Courtyard House: A Major Power's Heavy Industry, Hand-Crafted Nuclear Fusion

Spring of 1981, Beijing.

The atmosphere in a meeting room at the Ministry of Education was somewhat somber, filled with smoke.

"Minister Su, we understand your suggestion; it's a good thing. But..."

A director wearing reading glasses took off his glasses and tapped the "Proposal on Promoting Computer Education in Primary and Secondary Schools Nationwide" on the table with a sigh.

"It's too expensive."

The director sighed. "Even with the 'special education price' you gave me, a Red Star computer costs 3000 RMB. What does that mean? An ordinary worker's monthly salary is only a few dozen RMB. This one machine represents ten years of a family's savings! Our education budget is already tight; we can't even afford to repair the desks and chairs, let alone buy this!"

The surrounding leaders also nodded in agreement.

In an era when even black and white televisions were a luxury, asking schools to buy computers? That's simply a pipe dream.

"Yes, Minister Su. And this thing is too delicate."

Another leader added, "What if the children break it? Who will fix it? Who will teach them? The teachers themselves don't know how to use it, how can they teach the students?"

Su Zheng sat opposite him, listening quietly.

He understood the concerns of these veteran educators. Talking about "digital living" when basic needs like food and clothing had just been met was indeed too advanced.

But he couldn't wait.

He knew that across the ocean in the United States, Apple had already sent the Apple II to every school in California. Bill Gates was marketing his BASIC programming language to high school students across the country.

The starting gun has already fired.

If this generation of children loses, then for the next thirty years, China will only be able to do OEM for others, forever remaining at the bottom of the industrial chain.

"Distinguished leaders."

Su Zheng stood up and walked to the window.

Outside the window, a group of elementary school students carrying backpacks walked by, laughing and joking.

"What do you think future wars will be like?"

Su Zheng suddenly asked a completely unrelated question.

"War?" The director paused, taken aback. "Airplanes and artillery? Atomic bombs?"

"No."

Su Zheng shook his head. "The wars of the future will be fought without gunpowder. They will take place on a thin network cable, within a few lines of invisible code."

He turned around, his gaze piercing:

"In the future, a country's defense will not only rely on soldiers on the border, but also on keyboard warriors sitting in front of screens."

"If our children only know how to use an abacus and a pen from a young age, while other people's children are playing with programming and working with the internet, then twenty years from now, when the 'information war' breaks out, we'll be fighting machine guns with swords and spears!"

"This is not just an education issue, it's a national defense issue! It's a matter of life and death!"

The conference room was deathly silent.

Su Zheng's words struck everyone's hearts like a heavy hammer.

"But... money..." The director's voice wavered.

"I'll take care of the money."

Su Zheng waved his hand and said, "Red Star Electronics will establish the 'Project Hope' fund. We will donate the first batch of 10,000 'Red Star-Education Edition' computers free of charge! The focus will be on covering 100 experimental schools in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou."

"As for the teaching materials..."

Su Zheng took out a thick manuscript from his bag, which still smelled of ink.

The cover only has five large characters:

Computer Fundamentals

Below is a line of small print: Editor-in-Chief: Su Zheng.

"I've written the teaching materials myself."

……

half a month later.

Jingshan School in the capital.

This is a testing ground for basic education in China. Today, a large classroom in the school has been transformed into a special "computer room".

Thirty brand-new "Red Star-Education Edition" computers were neatly arranged.

The computers have casings made of specially formulated engineering plastics that are drop-resistant and wear-resistant. Each key on the keyboard is engraved with bilingual labels: English on top and Chinese character strokes below.

A group of first-year junior high school students wearing red scarves are carefully walking into the classroom.

Their eyes were filled with curiosity, and a hint of awe. To them, the glowing box before them was more mysterious than an alien.

"Hello students, I am your teacher, my name is Su Zheng."

Su Zheng stood on the podium, not wearing a suit, but a plain white shirt, looking like a friendly older brother next door.

"Minister Su?!"

The principal, who was standing in the back row listening in, was startled. A high-ranking official at the vice-ministerial level personally teaching middle school students? This would be huge news if word got out!

Su Zheng waved his hand, indicating that there was no need to panic.

He picked up the chalk and wrote a large Chinese character on the blackboard:

【Calculate】.

"Long ago, our ancestors used knotted ropes to record events, and later they invented the abacus. And today, we have this."

Su Zheng pointed to the computer next to him, "It's called a computer, but I prefer to call it... an 'external brain'."

"It's an extension of your brain. It can help you do math, help you draw, and even... help you create the world."

"Creating a world?"

