January 1960
The Chinese Communist Party Politburo decides to develop the atomic bomb without foreign assistance.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 121.

February 1960
China begins construction of its first nuclear reactor to produce plutonium for military use. [Note: The reactor begins full operation in early 1967].
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), pp. 111-112.

April 1960
China begins construction of its Uranium Hexafluoride Plant in the Juiquan Atomic Energy Complex, Gansu Province.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 103.

April 1960
Chinese engineers begin design work on the weaponization of nuclear bombs.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 207.

21 April 1960
China makes the first 1,000 mock-ups of a test series for its first atomic bomb.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 155.

August 1960
The Soviet Union withdraws its support under the New Defense Technical Accord of 15 October 1957. Under the terms of the agreement, the Soviets were to supply China with an atomic bomb.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 89.

12 August 1960
China establishes the Uranium Oxide Production Plant, which is also known as Plant Two. The plant later processes the uranium used in China's first atomic bomb.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), pp. 91-92.

1 September 1960
The Chenxian Uranium Mine in Hunan Province becomes partially operational.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 86.

Mid-1961
The Chinese military begins to plan on the assumption that it will have nuclear weapons within a few years.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 131.

July 1962
China begins sustained production of uranium hexafluoride at its Uranium Hexafluoride Plant in the Juiquan Atomic Energy Complex, Gansu Province.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 103.

Early September 1962
China's atomic bomb design team perfects the design of its first atomic bomb.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 155.

Late 1962
Chinese technicians successfully test the explosive assembly and initiator for China's first atomic bomb.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 159.

14 June 1963
The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party sends a letter to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union mentioning the non-use of nuclear weapons in Korea, Vietnam, Algeria and Cuba. The letter asserts that "politically, recourse to this kind of weapon would place US imperialism in a position of extreme isolation, and, militarily, the massive destructiveness of nuclear weapons limits their use."
--Alice Langley Hsieh, "The Sino-Soviet Nuclear Dialogue: 1963," The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 8, No. 2, June 1964.

31 July 1963
China proposes a world summit conference to discuss nuclear disarmament. China proposes four steps toward complete disarmament: 1) dismantling all foreign bases and withdrawing all nuclear weapons from abroad; 2) establishing nuclear-free zones in Asia and the Pacific, Central Europe, Africa, and Latin America; 3) the non-export and non-import of nuclear weapons or the technical information for their production; and 4) a halt to all nuclear testing, including underground. The statement opposes the proposed partial test ban treaty.
--Walter C. Clemens, Jr., "China," in Richard Dean Burns, ed., Encyclopedia of Arms Control and Disarmament, Volume 1 (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1993) , p. 66; Alice Langley Hsieh, "The Sino-Soviet Nuclear Dialogue: 1963," The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 8, No. 2, June 1964.

5 August 1963
The United States, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom sign the Partial Test ban Treaty. China criticizes the Soviet Union for "switching sides" and "joining the imperialists to consolidate their nuclear monopoly." Chinese leaders viewed it as an attempt to bring diplomatic pressure against Beijing to halt its nuclear program.
--"Treaty Banning Nuclear Test in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water (Partial Test Ban Treaty)," Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Inventory of International Nonproliferation Organizations & Regimes, <http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/inven/pdfs/atosuw.pdf>; John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), pp. 192-193.

15 August 1963
The Chinese government issues a statement that claims the United States "intends to use tactical nuclear weapons in local wars in order to deal with non-nuclear socialist and other peace-loving countries and people."
--Cited in Alice Langley Hsieh, "The Sino-Soviet Nuclear Dialogue: 1963," The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol.8, No. 2, June 1964.

September 1963
China's Ninth Academy finishes its design work on China's first atomic bomb.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 196.

September 1963
China's Ninth Academy begins work on the design of a hydrogen bomb.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 196.

1 September 1963
The Chinese government issues a statement that says, "The crucial point is, what should be the policy in face of US imperialist nuclear blackmail and threats--resistance or capitulation? We stand for resistance."
--Chinese government statement cited in Alice Langley Hsieh, "The Sino-Soviet Nuclear Dialogue: 1963," The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 8, No. 2, June 1964.

October 1963
Premier Zhou Enlai, in an interview with former Japanese Prime Minister Tanzan Ishibashi, says that China has faith that the USSR would assist China in the case of war.
--Alice Langley Hsieh, "The Sino-Soviet Nuclear Dialogue: 1963," The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 8, No. 2, June 1964.

