What is Qian Xuesen’s life like abroad?

★The story of Qian Xuesen's return to China (short story):

In 1949, Qian Xuesen, who was in the United States, heard the exciting news - the founding of the People's Republic of China !

This leading rocket expert in the United States decided to give up everything and return to his motherland as soon as possible to contribute all his strength to the construction of New China. At that time, there was a countercurrent in the United States that was madly anti-Japanese and persecuted progressive people. Qian Xuesen was on the blacklist of the US secret service and was constantly persecuted. However, Qian Xuesen did not give in. He kept making demands: resolutely leave the United States and return to China!

In 1955, the Chinese government used diplomatic struggles to force the U.S. government to allow Qian Xuesen to return to China. Qian Xuesen finally returned to his longed-for hometown. Qian Xuesen said excitedly: "I believe I will be able to return to the motherland. Now, I am finally back!"

★The story of Qian Xuesen's return to China (Part 2):

Qian Xuesen was born in 1935 In August of that year, he went to the United States as a publicly funded international student to study and research aeronautical engineering and aerodynamics. After more than ten years of hard work, he became a world-class rocket expert at that time. During World War II, he and his mentor von Karman participated in the top-secret "Manhattan Project" in the United States at that time - the research and development project of missile and nuclear weapons. He was one of the few outstanding talents in the United States. He served as director of the Hypersonics Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology and director of the Guggenheim Jet Propulsion Research Center.

On October 1, 1949, the five-star red flag was raised over Tiananmen Square, and New China was founded. Five days later, it is my country's traditional festival - the Mid-Autumn Festival. On this day, Qian Xuesen and his wife celebrated the festival with more than a dozen Chinese students. They expressed their feelings while admiring the moon, deeply rejoicing at the new life of the motherland, and expressing their appreciation for the great achievements of the motherland. The bright future is full of longing. At this time, Qian Xuesen had a strong desire in his heart: to return to the motherland as soon as possible and use his expertise to serve national construction.

Soon, the United States launched a war in Korea and used the reactionary McCarthy Law at home, setting off an anti-*** countercurrent that drove employees to be loyal to the U.S. government. This countercurrent also affected the California Institute of Technology. Due to the arrest of Weinbaum, secretary of the college's Marxist-Leninist group, the FBI's suspicion fell on Qian Xuesen. In July 1950, the U.S. government decided to disqualify Qian Xuesen from participating in confidential research on the grounds that he was friends with Weinbaum, and accused Qian Xuesen of being a member of the Communist Party of America and illegally entering the country. These groundless accusations were all dismissed by Qian Xuesen. However, Qian Xuesen couldn't bear all this and decided to return to his motherland immediately on the grounds of visiting relatives. When he met with Kimble, the U.S. Navy Undersecretary in charge of his research work, he solemnly declared to Kimble that he would leave immediately to return home. He said: "I would rather go back to my hometown in China than continue to live in the United States under suspicion!" Kimble was shocked after hearing this. He believed that Qian Xuesen was worth five divisions no matter where he was placed. He also said: "I would rather shoot him than let this guy leave the United States!" So as soon as Qian Xuesen walked out of his office, Kimble immediately notified the immigration bureau.

Unknowingly, Qian Xuesen made all preparations to return to China. He completed the return procedures, bought a plane ticket from Canada to Hong Kong, and handed over his luggage to a moving company for shipment. However, just two days before their family planned to leave Los Angeles, that is, at midnight on August 23, 1950, he suddenly received a notice from the Immigration Bureau that the family was not allowed to leave the United States. At the same time, U.S. Customs detained all of Qian Xuesen’s luggage. In this way, Qian Xuesen was forced to return to Caltech. After that, the FBI sent people to monitor his family and all his actions.

On September 6, 1950, Qian Xuesen was suddenly illegally detained by the FBI, and he was sent to the Immigration Bureau Detention Center for detention. In the detention center, Qian Xuesen was tortured like a criminal. Qian Xuesen once recalled: "Within 15 days of being detained, I lost 30 pounds. At night, the secret agents came to wake me up every hour. I couldn't get any rest at all, and I was in a state of extreme mental stress."

After Qian Xuesen was detained for no reason, teachers and students at the California Institute of Technology, Qian Xuesen's teacher von Kamen, and some friendly people in the United States lodged a strong protest with the Immigration Bureau, found a defense lawyer for him, and raised $15,000 in bail money to release Qian Xuesen. . After that, Qian Xuesen continued to be persecuted by the Immigration Bureau. His movements were restricted by the Immigration Bureau and monitored by FBI agents. He was not allowed to leave Los Angeles, where he lived, and he was questioned regularly. Qian Xuesen lost 5 years of freedom in this way.

However, Qian Xuesen’s innocent love for the motherland not only did not disappear, but became even more intense. He missed New China day and night. He persisted in fighting and constantly made requests to the Immigration Bureau to return to his country.

At this time, Qian Xuesen, who could not return to his country, did not stop his dedicated scientific career during these five years. One of the reasons why the U.S. government prevented him from leaving the United States was because the rocket technology he studied was related to national defense. When Qian Xuesen knew this, he chose "engineering cybernetics" as a research direction to help eliminate obstacles to returning to China. In fact, engineering cybernetics is closely related to production automation, the development and application of electronic computers and other national defense construction issues, but the US authorities did not realize this at the time.

