Yangtze and gales struck in force, whipping up powerful waves which pounded at the anchorage system of two caissons. The cables of the side anchors snapped, leaving only the main anchors holding. The caissons, the top surface of each bigger than a basketball court, swung to and fro in the rolling waves in a 50-meter arc. If the caissons capsized and sank, they would become two dangerous hidden reefs.

Every one on the site plunged into the fight to save the caissons. The torrent carried down a mass of floating debris which got entangled in and tugged at the remaining anchorage cables which were in danger of snapping. Crane-operators, risking their lives in the swirling waters, clambered down the cable to remove the obstruction. Suddenly the submarine cable supplying electricity to the caissons broke. Immediately, several electricians got into a rowboat and battled their way in the choppy waves to the switchboard room from which they could go out underwater to repair the cable to restore the flow of electricity.

......Workers, technicians and cadres kept up the battle against the water for 40 days and nights, thus saving the caissons.

(From "Battle Song of the Bridge Builders," January 1969.)

Daqing (Taching) Oilfield and Iron Man Wang

"Ironman" Wang Jinxi, historic figure in China's oil industry.

In 1960, Taching was nothing but a vast, wild prairie. Thousands of workers had come from every part of the country -- to find no roads, no houses, not enough trucks, drilling equipment incomplete, and not even enough daily necessities. It was a rough time for China. Natural disasters had put the economy in temporary difficulties. Taking advantage of this situation, imperialism, revisionism and reaction did all they could to sabotage and impose an economic blockade.

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The Taching oilworkers faced the empty prairie and said, "If we start the construction right now it would only mean hard work and sweat. The country is short of oil. That's the main problem; we shouldn't sit and wait. We'll solve it at high speed and standard for the people. Conditions aren't ready, but we'll create them!"

Oil first. The workers let housing go and lived in tents, old cowsheds or shacks. Some dug underground shelters to sleep in.

Equipment arrived by rail. Without waiting for the cranes or trucks, veteran worker 'Iron Man' Wang and his No. 1205 Drilling Team unloaded 60 tons of drilling equipment by themselves with shoulders, crowbars and home-made tools, maneuvered it across the prairie to the site and set it up. Water pipes for the machine had not been installed so they fetched thousands of gallons from a pond some distance away. Battling in conditions like this, the men sank Taching's first well quickly and with high quality.

(From "Taching -- Banner in China's Industrial Progress," June 1971.)

A Railway Built on Harsh Terrain

The Chengdu-Kunming Railway, a 1,085-km trunk line in China's southwest, forms a part of the communications artery running between China's northwest and southwest. The project was begun in July 1958. The rugged terrain of Szechuan and Yunnan provinces made the construction a challenge. The builders constructed in all 427 tunnels and erected 653 bridges.

Before the roads were finished the workers and men of the army railway corps moved machines and materials to tunnel fronts and bridge piers with shoulder poles, pack animals or rafts.

One day a mountain torrent brought about such tremendous pressure that more than 10 meters of newly-finished arched roof caved in. Thirteen men were trapped inside a pitch dark space less than 10 meters long. "Comrades," said Lo Chun-kwei, platoon leader and Communist, "we are the people's fighters. If necessary we'll hold up the sky or fill in the earth. For the Party and the people we'll carry on till our last breath." By the light of their only flash-light they reinforced the propping and, even though the air was beginning to thin, continued to slap wet concrete onto the roof.

One day a thunder and hail storm caught a company of the railway corps installing girders on bridge piers. Company commander called an emergency meeting. "Do we stop or go ahead, comrades?" "When every minute counts, we can't stop," came the men's answer. "The storm will steel and temper us." Swiftly they worked out safety measures and went back to their posts.

(From "The Chengdu-Kunming Railway---Through Rugged Mountain Terrain," July 1974.)

Barefoot Doctors for Farmers

Nanhai's Ten Sisters, ten famous barefoot doctors in Nanhai.

Many Chinese issues have their roots in the needs of peasants, such as medical services. If the issue of providing medical services to farmers, who account for the majority of the Chinese population, can be solved, a huge part of this issue can be deemed to have reached a solution. Barefoot doctors provided a temporary medical solution for Chinese farmers between the 1950s and 70s. Although their medical skills were not high, they were able to deal with farmers' most urgent medical needs and were welcomed by them. According to a World Bank study, with the coming into being of barefoot doctors, the ratio of Chinese medical workers doubled.

"Daxin, come quick and look at our child, he is sick!"

A tall 20-year-old girl transplanting rice with other commune members immediately dropped her seedlings and walked out of the water onto the edge of the paddy. Without stopping to wash her muddy feet, she picked up her medical kit lying on the ground and ran on. This was Zhang Daxin, a health worker who also does her full share of farm work in the Dongbing brigade of the Jiangchen People's Commune on the sea coast southeast of Shanghai. Commune members warmly call her "our barefoot doctor."

Whenever barefoot doctors are mentioned, the local poor and lower-middle peasants cannot hold back their enthusiasm. They say, "Chairman Mao knows best what's in our hearts. He's trained such good doctors for us. Now we can get medical treatment without having to miss too many days of work or spend too much money. The whole set-up is for our convenience." "These are our own doctors who know how to use both the medical kit and the hoe."

