Comments by "Peter Jacobsen" (@pjacobsen1000) on "How China Got the Bomb" video.

Yes, he is mostly known in China as the 'Father of China's Space Program'. There's a big, new-ish museum dedicated to him at Shanghai's Jiaotong University. Nicely designed building, by the way.
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Re. Mao's view on nuclear war: He was remarkably flippant about sacrificing millions of Chinese people lives, seeing them as an expendable resource, mostly useful for the advancement of national interests. There's a story about one of Nixon's first conversations with Mao in the 70s. Nixon played the 'freedom card' and asked why China didn't allow its citizens to travel abroad and see how democratic countries worked. Mao is supposed to have replied: "I suppose we can let more Chinese people travel to the US. Do you like Chinese women, President Nixon? How about we start by sending you 50 million Chinese women, and if you like them, we'll send 100 million more". Nixon didn't quite know how to respond and changed the subject. At other times, Mao boasted about how many intellectuals he had killed: "A lot more than Emperor Qin".
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@mxn1948 I didn't say Mao was insane, only that he was flippant about the sacrifice of millions of Chinese lives. That's entirely rational if you value the nation over those people who are part of the nation.
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