Qian Xuesen’s struggle to return to the motherland received care and support from the motherland. The news that Qian Xuesen was persecuted and framed in the United States shocked New China. People in the domestic scientific community expressed support for Qian Xuesen through various channels. The Party Central Committee is also extremely concerned about Qian Xuesen's situation in the United States. The Chinese government publicly issued a statement condemning the US government for imprisoning Qian Xuesen against his will.

Just as Qian Xuesen’s request to return to China was unreasonably blocked by the United States, China was also detaining a group of Americans. Among them are American nationals who violated Chinese laws and were detained by the Chinese government, and American military personnel who violated Chinese airspace and were detained by the Chinese government. On April 26, 1954, during the Indochina International Conference, Wang Bingnan, secretary-general of the Chinese delegation, and Ya. During the contact, Wang Bingnan specifically pointed out that the United States is preventing many Chinese living in the United States from returning to China, including scientist Qian Xuesen. In April 1954, the United States, Britain, France, China, and the Soviet Union held an international conference in Geneva to discuss and resolve the Korean issue and restore peace in Indochina. Zhou Enlai, the head of the Chinese delegation attending the meeting, instructed that since the Americans asked British diplomats to clear relations with us, we should seize this opportunity to open up new channels of contact. During the negotiations, we must first contact the issue of the detention of Qian Xuesen, a Chinese scientist studying in the United States. In order to seize the initiative, Zhou Enlai instructed the spokesperson of the Chinese delegation Huang Hua to make a statement, asking the US government to return the detained Chinese nationals and students, and hinted that China was willing to negotiate directly with the United States on the issue of detaining US personnel. Under such circumstances, the U.S. government had no choice but to agree to direct negotiations with Chinese representatives.

With the approval of Zhou Enlai, Secretary-General Wang Bingnan of the Chinese delegation began preliminary discussions on June 5 with the US representative and Deputy Secretary of State Johnson on the issue of expatriates in the two countries. The United States submitted to China a list of American nationals in China and some American military personnel detained by China, and asked China to give them a chance to return home. In order to show his sincerity, Zhou Enlai instructed Wang Bingnan to make generous concessions at the third Sino-US talks held on June 15, and also asked the United States to stop detaining Qian Xuesen and other Chinese personnel studying in the United States. However, China's legitimate request was unreasonably rejected by the United States. On July 21, the Geneva Conference concluded. In order not to interrupt communication channels, Zhou Enlai instructed Wang Bingnan to agree with the United States to hold consular-level talks in Geneva starting from July 22. In order to further express its sincerity in talks with the United States, the Chinese government decided to release four detained American pilots first. China's high profile is ultimately to win over Qian Xuesen and other scientists studying in the United States to return home as soon as possible. But on this key issue, the Americans have cheated. U.S. Representative Johnson refused to agree to release Qian Xuesen and return to China because China could not provide the real reason for Qian Xuesen's request to return to China.

While Premier Zhou Enlai was extremely anxious about this, Chen Shutong, then Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, received a letter sent from across the ocean, signed by "Qian Xuesen". It turned out that Qian Xuesen, in order to get rid of the spy's surveillance, wrote the letter on a small cigarette paper, sandwiched it with a letter home to relatives in Belgium, and then passed it on to Chen Shutong. In the letter, Qian Xuesen asked the motherland to help him return to the country. Chen Shutong personally handed the letter to Zhou Enlai. Zhou Enlai was overjoyed after reading it: "This is really good. It can completely refute the lies of the US government!" He immediately made careful arrangements and ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to quickly forward the letter to Wang Bingnan, who was negotiating in Geneva, and instructed: "This letter The letter is very valuable. This is ironclad evidence that the U.S. authorities are still obstructing the return of Chinese civilians. You must use this letter to expose their lies during negotiations."

Wang Bingnan followed Zhou Enlai's instructions. He was the first to speak at the beginning of the Sino-US ambassadorial-level talks on August 1. He said to Johnson: "Mr. Ambassador, before we start our discussion, I have been ordered to inform you of the following news: On July 31, the Chinese government decided to release Arnold and other 11 American pilots early on July 31 in accordance with China's legal procedures. He left Beijing on August 31 and is expected to arrive in Hong Kong on August 4. "I hope that this measure taken by the Chinese government will have a positive impact on our talks." But Johnson still repeated his old tune - "There is no evidence that Qian Xuesen." The U.S. government cannot force you to return home." Wang Bingnan then showed Qian Xuesen's letter to Chen Shutong, and confidently refuted it to Johnson: "Since the U.S. government made a public announcement as early as April 1955, allowing scholars studying in the United States to come and go freely, why did the Chinese scientist Dr. Qian Xuesen in June What about writing to the Chinese government to ask for help? Obviously, Chinese scholars are still being blocked in their requests to return to the country." Faced with the facts, Johnson was speechless. The U.S. government had to approve Qian Xuesen's request to return to China. On August 4, 1955, Qian Xuesen received a notice from the US Immigration Service allowing him to return to China.

On September 17, 1955, Qian Xuesen, his wife Jiang Ying, and a pair of young children boarded the "Cleveland President" and embarked on a journey back to China. When he returned to Guangzhou from the United States on October 8, 1995, Qian Xuesen said something very emotional to the comrades from the China Travel Agency who received him: "I have always believed that I will be able to return to the motherland. Today, I finally came back!"