Qian Xuesen also known as Hsue-shen Tsien (1911-2009)
Came to the US in 1935 on a Boxer Rebellion scholarship, staying for twenty years. He was mentored by Theodore Von Karman. Qian established a reputation as one of the leading rocket scientists, serving as a lieutenant in the US Air Force with security clearance and debriefing German missile scientists after World War II. He applied for US citizenship in 1949. In 1950, he was accused of not disclosing he was a member of the Communist Party, deported and put under house arrest for five years. China traded American pilots for him and other Chinese scientists and engineers in 1955. He returned to China and was instrumental in shepherding the nuclear bomb in 1964, launching a nuclear warhead missile (also called the Silkworm) in 1967 and the satellite Dongfanghong in 1970. He died with great honors in 2009 at age 98.
Qian arrived in the US in 1935 as a Boxer Rebellion Scholar to do his Master’s degree at MIT and his PhD at Caltech under Theodore Von Karman. Along with his mentor, he is considered a leading authority on rocketry. He continued to follow a successful trajectory stepping in Von Karman’s shoes as a professor at Caltech and then head of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. After World War II ended, with Von Karman, he interrogated the German scientists involved in developing rocketry including Von Karman’s mentor Prandtl. He also helped Von Karman develop the blueprint for the US Air Force. He was taking steps to apply for American citizenship.
In 1950, Qian’s life was upended with the Red Scare. Many intellectuals including scientists at Caltech were accused of being communists. This included the double Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling. Qian’s accusations were tied to Sidney Weinbaum who had befriended Qian in his early days at Caltech. Sidney Weinbaum was an aide to Linus Pauling, who supported Weinbaum throughout his ordeal.
The dialogue in the play is taken directly from the transcripts of Tsien’s FBI interrogation. It is noteworthy that Qian continues to stand by his friend’s loyalty even though he knows that Weinbaum was accused and Qian had no contact with him for a number of years.
On the basis of that interrogation, Qian’s security clearance was taken away which prevented him from doing the bulk of his work as the head of JPL. With his father’s health in question, he decided it would be best for him to return to China. He packed several boxes of his research to ship home. All of the materials were reviewed by Caltech and found to be information that was available in scientific journals.
Nonetheless, the material was seized and news reports suggested that Qian had taken classified material. Tsien was put into the INS San Pedro Detention Center for two weeks. This incarceration was extremely humiliating to him. It was later determined that none of the material in the boxes was classified.
Qian went through deportation hearing which included a last-minute mystery witness who claimed that Qian was a Communist.
He was deported in 1951 but not allowed to leave the country. Qian was placed under house arrest for five years where he was surveilled and any correspondence was checked. While under house arrest, Qian wrote engineering cybernetics, considered to be one of his greatest works.
In 1955, Wang and Johnson the respective ambassadors to the US and China for their countries negotiated a trade of Chinese citizens for American prisoners. Qian and his family returned to China.
For a quick summary of Qian’s life, you can also read:
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-2001-12-11-0112110233-story.html
Of course, the rest is Chinese history. Qian assisted with the atomic bomb development which was a monumentual feat as the Soviets had pulled out of China and China was a backward country when it came to scientific know-how and resources. Qian developed the Silkworm missile and the Dongfan satellite. He nurtured many proteges.
After the passing of Deng Xiaopeng, Qian was lionized as the new kind of hero in China. The combination of his experience in the US and his scientific brilliance was what the Chinese government wanted as the new narrative. The article The Making of an Intellectual Hero: Chinese Narratives of Qian Xuesen details much of what happened.
At the same time, a narrative was being built in the US with government inquiries like the Cox Report which accused the Chinese of stealing military secrets despite critiques that suggested the conclusions were flawed. This narrative led to the Wen Ho Lee case, another instance where espionage was unfounded and publications such as the New York Times engaged in sloppy journalism in reporting it. The narrative continues today with biomedical researchers.
