Huang Xuhua

Huang was born on 12 March 1926 in Swabue, Guangdong Province, of Jieyang Hakka ancestry. He graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 1949. After the Sino-Soviet split, Marshal Nie Rongzhen proposed that China develop its own nuclear submarines to break the duopoly of the United States and the Soviet Union, and Mao Zedong accepted the suggestion. In 1958, Huang was among the 29 people selected to develop the program, meant to bolster China's nuclear deterrence against the US and the USSR. They were based in Huludao, a port on the Bohai Sea in Liaoning Province. In the late 1960s, Huang, together with scientist Qian Lingxi, was attacked for his "reactionary" background and sent to perform hard labour in the countryside, where he spent two years raising pigs. In retrospect, Huang remembered these years as "the only easy time" of his life, as he had no responsibilities other than feeding the pigs. In 1983, Huang Xuhua succeeded Peng as the 2nd chief designer and continued working on the nuclear submarine project. == Personal life and death ==

Huang was married and has three daughters. His immediate family moved with him to Huludao for his secret mission, but he had to reduce contact with the rest of his family. He only rarely visited his parents in Guangdong, who had no idea what he was doing until his role was made public in a 1987 magazine article. ==Honours and publicity==

In November 2017, Huang was awarded the honour of "National Model for Virtue". In a nationally televised ceremony in Beijing, to show his respect for two senior citizens who dedicated their lives to contribute to the nation, Paramount leader Xi Jinping personally invited Huang to sit next to him for a group photo. The event was widely reported in Chinese media. In January 2020, he was conferred the Highest Science and Technology Award, together with meteorologist Zeng Qingcun. Huang was ever called in Chinese media "the father of China's nuclear submarines", In December 2020, China's top official media China Central Television (CCTV) published an article to memorialize China's first nuclear submarine on the 50th anniversary of its launch and reviewed the contributions of Peng Shilu and Huang Xuhua, while only Peng Shilu was hailed as "the father of China's nuclear submarines". In 2021, Huang became a laureate of the Asian Scientist 100 by the Asian Scientist. == References ==