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China has declassified its first nuclear weapons base and is inviting tourists to visit the site, in a remote part of the northwestern province of Qinghai, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Built in 1958 over more than 1100 square kilometres of the grasslands of northern Qinghai, the base was the birthplace of China's atomic and hydrogen bombs, but was closed in the late 1980s, Xinhua said.
China became a nuclear power in 1964.
"The underground headquarters of the nuclear weapons research and production base are a curiosity to many people. They can see the 'nuclear city' for themselves," the report quoted Zuo Xumin, an official in the mainly Tibetan region where the base is situated, as saying.
"The base will be developed into a key travel site, and it will become a platform for spurring the patriotic spirit of Chinese people," he said.
Opening the base is a rare move for China, where the definition of state secrets is notoriously broad and its weapons development is seen as highly sensitive.
The headquarters of the base comprises several rooms more than 9 metres underground and reinforced with concrete, which originally held a research laboratory, electricity generation room, telegraph transmitting room and a command room.
Tourists will be able to visit the underground rooms, which now stand empty, the report said.
A museum built at the base now houses old machinery, as well as clothes and food coupons that belonged to the workers who once staffed the remote site.
Hotels and restaurants are also springing up in the township in anticipation of a wave of visitors, Xinhua said.
- REUTERS
