On Oct. 16, 1964, China successfully detonated its first atomic bomb. The explosion took place in Lop Nur, a lake area in the desert of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The bomb's detonation made China the fifth state with nuclear weapons after the United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom and France.

On the same day, the Chinese government made a solemn promise to the world that its development of nuclear weapons was only for the purpose of self-defense and safeguarding national security. China would never at any time or under any circumstances be the first to use nuclear weapons.

China's nuclear industry was officially established in January 1955, when Chairman Mao Zedong announced the central government's decision to develop atomic energy as a form of self-defense.