596

To make a repost of the following with an update. Because I think the indirect signalling (not directly attacking but naming after a grudge to indirectly signal), egocentric sense of entitlement (middle people who "deserved help that was unjustly refused"), and the underdog sense of being owed (undeveloped country therefore entitled to assistance by more developed one, eg, an attitude shown through IP theft) is a very Chinese thing.

My info about naming it after the soviet refusal comes from this very interesting paper: https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1177/09670106960270010... "French and Chinese Nuclear Weapons Testing"

So...

Wow, the Chinese do not forget a grudge: nicknamed their first nuclear device "596" for the date (June '59) that Soviet Khrushchev refused to give them a nuclear device prototype. They must have felt so entitled to one that they commemorated their achievement by naming symbolically to vanquish Khrushchev fatal insult of refusing to provide them with one. Interesting that it was not "their own achievement in building their own device" they celebrated, but rather their "victory" over someone who refused to help them in the way they felt entitled to. "Hell hath no fury like a Chinese scorned." I guess. Wow.

> I don't think it's purely a Chinese trait and I'm sure that there's plenty of similar "grudge" naming of things in other cultures (can't recall any of the top of my head though).

i don't think so. I think the Chinese take such entitlement to a new level. There's always obstacles in any project, but I don't see other national projects "defining themselves" or their successes by how they ended up beating those who refused to assist them. it's pretty twisted.