The Red Era, the Opening University Speech

Chapter 211: Don’t Make Wedding Dresses for Emperor M
Leader Qiu and others above couldn't help but sit up straighter, knowing that the most important part was coming next.

Although they had heard that Li Mu developed the gaming industry because he wanted to spread the culture of the Xia Kingdom, they were not very clear on why, how, and what the use of spreading it would be.

Li Mu glanced at the experts and professors below before continuing:
"Our gaming industry is just starting out, and the games we develop will likely be targeted at foreign players for quite a long time to come."

"In order to ensure sales, it is necessary to incorporate their country's culture."

"Such games can be sold abroad, but cannot be used in China because it is actually a kind of cultural 'invasion'."

"It's just like when some people advocated total Westernization in the past. That was cultural invasion."

"It's just that this way of playing games is more secretive."

After hearing what he said, the expert with glasses was shocked.

Not only him, many people were confused, and the same thought popped up in their minds: "Can games be so powerful?"

A professor immediately raised his hand and asked, "But times have changed. In the past, we advocated total Westernization because our country was in danger."

"Now that New Xia is thriving, how can we go back to the old, failed, and wrong path?"

"The Westernization I'm talking about is not the Westernization of the system, but the Westernization of the ideology." Li Mu shook his head and sighed softly when he thought of the public intellectuals in later generations who thought that the moon abroad was rounder than the moon at home.

He thought for a while and continued:

"For example, the M Empire takes hegemony as the core of its culture, and naturally promotes the culture of hegemony. So they will portray themselves as the 'savior' in games or movies."

"This 'savior' can be as great and glorious as he wants, but in reality it is just a disguise to cover up their hegemony."

"In this way, the more games are sold and the more people watch the movies, the more people will identify with their culture and indirectly accept their hegemony."

"So, when we make games, aren't we promoting them?" Dong Huaxing on the stage couldn't help but interrupt.

This is no small matter. Although earning foreign exchange is important, it would be a huge loss if we were to advertise for Emperor M for nothing.

There was an uproar in the audience, and many people raised questions.

Leader Qiu and others were also very nervous. If this situation went wrong, the development plan of the entire game industry would be killed.

It is unacceptable to be a sucker for Emperor M.

Seeing everyone's reaction, Li Mu smiled softly and said, "Of course not. The current level of game development has not yet reached that stage."

"If the game is to include culture, semiconductor technology needs at least one upgrade."

"And there is no need to worry even if it is upgraded. We just need to use the skin of foreign culture to promote our Xia country culture."

The professor who had just asked the question suddenly brightened up and asked, "Is it equivalent to borrowing chickens to lay eggs?"

"That's right, and this will be more beneficial to our game sales and cultural dissemination." Li Mu nodded slightly.

Of course, it’s definitely not that easy in reality.

M's superhero appeared very early, dating back to 38, when the image of Superman first appeared in "Action Comics", the first issue of DC.

Captain M, who is well-known to later generations, even had his movie in 44.

Although the history of Emperor M is short, relying on its strong national strength, it still has sufficient cultural confidence, and it is unlikely to directly export Xia culture.

After listening to this, Leader Qiu couldn't help but say, "If that's the case, then the gaming industry should indeed be developed vigorously as part of the semiconductor industry."

"And I think what you are going to do, Li Mu, is to promote the culture of our country, right?"

This was said quite mildly, but many people still reacted.

Yes, since other countries can invade their culture, shouldn’t they be able to invade it in return? No, it should be propaganda.

Looking at the bright eyes of everyone on the stage, Li Mu nodded heavily and said, "Of course, my initial plan is to make a game that includes our Xia country culture within 5 years, and sell it well in the OM market!"

……

With the biggest problem solved, the rest of the meeting went pretty smoothly.

In fact, everyone present supports the development of the semiconductor industry.

Such a large amount of foreign exchange earnings will greatly boost the country's economic development and can also help to strangle foreign countries. Why not do it?

Li Mu was also impressed by the ideas conveyed by Leader Qiu from the superiors about expanding the market in the socialist country.

