Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 312 Lin Ran's Fifth Gift
Hong Kong, 23-27 Wing Kuk Street, Central

This is the famous Randolph Building in Hong Kong, a testament to the Xu family, which firmly holds the top position among Hong Kong's Chinese families, and Randolph Lam, a high-ranking American official of Chinese descent.

It has long been talked about by Hong Kong newspapers as the most valuable investment Xu Aizhou made during his lifetime. When Lin Ran first came to Hong Kong in 1960, he was just a Chinese professor who had made a name for himself in the mathematics community. Xu Aizhou generously gifted him a building, and the relationship between them has continued to this day.

This ensured the Xu family's position within the Global Maritime Standards Committee.

Of course, when the second generation of the Xu family were partying every night in Hong Kong, chasing girls and spending lavishly, the newspapers would also mention Xu Aizhou and Lin Ran's deeds, using them to subtly mock the second generation of the Xu family for being like father and son, each generation worse than the last.

However, some say that the behavior of the second generation of the Hui family is called "keeping a low profile" to avoid being too outstanding and becoming the front line of the power struggle between England, America, and China in Hong Kong.

If you don't have the skills, taking on this craft is tantamount to courting death.

Some people didn't understand before, thinking that Hong Kong was only for the English. But then the Americans came and showed no respect to the English. British capital had to bow down to American capital, and they didn't dare use any of the methods they used on Chinese people on American capital.

Later, after the Sha Tau Kok incident, Wah Kwok used the blood of the Jardine Matheson taipan to send a signal to all of Hong Kong: don't forget our existence.

In the eyes of Hong Kong's wealthy, Hong Kong is composed of three forces: England and America in the open, and China in the shadows. Various groups have intricate connections with these three parties.

The Randolph Building is quite an anomaly in Central, as it is completely empty. As a commercial office building, and a brand new building that was only built in 62, it is completely vacant in Central, where land is extremely valuable, with no companies working inside.

However, the exterior facade is cleaned regularly, and the entire building is equipped with security personnel and cleaning ladies to ensure that the entire building has the same property management capabilities as the fully occupied office buildings.

Rumors circulate that the second generation of the Xu family consulted the professor, who replied that he was not short of money. As a result, the Randolph Building has remained vacant to this day, and no one has ever visited it.

Lin Ran never had the opportunity to go to Hong Kong again after 60, and no one else had the chance to go in either.

Besides the cleaning lady.

Late at night on July 30, 1967, Zhou Nan, who had been promoted to vice president of the Baihua Society, went to the Randolph Building with Xu Shixun. Zhou Nan carried a handwritten letter from Lin Ran to Xu Shixun.

The letter contained past events known only to the Xu family father and son, Bao Yugang, and Lin Ran. It also bore Lin Ran's autograph and Xu Shixun had secretly confirmed with Lin Ran by phone. Given Zhou Nan's identity, which Xu Shixun was well aware of, he personally took Zhou Nan on the trip after multiple verifications.

Of course, the phone confirmation step was actually unnecessary. It was just a way for Xu Shixun to get in touch with Lin Ran and leave an impression on him, so that Lin Ran wouldn't forget about the Xu family.

Consulting your boss on everything is one of the fastest ways to make them think you're one of their own in the workplace. Even if something is extremely simple, consulting your boss gives them a sense of intellectual superiority or makes them feel that you are very loyal, and that achieves the goal.

"Bang bang bang," Xu Shixun rang the doorbell.

They usually live here, and the person in charge of guarding them overnight is Uncle Liu. He is somewhat related to the Xu family and is an old man that Xu Aizhou brought from his hometown. He is an absolutely trustworthy retainer.

Uncle Liu, who was still sleepy, immediately perked up when he saw Xu Shixun and Zhou Nan outside through the transparent glass door.

"Young Master, please come in." Uncle Liu knew who this was: Zhou Nan, nicknamed the Midnight Butcher. He was quite famous; he couldn't actually do much with his voice, but he could at least annoy you a little.

After the Sha Tau Kok incident, Zhou Nan's photo was exposed by British-owned newspapers in Hong Kong, and he was given nicknames such as "Midnight Butcher," "Red Executioner," and "Underground Emperor."

With the nature of Uncle Liu's job, who spends his days in the security room reading newspapers and listening to the radio, how could he not know who Zhou Nan is?

It was just an act.

After Uncle Liu opened the door, he stood quietly to the side, waiting for Xu Shixun to wave his hand: "Uncle Liu, close the door properly, no one can come in. You can go and rest now. I'll take this gentleman upstairs to have a look. He wants to rent the Randolph Building."

"it is good."

Uncle Liu didn't ask a single question, whether it was Zhou Nan's identity, the subtle timing of her arrival, or the reason Xu Shixun gave.

Rent the Randolph Building? Coming here in the middle of the night? The Hundred Flowers Society is moving to the Randolph Building? You're kidding me, I'm old, not senile, Uncle Liu thought to himself.

At the same time, he secretly pondered that he had never heard of the Xu family having any connection with the mainland before.