A boy with big eyes sitting in the front row raised his hand. "Teacher, can it help me with my homework?"

The whole class burst into laughter.

"Of course."

Su Zheng laughed, "But the premise is that you have to teach it how to write it first."

He turned on the projector, and the Red Flag OS desktop appeared on the screen.

"Now, everyone, hold the mouse-like thing on your right. It's called a mouse."

Following Su Zheng's instructions, the thirty little hands moved clumsily.

The cursor on the screen started darting around erratically. Some of it bumped into the corner of the wall, while others disappeared without a trace.

But after a few minutes of getting used to it, the children's learning abilities were on full display. They quickly learned how to double-click, drag, and close.

That sense of control made their eyes sparkle with excitement.

"Okay, now let's play a game."

Instead of explaining the principles first, as is the case in traditional teaching, Su Zheng directly had everyone open the "Cangjie Programming Environment" on their desktops.

"Type it in as I type it in."

Su Zheng recites a sentence, and the children type a sentence.

[Input: Main Function]

[Sigh: Infinite (loop)]

[Book: Hello, World!]

【end】

【out】

This is the most classic "Hello World" in the programming world. But this time, it's written in Chinese.

Press F5 to run.

A series of clattering sounds from the keyboard followed.

The screens of thirty computers were instantly filled with countless scrolling "Hello, world!" messages.

The green characters flowed like a waterfall, seemingly endless.

"Wow!"

"It's gone mad! It's talking!"

"Teacher! I did it!"

The children jumped up excitedly.

The big-eyed boy who wanted the computer to do his homework stared intently at the screen, as if he saw a door to a new world suddenly open before him.

At that moment, Su Zheng saw a seed sprout.

This seed is called "curiosity".

It was also the starting point for the legendary organization that would later be called the "Red Hacker Alliance".

……

Just then, the back door of the classroom was pushed open.

An elderly man, short in stature but with extremely deep eyes, walked in accompanied by several leaders.

"Greetings, sir!"

Su Zheng hurriedly went to greet him.

The old man waved his hand, indicating that he should not disturb the children.

He walked behind the big-eyed boy, looked at the scrolling Chinese character codes on the screen, and then at the boy's focused expression.

"These are... Chinese characters?" the old man asked in surprise.

"Yes, sir."

Su Zhenghui explained, "This is our independently developed 'Cangjie' programming language. Children don't need to learn English to command computers to do things."

"Okay! Okay!"

The old man said "good" twice, a satisfied smile appearing on his face.

He reached out and patted the boy's head. "Little friend, what's your name?"

"Grandpa, my name is Lei Jun."

The boy stood up and gave a Young Pioneers salute.

"Lei Jun, what a good name."

The old man looked at him, then glanced around at the energetic faces in the classroom.

long silence.

The old man turned around and, to the Minister of Education beside him, and to everyone present, uttered a sentence that will go down in history:

"The popularization of computers should start from childhood."

……

These words, like a bolt of lightning, instantly illuminated the future of Chinese education.

The next day, the People's Daily published this inscription on its front page.

Immediately afterwards, a vigorous "computer popularization campaign" was launched across the country.

The Ministry of Education has increased its budget, and provinces and cities across the country have responded accordingly.

Hongxing Electronics' production lines are operating at full capacity, and "educational version" computers are flying like dandelions to all parts of the country.

From top-tier middle schools in Beijing to schools for children of oilfield workers in the Northwest.

Countless teenagers like Lei Jun touched that magical keyboard for the first time and typed that line of code that changed their destiny for the first time.

Meanwhile, in the top-floor office of the Red Star Software Research Institute.

Su Zheng stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the truck that was loading textbooks.

"Do you know what I like?"

Su Zheng said to Ye Xinyi behind him, "Today's lesson is more important than selling 100 million Game Boys."

Why?

"Because the Game Boy can only make money in the present."

Su Zheng pointed to the textbooks, "And these books are an investment in the future."

"If these millions of textbooks are distributed, and even if only one in a thousand children fall in love with programming, that would be thousands of geniuses."

"Ten years from now, when they grow up and rush into the internet with heads full of wonderful ideas..."

A smile appeared on Su Zheng's lips:

"At that time, Americans will realize that they are not dealing with a Red Star company."

"Instead, it's a massive hacker army."

Ye Xinyi looked at him, her eyes sparkling.

She stepped forward and gently straightened his collar.

"You're not just an engineer," she whispered, "you're also... a gardener."

"yes."

Su Zheng held her hand, "What we planted was the Dragon Core, what we watered was the Red Flag, and what grew out of it..."

"It will be a digital empire standing tall in the East."

……