I can only say that he is worthy of being a superior leader, and his considerations are more comprehensive than his.

If they could establish a market in socialist countries, their semiconductor industry would become more powerful and unbreakable.

……

After the meeting, the clerk in charge of transcribing immediately sent the document entitled "Discussion on the Development Direction of the Semiconductor Industry - Li Mu's Cultural Propaganda Strategy" to a small courtyard somewhere.

After getting the documents, Secretary Song came to the study and knocked on the door twice.

After waiting for a while and hearing no response, he decided to come back later.

At this moment, the slightly sleepy voice of the superior came from inside: "Come in."

Secretary Song was stunned for a moment, then he pushed the door open and walked in. Looking at his superior who was rubbing his brow and looking tired, he said, "Why don't you take a rest first."

"No, bring the documents here." The superior shook his head, "Now everything is ready, it's time to promote the development of our country's semiconductor industry!"

He had temporarily shelved the plan because the mass production problem of distributed projection lithography machines had not been resolved.

And because he was afraid of putting too much pressure on Li Mu, he did not urge him.

Unexpectedly, Li Mu not only did not disappoint him, but also gave everyone a huge surprise, or it would be more appropriate to say a shock. In just less than a month, he solved the basic problems in developing the semiconductor industry.

Holding the document, the superior leader lit a cigarette and started reading while smoking.

When he saw the term "cultural invasion" proposed by Li Mu, his brows frowned at first, then quickly relaxed.

He frowned because the word "invasion" was obviously not appropriate for the New Xia Kingdom's diplomatic policy.

But as he continued reading, he discovered that this "invasion" was not the violent and coercive one he had imagined, but rather a rather mild cultural identity propaganda program.

"It's a good idea, very good." After reading it, the superior leader nodded frequently, and even the fatigue on his face was eliminated a lot because of his happiness.

He immediately said to Secretary Song: "Send this document to the Human Resources Committee for review and voting. As long as there are no problems, implement it immediately!"

……

After an overnight meeting and discussion at the Ministry of First Machine Industry, which unanimously approved it and the approval of the superior leaders, the review process of the Human Resources Committee was surprisingly fast.

Within a few days, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the First Ministry of Machine Building, the Foreign Trade Commission, the Semiconductor Research Institute and other units related to the semiconductor industry received the red-headed documents issued from above.

……

Beijing Institute of Technology, game R&D center.

In the computer room of Type 01 computer, several research and development teams led by Xu Pingshan, Zhang Weiguo and Shen Jianxin were working on the game coding of "Tank War".

This process was obviously extremely boring, but the group that passed the supercomputer selection, led by Shen Jianxin, and the group that failed, led by Shen Yi, were competing against each other. Apart from eating and attending classes, they wished they could live in the game development center.

He is simply the ideal 007 employee for future bosses.

When Li Mu and Huang Kun came in, they saw a busy scene.

Zhang Kai, who was a little distracted, noticed him standing at the door. He smiled and was about to say hello when he saw him make a "hush" gesture.

Walking behind Shen Jianxin and others, he carefully checked their current progress.

The programming of "Tank War" is not complicated. So far, they have basically written the big framework, and the rest is to edit each module in detail.

But after watching for a while, he found that their division in this regard was not clear enough.

Li Mu couldn't help but ask, "You're halfway through writing the game logic, why are you working on the user interface again?"

Upon hearing his voice, the originally busy computer room suddenly became quiet.

"Li, Consultant Li." Shen Jianxin, whose name was called, stood up stutteringly, like an elementary school student who had done something wrong and was caught by the teacher.

Zhang Weiguo stood up and said, "Advisor Li, don't blame him. Our R&D center is a little short of manpower right now, so one person has to take on multiple responsibilities."

Seeing this, others also began to plead for mercy.

"Why are you so nervous? I didn't say he made a mistake. I should even praise him. The collision detection logic code for this tank is very well written." Li Mu said with a smile.

After hearing his words, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Shen Jianxin also relaxed and said, "Thank you for your compliment. I will continue to work hard."