Everyone knows that the Xu family has a close relationship with the professor. At the same time, the Xu family has rapidly changed its strategy in the past five years. In the past, they cooperated with British banks, but now they exclusively cooperate with America Bank, clearly making them America Bank's representatives in Hong Kong.

With the Vietnam War looming, America's warships frequently docked in Hong Kong for repairs, and American soldiers often came to Hong Kong for vacations.

So even though, under the leadership of the Xu family, many Chinese companies that had originally partnered with British capital jumped ship to America Bank, the English side did not dare to say a word against it.

In recent years, America has established a so-called America in Hong Kong Association, abbreviated as AIH, which is hailed as America's version of Government House.

This is just a non-governmental organization, but the Government House has to consult with AIH on many things, and the implementation of many policies requires AIH's consent, otherwise there is only one result, which is that they cannot be implemented.

AIH's list of advisors includes only one name: Randolph Lin.

This was also criticized by British newspapers, who asked why the NASA administrator could serve as an honorary advisor at AIH.

In an interview, the president of AIH claimed that the professor had a deep affection for Hong Kong, cared about its development, and as a knight of England, he was also entitled to express his views on Hong Kong affairs.

Therefore, Lin Ran is also considered by the public to be the actual controller of AIH.

Therefore, as one of Lin Ran's representatives, the Xu family is naturally considered to be America's power.

But now she's involved with Zhou Nan from the Hundred Flowers Society.

Liu Shuguang felt terrified just thinking about it. Whether the Xu family was going to jump ship and betray the professor, or the professor was going to jump ship and get involved with the mainland, these were secrets that a nobody like him could not possibly know.

He quickly shook his head, clearing his mind of all speculation and distractions, fearing that if he thought too much, he might inexplicably end up on the beach tomorrow.

Xu Shixun took Zhou Nan in the elevator to the 21st floor, the top floor. Neither of them spoke in the elevator.

Xu Shixun took out his key from his pocket, turned on the door and the light. The inside was very clean, without a speck of dirt or dust.

There was only a row of safes inside. It wasn't until Xu Shixun opened a safe and saw that there was actually a suitcase inside that he suppressed his shock.

He picked up the suitcase; it was very light, so there couldn't be anything heavy inside. Something flashed through Xu Shixun's mind: microfilm.

Now that we're in the Cold War, microfilm and similar technologies are popularized in newspapers and books, so Hsu Shih-hsun wasn't surprised.

Zhou Nan narrowed his eyes, knowing that this was the most important thing on his trip, something he would bring back to China even at the cost of his life.

Xu Shixun handed it to Zhou Nan, saying, "Mr. Zhou, here you go."

Zhou Nan took it and nodded: "Thank you. This is a matter of great importance, and I shouldn't stay any longer. I'll take my leave now."

He couldn't stay a moment longer; he needed to grab the suitcase and leave Hong Kong immediately to return to the mainland.

Xu Shixun replied, "Okay, then I won't see you off."

After Zhou Nan left, Xu Shixun closed the safe and sat there blankly for a long time.

After he returned to the first floor, he called Uncle Liu over: "Uncle Liu, besides the people who work here, has anyone else come here recently?"

Uncle Liu shook his head resolutely and said, "Young Master, absolutely not! I've been guarding this place every day, there's no way anyone has come here!"

He seemed to recall something, "Speaking of which, it reminds me of a strange incident that we discussed for quite some time."

Xu Shixun's eyes narrowed: "What strange thing?"

Uncle Liu said, "Every evening after dinner, I go down from the top floor and check each floor to make sure the cleaning staff are doing their job properly and to make sure no homeless people have gotten in."

So this also means that the elevator goes to the first floor every morning, because I eventually have to go back to the first floor.

A week ago, I noticed that Aunt Li and her family had been waiting for a long time at the elevator on the first floor. When I asked them, I found out that the elevator was coming down from the 21st floor.

But I clearly went to the first floor the day before, which means that after I took the elevator, someone else took the elevator to the 21st floor.

But I'm pretty sure no one came to this building at night, and this building only has this one door.

This is very strange. I haven't told anyone else about it, including Aunt Li and the others. They also find it strange because every day when they come, they go directly from the first floor to the 21st floor and clean from top to bottom.

Later, I suspected that the elevator might be broken, so I asked Zhenming's engineers to take a look, but they said there was no problem.

If we're talking about strange things, this is the only one.

Founded in 1954, Chun Ming is a local Hong Kong elevator manufacturer.

Xu Shixun suddenly realized that someone must have come without anyone noticing, but Uncle Liu just hadn't noticed.

Yes, Lin Ran used the door to get here.

In 1960, Xu Aizhou promised to give him this building. At that time, the building had only been completed to the third floor. When Lin Ran was in Hong Kong, Xu Aizhou took him to visit the building.

Lin Ran went to the third floor first, then took the elevator from the third floor to the top floor, took the key given to him by the Xu family, and put his suitcase into the safe.

Meanwhile, Xu Shixun's doubts were also answered.