19 November 1963
The Chinese government publishes an open letter to the leaders of the Soviet Union that includes, "We have consistently held that socialist countries have to get and maintain nuclear superiority."
--Mingquan Zhu, "The Evolution of China's Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy," Nonproliferation Review, Winter 1997, p. 43.

Late December 1963
The Lanzhou Gaseous Diffusion Plant produces weapons-grade uranium hexafluoride.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 166.

14 January 1964
The Lanzhou Gaseous Diffusion Plant succeeds in producing significant quantities of uranium enriched to 90 percent uranium-235.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), pp. 134-136.

30 April 1964
Chinese technicians begin machining the uranium core for China's first atomic bomb.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 167.

1 May 1964
Chinese technicians complete the machining of the core for China's first atomic bomb.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 168.

22 August 1964
Mao Zedong tells a group of foreign visitors, "It is possible for our country to produce a few atom bombs, but we are not going to use them. Why do we want to produce them if we are not going to use them? We will use them as defensive weapons. Some nuclear powers, especially the United States, like to use atom bombs to threaten other countries."
--Mingquan Zhu, "The Evolution of China's Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy," Nonproliferation Review, Winter 1997, p. 44.

29 September 1964
U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk publicly announces that a Chinese detonation of an atomic device is imminent. He downplays the effect of such a test on the American military posture and nuclear weapons program but deplores "atmospheric testing in the face of serious efforts made by almost all other nations to protect the atmosphere."
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 244.

16 October 1964
China conducts its first nuclear explosion at 3:00 PM. The detonation of "Device 596" represents the year and month (June 1959) in which the Soviets refused to provide China with a prototype nuclear device. The enriched uranium bomb is tower-mounted, uses an implosive design and has a yield of between 20 kilotons and 22 kilotons of TNT.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), pp. 1, 150, 186-198, 244; Xiaoping Yang, Robert North and Carl Romney, "CMR Nuclear Explosion Database (Revision 3): CMR Technical Report CMR-00/16," August 2000, <http://www.rdss.info/database/nucex/report/explosion.pdf>; US Army Space and Missile Defense Command Monitoring Research Program "Nuclear Explosion Database," <http://www.rdss.info/index_ie.html>.

16 October 1964
In the statement after its first nuclear weapon explosion, the Chinese government declares that: "The Chinese Government hereby solemnly proposes to the governments of the world that a summit conference of all the countries of the world be convened to discuss the questions of the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons, and that as the first step, the summit conference conclude an agreement to the effect that the nuclear powers and those countries which may soon become nuclear powers undertake not to use nuclear weapons either against non-nuclear countries and nuclear-free zones or against each other."
--"Statement of the Government of the People's Republic of China," 16 October 1964, quoted in John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), Appendix A, pp. 241-243.

22 October 1964
A Renmin Ribao [People's Daily] editorial suggests that "as long as US imperialism possesses nuclear bombs, China must have them too."
--cited in John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 2.

14 May 1965
China conducts its second nuclear test. This test is an atmospheric test of a fission (U-235) device, air-dropped by an H-6 bomber, and has an explosive yield of between 20 kilotons and 40 kilotons of TNT.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 244; Xiaoping Yang, Robert North and Carl Romney, "CMR Nuclear Explosion Database (Revision 3): CMR Technical Report CMR-00/16," August 2000, <http://www.rdss.info/database/nucex/report/explosion.pdf>; US Army Space and Missile Defense Command Monitoring Research Program "Nuclear Explosion Database," <http://www.rdss.info/index_ie.html>.

9 May 1966
China conducts its third nuclear test. This is an atmospheric test of a boosted fission device (U-235 and Lithium-6) that is air-dropped by an H-6 bomber and has an explosive yield of between 200 kilotons and 300 kilotons of TNT.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), pp. 201, 244; Xiaoping Yang, Robert North and Carl Romney, "CMR Nuclear Explosion Database (Revision 3): CMR Technical Report CMR-00/16," August 2000, <http://www.rdss.info/database/nucex/report/explosion.pdf>; US Army Space and Missile Defense Command Monitoring Research Program "Nuclear Explosion Database," <http://www.rdss.info/index_ie.html>.

