On October 17, 1967, China revealed its true military power. At 00:19, a Chinese H-6 bomber dropped the first Chinese hydrogen bomb. It exploded with a force of 3.3 megatons. It marked the date when China entered the thermonuclear era. China only took 2 years to make the jump from the atomic to the hydrogen bomb (faster than ANY OTHER COUNTRY). China became the first Asian nation to develop an atomic and hydrogen bomb.