For many years the masses of poor and lower-middle peasants had hoped to have doctors truly and wholeheartedly devoted to treating them. Chairman Mao, who best knows these hopes, long ago instructed that health and medical work must not be divorced from the peasants who make up the majority of the population. In 1958, guided by Chairman Mao's proletarian revolutionary line, the Jiangchen commune set up a hospital and four clinics and through short courses trained 19 health workers who spent a part of their time in productivity labor too.

The barefoot doctors are whole-heartedly devoted to serving the poor and lower-middle peasants. How many stormy and snowy nights, how many hot and sultry days have seen them hurrying along the narrow field paths or the wide sea dykes, their medical kits slung over their shoulders. After a full day's labor they go right on to visit their patients, often sitting by their sides through the night to keep a close watch over development. More than once they have brought a seriously ill peasant to the county hospital in a rowboat for emergency treatment.

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Guided by Chairman Mao's revolutionary line, the barefoot doctors of Jiangchen commune are not only healers of disease. They are also propagandists of Mao Zedong's Thought, helpers in the study of Chairman Mao's works, and advisers in preventive work. Warmly they show the commune members why and how to disinfect drinking water, plan the sites of latrines, scientifically manage the use of night soil, explain sanitation and hygiene, and help the commune members conduct health campaigns. As a result, the number of contagious disease cases has dropped markedly. The barefoot doctors have become an effective force in implementing the policy of stressing disease prevention in medical practice. And they have been a strong help in changing customs and habits and in transforming the countryside.

(From "The Barefoot Doctors," March 1969.)

Restoration of China's Legitimate Position within the United Nations

Deng Xiaoping (back row, first from the right), Qiao Guanhua and Huang Hua, heads of the Chinese delegation to the UN General Assembly in 1974.

China is a founder member of the United Nations, and one of its five permanent council members, but for a long time the issue of the legitimate position of the People's Republic in the United Nations remained unsolved because of a veto by the United States and certain other countries. In 1971, the UN assembly passed its Solution 2758 by a majority vote and restored China's legitimate rights within the United Nations. The following speech delivered by the head of the Chinese delegation on this special occasion at the United Nations is stirring, even today.

We have consistently maintained that all countries, big or small, should be equal and that the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence should be taken as the principles guiding the relations between countries. The people of each country have the right to choose the social system of their own country according to their own will and to protect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of their own country. No country has the right to subject another country to its aggression, subversion, control, interference or bullying. We are opposed to the imperialist and colonialist theory that big nations are superior to small nations and small nations are subordinate to big nations. We are opposed to the power politics and hegemony of big nations bullying small ones or strong nations bullying weak ones. We hold that the affairs of a given country must be handled by its own people, that the affairs of the world must be handled by all the countries of the world, and that the affairs of the UN must be handled jointly by all its member states, and the superpowers should not be allowed to manipulate and monopolize them. At no time, neither today nor ever in the future, will China be a superpower subjecting others to its aggression, subversion, control, interference or bullying.

(From "Chinese Delegation Speaks at the UN," January 1972.)

Ode to New China

A scene from "The East Is Red."

The East Is Red was a grand stage production dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the People's Republic of China and was both a masterpiece and milestone in the performing arts of new China. It is a collocation of collective effort and incorporates literature, poetry, music, dance, stage design, lighting and acoustic effects and other innovative aspects of performing art. In the four decades that followed, no other stage production has been able to surpass this stage epic.

The East Is Red is an epic spectacle of bold dimensions with over 3,000 performers, picturing through mass and solo songs and dances the broad sweep of the Chinese people's revolution from the founding of the Communist Party in 1921 up to the present. It opened during the celebrations of the 15th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic last October 1. The first fourteen performances in the 10,000-seat main auditorium of the Great Hall of the People were seen by packed audiences totaling 150,000, including 3,000 foreign guests from five continents. Millions more viewed it on television.

The eight-act song and dance pageant epitomizes the struggle of the Chinese people who, led by the Communist Party and Chairman Mao Tse-tung, overthrew imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism and achieved their own liberation. It goes on to depict how, under the same leadership, they are now building socialism and standing shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the people of the world to oppose imperialism and colonialism and to fight for world peace, national liberation, people's democracy and socialism.

Historic battles re-created on the stage point up the truth that armed struggle is essential to the victory of the revolution. It was the armed forces of the people that resisted and wiped out the counter-revolutionary armed forces of imperialism and domestic reaction. The spirit of self-reliance and determined hard work that propels China's advance in today's socialist construction was already in evidence in the movement for production in the liberated areas during the anti-Japanese war. Another strong theme that emerges from the performance is that of a broad united front against the main enemy -- another essential for victory. This is vividly expressed in several numbers, from the song of the great 1924-1927 revolution, "Workers, Peasants, Soldiers, Unite!" to the mass songs and dances which symbolize the unity of China's many nationalities and the solidarity of the people of the world today.

The East Is Red makes full use of the music and dance forms which developed during past revolutionary struggles and elevates them into a medium truly worthy of the theme. For each component part, they select as the main motif the most popular revolutionary songs of that period. These songs, distinctly national in style, convey the thoughts and feelings of the revolutionary masses at each stage of their history. Most are rendered through a combination with acting or dancing, an art form that has long been the working people's favorite.

(From "The East Is Red," January 1965.)