27 October 1966
China conducts its fourth nuclear test. This atmospheric test uses the Dongfeng-2, a medium-range ballistic missile, which is launched from Shuangchengzi to Lop Nur. The explosive yield is between 12 kilotons and 30 kilotons of TNT.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), pp. 202-203, 209, 212, 244; Xiaoping Yang, Robert North and Carl Romney, "CMR Nuclear Explosion Database (Revision 3): CMR Technical Report CMR-00/16," August 2000, <http://www.rdss.info/database/nucex/report/explosion.pdf>; US Army Space and Missile Defense Command Monitoring Research Program "Nuclear Explosion Database," <http://www.rdss.info/index_ie.html>.

28 December 1966
China conducts its fifth nuclear test. This boosted-fission atmospheric test is done with a tower-mounted device to confirm the design principles of a two-stage nuclear device. The explosive yield is between 300 kilotons and 500 kilotons of TNT.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), pp. 201, 244; Xiaoping Yang, Robert North and Carl Romney, "CMR Nuclear Explosion Database (Revision 3): CMR Technical Report CMR-00/16," August 2000, <http://www.rdss.info/database/nucex/report/explosion.pdf>; US Army Space and Missile Defense Command Monitoring Research Program "Nuclear Explosion Database," <http://www.rdss.info/index_ie.html>.

Early May 1967
China's Nuclear Component Manufacturing Plant finishes assembling China's first thermonuclear bomb.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), pp. 204-205.

17 June 1967
China conducts its sixth nuclear test. This atmospheric test is China's first full-yield multi-stage thermonuclear test (U-235). The bomb is dropped by an H-6 bomber and yields between 3.0 megatons and 3.3 megatons of TNT.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), pp. 205-206, 244; Xiaoping Yang, Robert North and Carl Romney, "CMR Nuclear Explosion Database (Revision 3): CMR Technical Report CMR-00/16," August 2000, <http://www.rdss.info/database/nucex/report/explosion.pdf>; US Army Space and Missile Defense Command Monitoring Research Program "Nuclear Explosion Database," <http://www.rdss.info/index_ie.html>.

24 December 1967
China conducts its seventh nuclear test with a fission device (U-235 and U-238) boosted with lithium-6. The test is conducted in the atmosphere and the bomb is dropped by an H-6 bomber. The bomb yields between 15 kilotons and 25 kilotons of TNT.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 244; Xiaoping Yang, Robert North and Carl Romney, "CMR Nuclear Explosion Database (Revision 3): CMR Technical Report CMR-00/16," August 2000, <http://www.rdss.info/database/nucex/report/explosion.pdf>; US Army Space and Missile Defense Command Monitoring Research Program "Nuclear Explosion Database," <http://www.rdss.info/index_ie.html>.

27 December 1968
China conducts its eighth nuclear test, and its first test using plutonium. The bomb core has U-235 and some plutonium. The test is conducted in the atmosphere with an H-6 bomber and has a yield of three megatons.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), pp. 113, 244; Xiaoping Yang, Robert North and Carl Romney, "CMR Nuclear Explosion Database (Revision 3): CMR Technical Report CMR-00/16," August 2000, <http://www.rdss.info/database/nucex/report/explosion.pdf>; US Army Space and Missile Defense Command Monitoring Research Program "Nuclear Explosion Database," <http://www.rdss.info/index_ie.html>.

23 September 1969
China conducts its ninth nuclear test with a fission device. This is China's first underground test, yielding between 20 kilotons and 25 kilotons of TNT.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 244; Xiaoping Yang, Robert North and Carl Romney, "CMR Nuclear Explosion Database (Revision 3): CMR Technical Report CMR-00/16," August 2000, <http://www.rdss.info/database/nucex/report/explosion.pdf>; US Army Space and Missile Defense Command Monitoring Research Program "Nuclear Explosion Database," <http://www.rdss.info/index_ie.html>.

29 September 1969
China conducts its tenth nuclear test. The thermonuclear bomb is dropped by an H-6 bomber and yields three megatons of TNT.
--John Wilson Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1988), p. 244; Xiaoping Yang, Robert North and Carl Romney, "CMR Nuclear Explosion Database (Revision 3): CMR Technical Report CMR-00/16," August 2000, <http://www.rdss.info/database/nucex/report/explosion.pdf>; US Army Space and Missile Defense Command Monitoring Research Program "Nuclear Explosion Database," <http://www.rdss.info/index_ie.html>.

	Updated December 2005