Ms Tu's work was done during the Cultural Revolution. While most of the scientific research and higher education activities were utterly disrupted by the politics, this research project was well protected and allocated resource because Mao needed this to help the communist side in the Vietnam war. Ms Tu does deserve the prize, and it is a great news for the country, but IMO China would have contributed much more to science if it was not "putting it's whole country's effort to make this happen".
> IMO China would have contributed much more to science if it was not "putting it's whole country's effort to make this happen".
How do you come to this conclusion? If China was not "putting it's whole country's effort to make this happen", then Ms Tu's work will be delayed, but hopefully the funds can now go into some other research. But does that necessarily mean "much more to science" in the net outcome?
I should rephrase my last sentence as "China would have contributed much more to science if the Cultural Revolution did not happen."
Referring to the historical context, Mao just introduced the Revolution at that time. As a consequence research institutions and universities were shut down, and scientists and intellectuals were sent to villages to be "re-educated" by farmers. Later Ho Chi Minh asked Mao for medical help for malaria, and Mao assembled 600 scientists who were still available, including Ms Tu, to start a military research project.
If the Cultural Revolution did not happen, most of the scientists in China at that time would be doing their own research, instead of being banished, humiliated and tortured. And Ms Tu would have more colleagues and a better scientific environment to work with.
The big problem there is the intellectual capital that was lost. Primary and secondary schools were closed for two years. Universities were closed for four years. Access to foreign science publications was halted. It took years for Chinese research to recover, to redevelop the working groups, etc, needed for cutting edge science.
Additionally, the project that she was working with, Project 523, was kept secret for over a decade. So Ms Tu couldn't communicate with colleagues in other countries regarding her discoveries, and her discoveries in fact were initially published anonymously, further making it difficult for discussion and collaboration. So yes, the amount of net scientific progress was greatly diminished.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10330710