China's space pioneer under the microscope
By Peter J Brown
China views Qian Xuesen (Tsien Hsue-shen) as one of its most senior scientists.
This month, Premier Wen Jiabao visited Qian, as well as other senior
scientists, and the Shanghai Daily reported that this was the premier's fourth
visit with Qian in recent years.
As the 100th anniversary of Qian's birth in 1911 draws near, his role and
contribution continue to be debated in the West.
Thread of the Silkworm (Basic Books) by the late Iris Chang, which was
published in 1995, remains the most detailed biography of Qian in the English
language. Now two American researchers, Dr Gregory Kulacki and Jeffrey Lewis,
offer more
information about Qian while portraying him in a somewhat different light in
their recently published paper entitled "A Place for One's Mat: China's Space
Program, 1956-2003".
Kulacki is senior analyst and China project manager at the Massachusetts-based
Union of Concerned Scientists. Lewis is director of the Nuclear Strategy and
Non-proliferation Initiative at the Washington, DC-based New America
Foundation. Their paper was published as part of the "Reconsidering the Rules
of Space" project at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences under the
guidance of the academy's Committee on International Security Studies.
More than a decade ago Chang wrote her in-depth, 329-page book focused entirely
on Qian's life until the early 1990s, whereas Kulacki and Lewis set out to do
something far different in just over 30 pages. They wrote that, "We do not for
a moment believe that we have written a definitive history of China's space
program. We do not present the complete chronologies of every space program and
piece of technology discussed in the original Chinese sources, but instead have
selected as case studies three important decisions and accomplishments: (1) The
launch of China's first satellite in 1970, (2) The launch of China's first
communications satellite in 1984, and (3) China's first human space flight in
2003."
Kulacki and Lewis start their paper with a passage that somewhat downplays the
importance of Chang's overall contribution to the historical record. Although
they list her work in their bibliography at the very end of their paper (pg
34), they do not mention her book here.
Although China has become only
the third country to place a human being in orbit, little of the history of the
Chinese space program has been written in English. Of the handful of books on
the subject, two slim volumes stand out: The Chinese Space Program, by
Joan Johnson-Freese; and China's Space Program, by Brian Harvey. These
books are important, early efforts to document the history of China's space
program by focusing on things we can observe from afar - namely, the satellites
China has placed in orbit. These books provide a solid background on the
technical realities of China's program, particularly in a comparative context.
Although they are therefore necessary to understand the Chinese space program,
they are not sufficient. (pg 2)
It is up to each reader to
determine if Chang's book and "A Place for One's Mat" differ greatly. For
example, Kulacki and Lewis concluded, among other things, that, "Qian is, first
and foremost, a cheerleader, pressing China's leaders to consider the
possibilities of interplanetary space flight even as China endured one of the
worst famines in human history." (pg 30)
Chang, on the other hand, described Qian's primary role this way: "First of
all, Tsien gave the government the most important thing - confidence." (pg 209)
Kulacki and Lewis wrote that Qian was placed in a leadership position almost
from the moment that the late chairman Mao Zedong made the formal decision to
build a Chinese "Sputnik" during the Second Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Party
Congress on May 17, 1958.
"Mao exclaimed: 'If we're going to throw one up there then throw a big one, one
that weighs two tons. Of course we start throwing small, but with one that is
at least two tons. Something like that chicken egg of the Americans, I won't do
it!' After Mao's pronouncement, the CAS (Chinese Academy of Science) made the
satellite program its number one priority for 1958 and formed a special group
‘group 581’ - to carry out a three-phase plan beginning with the development of
a sounding rocket, the launch of a 200-kilogram satellite, and finally, the
launch of a satellite of several thousand kilograms. Qian Xuesen was the group
leader, with Zhao Jiuzhang and Wei Yiqing as assistant group leaders. They
established three design academies under the CAS to carry out the plan." (pgs
4-5)
And Qian still exercised great authority later on around the time of the
Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Out of the turmoil came the Chinese Academy of
Space Technology (CAST) in early 1968, and Qian became CAST's first director.
These two authors wrote that, "amid the chaos, [premier] Zhou Enlai tried
unsuccessfully to protect the satellite program at CAS from the political and
ideological struggles initiated by the movement. The satellite program was
being destroyed in the chaos. One casualty of the Cultural Revolution was Zhao
Jiuzhang, as responsible as anyone for pushing the satellite program since the
late 1950s. Zhao was eventually removed from his positions at CAS. Later, in
October 1968, he committed suicide." (pg 12)
At this point, Qian's significant organizational contributions came into play,
and one can see how Qian impacted the development of Chinese satellites.
