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

Spring of 1984, Beijing.

The Great Hall of the People, East Hall.

A top-secret strategic meeting is underway to discuss the nation’s next decade.

Attendees included top leaders from the Ministry of Electronics Industry, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, the Ministry of Railways, and the State Planning Commission, as well as... Su Zheng, who sat in a corner but attracted the most attention.

A huge map of China was spread out on the conference table.

Comrades.

The leader presiding over the meeting pointed to the map and said, "Western countries have already begun to lay out the 'information superhighway.' The United States has proposed the NII program, and Japan has developed its fifth-generation computer. If we don't keep up, the future world will once again become an information island."

"But what do we do?"

The Minister of Posts and Telecommunications sighed, "Our telephone penetration rate is less than 1%, our lines are severely aging, and we have virtually no fiber optic cables. How much money would it cost? How many years would it take to connect the whole country into a single network?"

"Ten years? Twenty years?"

"At the current rate, even if we continue working until 2000, we still won't catch up with the United States."

"It won't take twenty years."

A voice broke the silence.

Su Zheng stood up and walked to the map. He held a red marker in his hand.

Give me five years.

His voice was calm yet firm: "I not only want China to catch up with the United States, I also want China to... overtake them on a curve."

Five years?!

The ministers present exchanged bewildered glances. This young man was far too arrogant.

"Comrade Su Zheng, there is no joking in the military." The commander stared at him.

"I'm not joking."

Su Zheng uncapped the pen. "Why should we follow in other people's footsteps and build roads? They're building copper wires; if we're going to build something, we should build... fiber optics!"

He drew a heavy line on the map.

Swish!

A red line starts from the capital, passes through Shenyang to the north, and reaches Harbin.

"This is 'one vertical line'."

Swish!

Another red line extends south from Beijing, passing through Wuhan and reaching Guangzhou.

"This is the 'Second Column'."

Swish!Swish!Swish!

Su Zheng's wrist moved rapidly.

Beijing-Shanghai Railway, Longhai Railway, Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway...

In just a few minutes, a vast red network, crisscrossing and covering all provincial capitals and major industrial bases, appeared on what was originally a blank map.

Eight vertical and eight horizontal lines!

"This...this is fiber optic cable?" The Minister of Posts and Telecommunications stared in disbelief. "So much fiber optic cable, how much does it cost? Tens of billions? Hundreds of billions?"

"I'll take care of the money."

Su Zheng turned to look at Lao Chen (who is now the CFO of Red Star Group).

Old Chen pulled a thick stack of asset certificates out of his bag.

"Red Star Group is willing to invest $50 billion as seed money."

"50 billion... US dollars?!"

A collective gasp filled the conference room. Back when this country's foreign exchange reserves were only a few billion, this sum was astronomical!

"This money was earned from selling chips, game consoles, and software."

Su Zheng said calmly, "It is taken from the people and used for the people. Rather than keeping it in the bank to earn interest, it is better to bury it in the ground and let it become the lifeblood of the country."

"But money alone isn't enough."

The Minister of Railways raised a question: "Laying fiber optic cables requires right-of-way, construction, and crossing thousands of mountains and rivers. This project is even larger than building the Great Wall!"

"Then let's use the existing road."

Su Zheng pointed to the railway line on the map, "Wherever the railway goes, our fiber optic cables will be laid. Laying them along the tracks eliminates the need for land acquisition and demolition, increasing construction speed tenfold!"

"And the power grid."

He looked at the leaders of the Ministry of Electric Power and said, "The high-voltage towers have already been erected. We just need to hang the optical cables on them. This is called OPGW (Optical Fiber Composite Overhead Ground Wire), which serves two purposes with one tower."

The genes of the "infrastructure maniac" have awakened at this moment.

Su Zheng's proposed plan took advantage of the greatest strength of the Chinese system—the nationwide coordination.

Railways, electricity, post and telecommunications, and the military.

The four departments joined forces, breaking down departmental barriers and sharing resources. This is a miracle that would be absolutely impossible in Western countries.

"good!"

The leader slammed his hand on the table, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "This is the spirit of a great power! This is the superiority of socialism!"

"Approval of the 'Eight Vertical and Eight Horizontal' national backbone network project! Code name—[Golden Bridge Project]."

"Comrade Su Zheng, you are in charge. Give me the manpower and the authority. I have only one request: within five years, I want to be able to hold video conferences with comrades in Shanghai from my office in Lhasa!"

"Mission accomplished!"

