Beijing, May 3 – China announced Thursday it will turn the base where it produced its first atomic bomb into a museum to draw tourists.
The state-owned Xinhua news agency reported the base in northwest Qinghai Province in the Tibet region is being declassified so that it can be turned into a tourist attraction. The base was built in 1958 and was closed in 1987.
“The base will become a key tourist facility, and will be transformed into a site to foster and maintain the patriotic spirit of the Chinese nation,” local official Zuo Xumin said.
China tested its first atomic bomb in 1964. Three years later, it tested its first hydrogen bomb.
The base also has a research laboratory, control center, electricity generation and communication rooms. Xinhua reported a museum would be opened soon at the facility, displaying telephone equipment, household items and clothes used by its first employees.
The base, known as the “Atomic Town,” is a milestone in the nation’s history of the construction, Xinhua said.
