XIHAI, CHINA — When word came on Oct. 16, 1964, that China had detonated its first atomic bomb, thousands of scientists and soldiers ran onto the grasslands here, leaping and shouting and weeping with joy.
It was a triumphant moment, the tears washing away the humiliation of the Soviet Union's withdrawal of support and the crumbling of China's economy, which had left millions dead of starvation. Yet most of the 30,000 people stationed here -- at what was known as Factory 221 -- didn't know that it was their research and work that had catapulted China into the ranks of the nuclear powers.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday, September 14, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 38 words Type of Material: Correction
Weapons base: A Sept. 2 article in Section A about China opening up an old nuclear research base referred to Liaoyang as a province in northeast China. Liaoyang is a city in the northeast Chinese province of Liaoning.
For three decades, Factory 221 was a forbidden zone, shrouded in secrecy. Now, government officials are moving to turn this shuttered weapons base in China's remote northwest into a major tourist destination. It is part of a growing push to educate citizens and stoke patriotic fervor by promoting "red tourism."
On a recent morning, tour guide Han Jinmei strained to swing open a 3-ton steel door with three heavy locks that is 30 feet underground. It's explosion-proof, poison gas-proof, Han said, as she stepped inside a corridor leading to base headquarters.
In one room was an old radio-telephone switchboard, cables running down it. Another room had a 1.8-horsepower electrical generator. Its engine came from the Soviets, Han said, adding quickly that everything else in the underground chamber had been made in China. She shined a light on a red label stamped on the top of a carrier-wave communication machine.
"The tag proves it was domestically made," she said. On the small label were words from Communist Party Chairman Mao Tse-tung: "The force at the core leading our cause forward is the Chinese Communist Party; the theoretical foundation that instructs our thought is Marxism and Leninism."
The subterranean command center opened to the public in April. That month, workers began construction on a $10-million "Nuclear City" museum. Officials also plan to restore some of the assembly factories, bunkers and old sentry posts, said Bei Jing Cai Rang, a Tibetan and vice director of Haibei Tourism Bureau, which oversees Xihai.
Behind most of these investments is China's Propaganda Department.
Beijing wants "to arouse visitors' national pride," said Dai Chaowu, professor of history at Nanjing University. He said the project dovetails with another top priority of the central government: economic development of China's west, which has badly trailed the rapid growth on its east coast.