Su Zheng gave a standard military salute.

……

In 1984, the land of China was transformed into a giant construction site.

In the tunnels of the Qinling Mountains, on the bridges over the Yangtze River, and under the power towers in the Gobi Desert.

Hundreds of thousands of engineers and workers, chanting slogans, buried optical fibers, thinner than a hair but carrying the hopes of the future, into the body of the motherland.

Hongxing Electronics is operating at full capacity.

The 001 base produces not only chips, but also the world's most advanced optical communication equipment.

SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) transmission equipment, wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology, high-performance routers...

These technologies, which would have required expensive imports in later generations, are now all marked with the "Made in China" label.

Fall 1985.

The first phase of the "Golden Bridge Project" has been completed.

Optical cables have been connected between Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

Su was sitting in the command center of the Red Star Research Institute, looking at the lit green triangle on the big screen.

"Connect to Guangzhou."

"yes!"

drop--

The screen flickered.

The image is displayed clearly.

That's CCTV footage from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. Planes are taking off and landing, and crowds of people are everywhere.

No lag, no pixelation.

"What is the bandwidth?"

"2.5Gbps!" Ye Xinyi's voice trembled. "This is... gigabit speed! Ten times faster than the US backbone network!"

"Cool!"

Su clenched his fist.

This is what we call "dimensional reduction attack." While Americans were still using 56K modems to dial up to the internet, the Chinese had already boarded the light-speed train.

But Su Zheng was not satisfied.

"The backbone network is just the main road."

He told his team, "If we want every household to become rich, we need to repair the capillaries."

"Launch the 'Last Mile' plan."

Su Zheng pointed to the city clusters on the map, "We want to bring fiber optic cables to every community, every building, and every household."

"FTTH (Fiber to the Home)?"

The technicians were stunned. "President Su, this is so ahead of its time! Ordinary people don't even have computers at home these days, why would they need fiber optic cables?"

"Not now, but later."

Su Zheng's gaze was deep. "Besides, who says fiber optics can only transmit data? It can also transmit... television."

"Cable TV?"

"right."

Su Zheng smiled, "We're going to implement 'triple play'. Telephone network, cable TV network, and internet—three networks merged into one. One line solves all the problems."

"We want to enable the Chinese people to enter the information age twenty years ahead of schedule."

……

The Spring Festival Gala in 1986.

This year's Spring Festival Gala, in addition to the traditional live television broadcast, also had a special audience group.

One hundred pilot communities in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

Tens of thousands of families gathered around Red Star computers (or televisions connected to set-top boxes).

On the screen, there was not only a live broadcast of the Spring Festival Gala, but also a scrolling chat room.

Wishing you a prosperous and wealthy new year! I'm sending New Year's greetings to the people of China from Shanghai!

Chen Peisi's skit is hilarious! Hahaha!

[I'm in Guangzhou, and the video stream is perfectly smooth!]

This is the first time in human history that a video has been broadcast live online.

This is a "cyberpunk" Spring Festival belonging to the Chinese people.

Looking at the frantically fluctuating data stream in the background, Su Zheng knew that the tide had turned.

China's internet is no longer a tender sprout, but a towering tree.

Its foundation is the eight vertical and eight horizontal optical cables.

Its core components are the independently developed and controllable Red Flag OS and Loongson processor.

Its branches and leaves include WPS, Red Star Pass, games, forums...

Its fruits will be the infinite possibilities for China's economic take-off over the next thirty years.

……

Late at night, Tiananmen Square.

Fireworks burst into bloom.

Su Zheng and Ye Xinyi stood side by side below the city gate, looking at the dazzling spectacle.

"Xinyi, do you know that?"

Su Zheng pointed to the sky and said, "There are two kinds of Great Walls in this world."

"One type was built of bricks and stones, which blocked the iron cavalry of the Xiongnu, but could not stop the wheels of history."

"And another kind..."

He pointed to the ground beneath his feet, where fiber optic cables leading to the future were buried.

"It is made of light and shadow. It is invisible and intangible, but it can connect the hearts of every Chinese person and allow our voices to reach every corner of the world."

"This is our... new Great Wall."

Ye Xinyi turned her head to look at him.

Bathed in the glow of the fireworks, the man's profile was more captivating than ever.

She suddenly stood on tiptoe and gently kissed him on the cheek.

"Happy New Year, my... chief architect."

Su Zheng was stunned for a moment, then pulled her close and deepened the kiss amidst the fireworks.