Researcher assisted on 1st nuclear submarine

When Huang Xuhua was selected to join the research team designing China's first nuclear submarine at the age of 32 in 1958, his director had a talk with him and made three things very clear.

One, "you are selected because the Party and the country trust you". Two, "this job is highly confidential. Once you enter this field of work, you won't be able to get out, even if you make mistakes". Three, "you will be unknown forever".

For the next three decades, Huang remained incognito and never returned home. It was not until 1987, when a Shanghai magazine published a story about the life of the chief designer of China's first generation of nuclear submarines, that even his family name was mentioned publicly.

At the time, Huang never thought about being known to the public, let alone standing under the spotlight one day in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and receiving the country's top science and technology award from the president.

Huang was born in 1926 in Guangdong province and graduated in 1949 from Shanghai Jiaotong University with a degree in shipbuilding studies. The project to develop China's first nuclear-powered submarine was launched in 1958 and Huang was selected as one of the 29 researchers on the team.

However, China lacked the basic conditions to develop the submarine at that time. Huang said none of the 29 researchers had any knowledge in that field, and since other countries were extremely protective of such technologies, they barely had any technical reference materials.

To bolster the country's national defense capability and break the monopoly on nuclear submarine technology held by the United States and the Soviet Union, Chairman Mao Zedong urged China to develop its own vessels, even if "it would take 10,000 years".

Huang and his colleagues started by scouring newspapers and magazines for information.