China's first atomic bomb was exploded Oct. 16, 1964 in the desert of Xinjiang.

At a base in Malan, northwest China, where the government conducted nuclear experiments 40 years ago, Gen. Xu Ruichen, a retired army official of national defense, said that China's decision to develop atomic bomb was of great historical significance at the time when the county was in an adverse international environment.

At Beijing-based Tsinghua University, students were urged to learn from scientists who devoted themselves to the country's nuclear programs.

Many of the Tsinghua graduates participated in the country's first atomic bomb experiments.

Chen Xi, the university's secretary of the Communist Party of China, urged students in Tsinghua to learn the spirit of cooperation and perseverance the older generation of scientists had showed in their work.

China's first atomic bomb was exploded at 3:00 PM, on Oct. 16, 1964 in the desert of Xinjiang.

The night after the explosion, the Chinese government published a declaration, announcing that the bomb was made for defense use and in order to break the "nuclear monopoly."

The Chinese government suspended its nuclear weapons program July 30, 1996.

(Xinhua News Agency October 18, 2004)