Qian
replaced Zhao Jiuzhang with a young ex-air force officer, Sun Jiadong. Sun had
studied airplane engine design in Moscow, worked as a technical translator, and
had worked as a designer on the missile program with the Fifth Academy under
Qian since its founding ... Sun decided Zhao's original design was too
complicated for the initial launch and quickly won General Nie's support to
strip the satellite down to a bare minimum. Instead of Zhao's vision of the
project as a cornerstone for a long-term satellite development program, Sun's
stripped down satellite was named East Is Red 1, after a collection of
converted folk songs that told the story of the revolution. All the satellite
could do was play the first few bars of the song. The scientists who had worked
on the satellite program before the onset of the Cultural Revolution strongly
opposed Sun's proposal. Nevertheless, CSTND - the Committee on Science and
Technology for National Defense - approved the proposal in October 1967 - in
large part because of support from Qian Xuesen - and set aside much of the work
on the instrument packages and structural design that had been done in the two
years since the Project 651 meeting. (pg 13)
Although not
everything that Qian endorsed was a winner, Qian possessed the ability to
successfully delegate and this, among other things, enabled the Chinese program
to move forward. And while Kulacki and Lewis are right to label Qian as an
excellent cheerleader - "After the successful launch of East is Red 1 and an
enthusiastic speech by Qian Xuesen, the assembled experts boldly proposed a
plan to put a Chinese astronaut in space by the end of 1973." (pg 20) - and
while his ability to inspire and motivate his trusted associates and fans
deserves attention, this was not his primary role.
An early 2008 article - "Sea Change: The biggest change in the new ocean of
space is China's rise to the fore" - by Bradley Perrett and James Asker at
Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine which is the leading US weekly
publication covering the aerospace sector must also be included here. In this
article, Aviation Week named Qian their "Person of the Year" for 2007.
"Qian Xuesen is not our Person of the Year because he personally directed these
efforts. Now 96 years old and in poor health, he has not been active in the
Chinese space program for many years. Rather, it's because he, more than
anyone, is credited with the leading role in creating the scientific and
industrial complex that's now reaching these heights of achievement. He began
to create it, in 1956, from almost nothing," wrote Perrett and Asker. "At the
time, his Chinese colleagues knew little about rocket propulsion. His personal
book collection became a key resource. And his first research institute had
only one telephone."
Qian shipped that book collection from the US to China in the early 1950s, and
the shipment itself is somewhat controversial given the prolonged questioning
of Qian's loyalties at the time.
Perrett and Asker also saluted Chang's book, saying that it, "remains a leading
source for information about Qian", and included this quote by Chang about Qian
- "And it was he who helped turn systems engineering into a science in China,
by working out a management structure that would facilitate communication
between tiers of experts with a minimum of confusion and bureaucracy."
They also included this comment from Luan Enjie, a former administrator of the
China National Space Administration, and now in charge of China's Chang'e lunar
program - "He's the father of our space industry. It's difficult to say where
we would be without him."
Above all else, Chang's decision to label Qian as someone who, "gave the
government the most important thing - confidence" speaks more to his character
and emphasizes his credibility more than his enthusiasm alone.
Chang also wrote in her book's introduction about the role of Chinese
government officials who have for decades served as persistent gatekeepers in
terms of access to important information about Qian. She highlighted the "sense
of secrecy and paranoia" that surrounded Qian - "The biggest problem was
getting information of a personal nature on Tsien during the years when he
helped construct the Chinese missile and space program," Chang wrote. "During
my first visit to the People's Republic of China in the summer of 1993, I
became keenly aware of this secrecy when I was invited to a dinner in Beijing
at which certain colleagues of Tsien's pleaded with me not to write anything
that would offend Tsien for fear that they might be punished." (pgs xv-xvi)
Chang also discussed the difficulty she encountered in the United States due to
the fact that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation's files on Qian remained
tightly sealed as well. And when she interviewed Qian's son, Yucon Tsien, in
California in 1991, he conveyed the fact that Qian "still harbored considerable
resentment against the US government for their treatment of him during the
1950s".
"If my father had committed a crime in this country then my father would have
nothing to say. But my father devoted 20 years of his life to service in the
United States and contributed to much of this nation's technology only to be
repaid by being driven out of this country," said Tsien. (pg xvii)
Today, even inside China, there are vastly different opinions about Qian's life
beyond his contribution to the Chinese space program. In an exchange during the
preparation of this commentary, Kulacki disputed any attempt to link Qian to
any studies in China on supernatural powers in the mid-1980s. Nor does Kulacki
accept any assertion that Qian may have somehow directly or indirectly
encouraged the flourishing of Qigong schools.
"Qian did not believe in supernatural power to the best of my knowledge," said
Kulacki. "Moreover, Qigong is not a religion or in any way connected with the
supernatural. It is a well-established tradition within Chinese martial arts
and Chinese medicine with a long history that can be, and usually is, practiced
in the absence of any beliefs about religion or the supernatural."
"It would not be surprising for an old Chinese man to be interested in Qigong,
or to practice it. Tens of millions do. It is an exercise to promote good
health and longevity, pure and simple," added Kulacki.
At the same time, however, Chang wrote about Qian's intense interest in ESP
(extra-sensory perception), and she mentioned an article that Qian wrote in
1981 in which "he urged the government to devote more resources to the study of
the brain so more could be learned about ESP, Qigong, and acupuncture". (pg
257).
Today, even at age 98, Qian is still an active participant in China's aerospace
sector. Just a few days ago, at the ceremony celebrating the founding of the
new China Aerospace Science and Industry Academy of Information Technology
(CASIC-IT), it was announced that "a congratulatory letter" had been received
from Qian who wanted others to know that in his eyes, the formation of CASIC-IT
strengthened China's aerospace and information technology industry.
The year 2011 is fast approaching. Let us all hope that he is still alive in
2011 to celebrate his 100th birthday and to witness China's first space flight
to Mars, which is scheduled for launch soon aboard a Russian rocket.
Peter J Brown is a freelance satellite journalist from the state of
Maine, USA.
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