Mao Zedong

=== Military projects ===
United States President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]'s threats during the [[First Taiwan Strait Crisis]] to use nuclear weapons against military targets in [[Fujian]] province prompted Mao to begin China's nuclear program.<ref name=":172">{{Cite book |last=Crean |first=Jeffrey |title=The Fear of Chinese Power: an International History |date=2024 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |isbn=978-1-350-23394-2 |edition= |series=New Approaches to International History series |location=London, UK}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=89–90}} Under Mao's [[Two Bombs, One Satellite]] program, China developed the atomic and hydrogen bombs in record time{{Quantify|date=February 2024}} and launched a satellite a few years after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik.<ref name=":022">{{Cite book |last=Jin |first=Keyu |title=The New China Playbook: Beyond Socialism and Capitalism |date=2023 |publisher=Viking |isbn=978-1-9848-7828-1 |location=New York |author-link=Keyu Jin}}</ref>{{Rp|page=218}}

[[Project 523]] ({{zh |s = 523项目}})<ref name=hsu2006>{{cite journal |last1 = Hsu |first1 = Elisabeth |title = Reflections on the 'discovery' of the antimalarial qinghao |journal = [[British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology]] |year = 2006 |volume = 61 |issue = 6 |pages = 666–670 |doi = 10.1111/j.1365-2125.2006.02673.x |pmid = 16722826 |pmc = 1885105}}</ref> is a [[code name]] for a 1967 secret military project of the [[People's Republic of China]] to find [[antimalarial medication]]s.<ref name="meera">{{cite web |last1 = Senthilingam |first1 = Meera |title = Chemistry in its element: compounds: Artemisinin |url = http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/podcast/CIIEcompounds/transcripts/artemisinin.asp |work = [[Chemistry World]] |publisher = [[Royal Society of Chemistry]] |access-date = 27 April 2015}}</ref> Named after the date the project launched, 23 May, it addressed [[malaria]], an important threat in the [[Vietnam War]]. At the behest of [[Ho Chi Minh]], [[Prime Minister of Vietnam|Prime Minister]] of [[North Vietnam]], [[Zhou Enlai]] convinced Mao Zedong to start the mass project "to keep [the] allies' troops combat-ready", as the [[meeting minutes]] put it. More than 500 Chinese scientists were recruited. The project was divided into three streams.<ref name="Hao2011">{{cite web | first = Cindy | last = Hao |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/lasker-award-rekindles-debate-over-artemisinins-discovery |title=Lasker Award Rekindles Debate Over Artemisinin's Discovery |website=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |access-date=23 July 2020|date=29 September 2011 }}</ref> The one for investigating [[traditional Chinese medicine]] discovered and led to the development of a class of new antimalarial drugs called [[artemisinin]]s.<ref name="Hao2011" /><ref name="tu2011">{{cite journal |last1 = Tu |first1 = Youyou |title = The discovery of artemisinin (qinghaosu) and gifts from Chinese medicine |journal = Nature Medicine |year = 2011 |volume = 17 |issue = 10 |pages = 1217–1220 |doi = 10.1038/nm.2471 |pmid = 21989013|s2cid = 10021463 }}</ref> Launched during and lasting throughout the [[Cultural Revolution]], Project 523 was officially terminated in 1981.