[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-technology-invades-the-modern-world":3,"chapter-technology-invades-the-modern-world-technology-invades-the-modern-world-chapter-49":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Technology Invades the Modern World",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2269533,4430,"Chapter 49: Can You Even Calculate This?","technology-invades-the-modern-world-chapter-49",49,"\u003Cp>Pokrovsky’s thoughts drifted to Bangalore, India, where his counterparts there had it far easier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In 1957, they allowed the Indians to assemble and manufacture the MiG-17 themselves, agreeing to achieve 50% local production of components within three years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet the Indians couldn’t even assemble the basics properly—27 out of 36 locally assembled MiG-17s suffered from airflow vibration faults. After three years, local component production hadn’t even reached 10%.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pokrovsky’s counterparts in Bangalore were already preparing to cut the Indians deep. You couldn’t make it yourself? Don’t blame me—my parts are expensive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pokrovsky had stayed in China this long for nearly the same reason: waiting for the Chinese to fail on their own, then beg for help, after which he’d follow Moscow’s orders—either demand new concessions or humiliate the Chinese colleagues.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He never expected it would be himself who was humiliated; Pokrovsky found the Chinese colleagues too friendly. If he were in their place, he’d curse far worse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Beijing, the late July heat was scorching; the Science and Technology Commission at the foot of Xishan had received a report from the front line in Bingcheng.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man in the white shirt arrived overnight and clapped repeatedly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Good, good—issue an internal commendation to Director Qian and the Fifth Academy, and make sure every relevant person is notified of this good news.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We now have our own ballistic missile—excellent! Wonderful!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Also, tell Director Qian to return for a meeting—we still have many matters to discuss.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Director Wan, write this down: First, organize experts to evaluate the practicality of the DF-1—confirm it as soon as possible, then initiate mass production immediately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Second, determine where to deploy it after production and how to advance related training.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Third, Director Qian mentioned in his telegram that this technology leads the world—if the Soviets try to snatch it, what should we demand in return if we sell it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“These three points—arrange them quickly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To China’s defense industry at this moment, the DF-1 was like rain after a long drought—it could at least save some people, some teams, some industries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deploying it to the front lines could also preserve supporting factories.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a brief surge of excitement over the DF-1’s global-class accuracy, Director Qian calmed down on his return flight to Beijing and instead felt that misfortune might turn to fortune—perhaps this wasn’t entirely good.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the technological breakthrough proved China’s capacity for self-reliance, easing security anxieties, it inadvertently created resistance to academic openness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If technological progress could be achieved without academic openness, the motivation for openness would vanish.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He couldn’t possibly attribute all the credit to Lin Ran’s Monte Carlo method and variational calculus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the plane, Director Qian kept pondering how to loosen restrictions on academic exchange.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With Soviet experts fully withdrawn, academic openness was now more critical than ever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next day, as usual, Director Qian walked into his office and asked: “Secretary Zhang, where’s the latest issue of International Scientific Abstracts?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He searched his desk but couldn’t find it—it usually arrived mid-month, translated into Chinese and placed right there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Kewen entered quietly: “Director Qian, I haven’t had the chance to tell you yet—the Science and Technology Commission notified us: the Soviets have halted supply of International Scientific Abstracts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Soviet Academy Reports and Soviet Academy News have also been cut off entirely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Commission told us not to panic—the comrades in Moscow are trying to arrange shipments.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Director Qian slammed his desk: “Damn Russians!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On his way to the Xishan meeting that afternoon, Director Qian was preoccupied with how to win the Commission Director’s support during their private talk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But when the meeting room emptied, leaving only the two of them, the man waved his hand, signaling his secretary to leave and guard the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he pulled a document from his drawer and handed it to Director Qian: “Old Qian, take a look.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All the praise had already been spoken in the meeting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now it was just the two of them—he had substantive matters to discuss.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After reading it, Director Qian felt as if he were conversing across the distance with Lin Ran in Xiangjiang—the man had voiced exactly what he himself was thinking: China must rely on itself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Well said.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The middle-aged man waved his hand, then pulled out another sheet: “This is a song recently published in Xiangjiang—take a look.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Director Qian took it and froze at the first three characters: “Onlooker.” After reading the full text, he quickly explained: “Professor Lin would never be an onlooker—he gave us the Monte Carlo method.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In my view, this is merely a deliberate posture to dispel suspicion.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The middle-aged man nodded: “Of course—I know that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The technical data he passed us—if we exposed it to the Americans, Lin would be finished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I know his goodwill, but this song has caused serious backlash in Beijing, and with the current climate, Lin can only exist internally as a classified project.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In public, we must minimize his influence as much as possible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, thanks to the DF-1’s success, even though Professor Hua Luogeng’s team hasn’t yet cracked the Monte Carlo method from Lin Ran’s three papers, I’ve secured unprecedented conditions for everyone.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Director Qian’s eyes lit with anticipation: “What conditions?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Professor Lin is currently designated ‘Fermat’ internally—a long-term project with the highest classification level.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a long time to come, Professor Hua will remain in Yangcheng to build a team, using part of our foreign exchange reserves to import Western academic journals from Xiangjiang, translate them, and send them back to Beijing to fill the gap left by the Soviets’ cutoff.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once the materials reach Beijing, they’ll be restricted under classification, shared only with a select few scientists, avoiding unnecessary trouble.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The middle-aged man had not been idle during this period.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Beijing’s climate was hostile, move it to Yangcheng.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If direct academic exchange with the West was impossible, cloak it as a classified project—frame it as decryption of classified information.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since returning to China, Director Qian had privately asked him: Could we import Western journals? Could we find ways to get them from overseas Chinese?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Soviets’ perfectly timed cutoff gave him the perfect excuse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had kept this in mind, and now he finally found the right reason and the right opportunity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Ran never imagined his desire to preserve the spark would be fulfilled in this way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Director Qian, upon hearing this, felt a chill—he believed Lin Ran had planned everything in advance, even without returning, he had carved out a sliver of channel for academic exchange between China and the West.\u003C\u002Fp>",1090,"2026-06-19T21:37:46.551Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","fa197157ccbd2dacfa6d23ca484994fc808b0267b43438f2a454102bcb879f83","technology-invades-the-modern-world-chapter-50","technology-invades-the-modern-world-chapter-48",162,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Ftechnology-invades-the-modern-world-cover.jpg"]