preface
Why did Lop Nur change history?
Since United States surrendered Japan with atomic bombs, nuclear weapons have become the world's most despised weapons of mass destruction, because just one is enough to devastate a city.
However, you can imagine that somewhere in China in the first place, in order to promote the development of nuclear weapons on the mainland, participated in 45 nuclear tests, although it was not an official explosion, but it is clear that the harm of so many tests should not be underestimated.
Just when everyone thought that Lop Nur would become even more barren after the nuclear test, we did not expect it to reappear in front of us with such a picturesque scenery rippling blue waves......
Ear of the Earth, Sea of Death
Located in the Tarim Basin, one of China's four major basins, and bordering the Taklamakan Desert, China's largest desert, Lop Nur was once China's second-largest saltwater lake, although it is known as the world's leading arid center.
It was only later that due to some reasons, it became seriously desertified and rapidly degraded, and the severe water shortage also caused the climate of the Lop Nur area to become extremely changeable, with dryness and heat being its distinctive characteristics.
Sandstorms are common in hot summers, with maximum temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius, almost no precipitation throughout the year, and ridiculously high evaporation.
It is called the Sea of Death because Lop Nur is now close to completely drying up, and since it dried up, the ecological environment around it has undergone serious changes.
Not only have all the plants died, but it has even merged with the Taklamakan Desert, becoming a veritable no-man's land, where plants and animals are hard to find.
It is difficult for even humans to conquer this area, because until now, there are many unsolved mysteries in Lop Nur, and many people who enter here will always lose contact with the outside world for some reason, and no one knows whether they are alive or dead.
From the Internet, we will always see all kinds of news about the accident in Lop Nur, and the famous Chinese biochemist Peng Jiamu once lost contact while conducting research in the Lop Nur area.
The name "Big Ears" is due to the fact that scientists have found that the almost dry Lop Nur area magically takes on the shape of ears according to the remote sensing images.
Since then, it has the title of "big ears", and the reason why it looks like an ear is because it can only see a certain part of it in remote sensing images under the influence of a special geographical environment.
Lop Nur protected Dunhuang
Logically speaking, how could such a place, where it is difficult for people to survive without a single crop, become a nuclear base for New China's repeated test explosions?
In fact, when the site was selected for the nuclear test, Lop Nur was indeed not the first choice point, and what many people did not know was that at the suggestion of some Soviet experts, Dunhuang was the preferred location for the atomic bomb test site.
Later, under the field investigation of General Zhang Yunyu, it was found that there were a lot of historical monuments and precious cultural relics in Dunhuang, and in his opinion, so many cultural relics could not stand a little destruction.
At the same time, Dunhuang is also a very water-scarce area, which makes the soil here not only hard but also very thick, and it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no radioactive hazards if it explodes here.
The most important thing is that if China wants to develop an atomic bomb with such a large yield, one Dunhuang will never be able to afford it, so under such conditions, Zhang Yunyu put forward a proposal for another site.
And in 1958, Zhang Yunyu led the survey team to the Lop Nur area, and these investigators also became the first batch of expedition teams to enter Lop Nur in New China.
Since there are no people and no pastures within a radius of hundreds of kilometers of Lop Nur, it also became an experimental base for nuclear explosions, and everyone knows the story later.
From 1964 to 1967, China successfully exploded an atomic bomb and a hydrogen bomb at Lop Nur, which not only ended China's path to non-nuclear weapons, but also allowed China to stand tall in the world.
In the years that followed, China tested a very large and small number of experiments here in Lop Nur until 1996, when the Chinese government announced that it would begin a moratorium on nuclear testing on July 30.
This place, which has dedicated 32 years to the country, has been honorably "retired", and it is estimated that a total of 45 nuclear tests have been completed in the remote Lop Nur area in the past few decades.
Such a high frequency will undoubtedly have a very big impact on the local area of Lop Nur, even if it is a desert with no people, it will not be "broken jars".
Just when everyone thought that Lop Nur was "incurable", they never thought that it appeared in front of us in another unexpected way.
The status quo
From the video released by CCTV in 2023, we can see that in the hinterland of the Lop Nur region of Xinjiang, there is a rippling blue lake that is difficult to see at a glance.
CCTV once introduced this land like this:
The endless lake water is clear and jade, the "distinct" salt pans ripple in the microwave, the white coral salt flowers sparkle in the sun, and the emerald waves of salt and milk blend together, like a dream.
Although Lop Nur was once facing extreme dryness, it is home to some of China's richest potash deposits, and is now expected to become the country's largest potash production base under national development.
And for its development, Xinjiang also deliberately built a railway called Harrow in Lop Nur, which connects Hami Railway Station at one end and Lop Nur Center at the other end.
epilogue
There is no doubt that Lop Nur is great, and although it is very unfriendly to mankind, it has contributed to the success of China's nuclear industry, and it is its existence that has allowed China to successfully launch in test after test.
And those unknown scientists who have contributed to the country are obviously very worthy of our respect, without their predecessors, China would never be as strong as it is today.
I hope that in the future life, we will not only remember those heroes, but also pay the highest respect to Lop Nur and Jiuquan, who "shed blood and tears" for China.
Resources
The Paper: The whole army hangs a portrait of the heroic model Lin Junde: 52 years of sticking to Lop Nur and participating in 45 nuclear tests2018-09-25
People's Daily · People's Daily: Ancient Lop Nur West Lake is superimposed on the ancient East Lake, which covers an area of more than 10,000 square kilometers -- scientists newly solve the mystery of Lop Nur's 'big ears' June 02, 2011
The Paper: Solving the mystery of Lop Nur The famous scientist Xia Xuncheng passed away, and he led a team to find Peng Jiamu three times2022-05-18
China Daily: How was China's first nuclear test site determined? It was he who protected Dunhuang on October 16, 2021
CNR: Xinjiang Lop Nur Salt Lake Bingqing Yurun is like a dream, November 14, 2023
Huasheng Online: The Harrow team of the Hami Dynamic Inspection Workshop of Urumqi West Depot has been sticking to Lop Nur for 10 years - road guards in the desert July 20, 2024