"Don't be in a hurry. Let's put aside what we are doing and have a meeting first." Li Mu glanced at everyone and said.

Seeing his serious expression, everyone couldn't help but feel uneasy again.

……

After talking to Professor Wang, Li Mu borrowed the conference room in the administrative building as the meeting place.

The building he donated to Beijing Institute of Technology last time is already under construction, but it will take at least until March or April to be completed, so it will definitely not be used in the short term.

You can only make do with it.

Standing on top, looking at the young and tender faces below, Li Mu smiled slightly and said, "I am here this time to announce a good news."

"The country has decided to promote game development as an important industrial project. In the future, this game development center is likely to become a national research unit."

"That is to say, if you stay here, you will definitely stay here after graduation and continue to work on game development."

After he finished speaking, everyone was stunned.

The value of the words "national research institution" is quite heavy.

Although they are all outstanding students selected by their respective schools, just like the previous supercomputing selection test, if they want to work there, they have to go through a very strict selection.

If there were no sudden accidents, only seven or eight of the fifty or so people present would be able to enter.

Seeing that everyone was stunned, Li Mu continued: "Of course, those who originally came from the Semiconductor Research Institute can go back now. I respect your choice."

No one spoke below.

Shen Jianxin, Du Jianjun and ten other people who had passed the selection test looked at each other. Some hesitated, while others made up their minds.

Li Mu observed their reactions and estimated that only four or five of the ten people could remain.

That’s pretty good. After all, everyone has their own aspirations.

Game development is good, but when compared with supercomputing software development, it feels several levels lower.

He continued:

"If you have any ideas, we can talk about it after this is over. I will continue to talk about the next game development."

"The Semiconductor Research Institute is currently developing video games. There are no major technical problems and a breakthrough will be made soon."

"So the speed of game development here must keep up, and we need to add another "Table Tennis" game to our development."

"Regarding the shortage of manpower, I will report to the higher authorities and apply for the mobilization of students majoring in computer technology from various universities to participate."

……

Li Mu arranged the next development plan of the game R&D center in an orderly manner.

As the cradle of his vision of a huge gaming industry in the future, the task undertaken by the Beijing Institute of Technology Game R&D Center is extremely important.

These students will also be the backbone of Xia Country's gaming industry in the future.

Of course, they are far from being able to shoulder this responsibility now.

……

After leaving the meeting room, Li Mu went to find Qian Shuyan again to discuss investing more money to build two buildings.

The R&D center will definitely become larger and larger, and one building may not be enough.

After hearing his request, Qian Shuyan was full of helplessness and said, "You, if you keep building it, I think this game R&D center will soon be as big as our school."

Professor Wang, who was standing by, seemed to be hesitant to speak. He had just heard Li Mu say in the conference room that the game research and development center would become a national unit in the future.

Maybe in the end it will be on the same level as the Institute of Semiconductor Engineering.

"But since the country has a policy, you don't have to donate. We can't always ask you to pay, right? Even though we know you have money, you can't spend it like this. Have you asked Wang Ya?" Qian Shuyan reminded again.

Li Mu was stunned.

Oh no, he didn’t seem to have told Wang Ya that he was rich.

Seeing his reaction, Qian Shuyan, Professor Wang and others couldn't help laughing at the same time.

When I got home, it was already 10 o'clock.

Looking at the orange light of his own little home in the special building, Li Mu couldn't help but quicken his pace.

Taking out the key and opening the door, Wang Ya, who was sitting on the sofa studying with a book, heard the noise and stood up to greet him with a smile: "You're back. Have you eaten? If not, I'll make some more for you."

"I've eaten." Li Mu nodded, put his clothes on the hanger beside him, and then looked at Wang Ya, who was wearing a sweater and a ponytail.

Wang Ya noticed his aggressive gaze and began to avoid him. Her pretty face gradually turned a cherry-red, making people unable to resist the temptation.

Li Mu suddenly felt a little hungry. After thinking about it, he decided that it would be okay to eat something.

……

(End of this chapter)