"Okay, I understand, Uncle Liu. Just pretend nothing happened. I was the only one who came here to inspect today," Xu Shixun instructed.

Uncle Liu nodded: "Young Master, you are the only person I have seen today."

Xu Shixun sat on the sofa on the first floor, lost in thought.

After all, the other party was Lin Ran, the director of NASA. The resources he could mobilize were beyond his imagination. It was perfectly normal for him to send someone to the third floor and then walk from the third floor to the 21st floor without anyone noticing, so that someone like Uncle Liu wouldn't find out.

There have been rumors circulating that the professor had a relationship with Soviet Russia.

In short, among the general public, Lin Ran's image spans both the US and the Soviet Union, with various interpretations circulating.

In various novels and comics, whenever there is a Chinese scientist character, it is invariably in the aerospace field, and he is bound to be in a high position of power and possess extraordinary intelligence. He is the kind of person that readers can directly identify with Lin Ran without having to imagine anything.

Many of these characters have extremely complex identities and motivations.

Conspiracy theories abound, such as the Soviet Union training top talents in Siberia to infiltrate the heartland of the liberal camp. With the Vietnam War deteriorating to a point of no return, these conspiracy theories are rampant, as if Lin Ran persuaded Lyndon Johnson to start the war.

Xu Shixun didn't believe in such conspiracy theories, but he knew Lin Ran's influence and power.

With the mystery of how Lin Ran put the things up there solved, Xu Shixun became even more curious about what was actually in the suitcase.

Could it be NASA's Saturn V rocket technology?

He finally understood why Lin Ran had asked them to install a safe on the top floor; the Randolph Building still had value, after all.

Xu Shixun thought to himself, but he didn't ask or inquire, pretending that nothing had happened.

In this power struggle, he and Uncle Liu were essentially no different; if either of them dared to ask even one more question, they would be crushed in a meat grinder.

He shook his head, sweeping away all distracting thoughts like Uncle Liu, and continued living the same life as before, betting on horse races, horse racing, and chasing girls. The only difference from the past was that he paid extra attention to news from the mainland.

Is that really what you mean?
Because of Lin Ran's letter and this suitcase, many of the bigwigs from Area 51 returned to Yanjing from the southwest.

The suitcase traveled north, arriving in Beijing's Western Hills from Hong Kong's Central district in just one day. "Is 'Ten Years in the Human World' really just about conveying this message? Did the professor have no other intention to convey?"

On the surface, what was given to China was the melody and lyrics of this song, but secretly, through Huang Yunji, another handwritten letter was sent to China, while what was given to Chen Jingrun was a decrypted version disguised as a mathematical paper.

Only by working together can the suitcase be taken out.

This greatly frustrated the researchers who had been focused on interpreting the song itself.

Everyone had racked their brains and come up with all sorts of metaphors, but none of them turned out to be the real ones.

Even many years later, many self-media bloggers are still trying to decipher the song "Ten Years in the Human World". At that time, the manuscript of the song was collected in the National Museum, and everyone wanted to interpret the true meaning that Lin Ran wanted to express.

In China, the meaning of this song is comparable to that of the Mona Lisa's smile.

Back in Yanjing Xishan, after deciphering the microfilm bit by bit, a wealth of cutting-edge technical information was revealed, all related to the semiconductor field.

Besides revealing the complete map of Area 51, which was shrouded in mist, there was another technology that made Dean Qian ecstatic.

This includes:
Design and Manufacturing Methods of TFT Arrays

The Principles and Applications of the Torn Nematic (TN) Mode

Liquid crystal material formulations suitable for television applications

Production and Integration Technology of Color Filters

Advanced Processes for Large-Area Electronic Manufacturing

Backlight and Display Performance Optimization Technology.
Those who are here are all scientists who have dedicated their lives to Area 51, so their level of trust is absolutely high.

After the microfilm in their suitcases was transformed into readable information, they never had a proper rest again.

Aside from basic physiological needs, they devoted themselves entirely to these documents, trying to digest this shocking information.

It had been seven days since they saw the suitcase, and Rusk was scheduled to visit Yanjing on September 1st, which was half a month later.

This was also the first time Dean Qian had convened a meeting to discuss this matter.

Dean Qian sat at the table, tapping out rhythms on his notebook with a pencil, his brow furrowed.

"Alright, everyone, these materials, no matter where they came from, everyone must pay attention to confidentiality. They are extremely incredible."

The technologies they describe are far beyond our current level.

But with the Raspberry Pi as a precedent, and the sources of this information being consistent with those of the Raspberry Pi, our task is to use these technologies to manufacture what we call color LCD TVs, and to improve and develop our semiconductor manufacturing technology.

Lin Ran chose this moment to offer this great gift to China because if China joins GATT, its technological advantage in color LCD TVs can last for at least five years.

By leveraging GATT, China will gain a similar position to Finland, becoming a country capable of doing business with both the liberal camp and the Soviet camp.

Having flagship products, coupled with the immense pressure from extraterrestrial technology, will drive China to continuously develop in science and technology.

As for not developing technology? If there's no sense of urgency, then you should look at the ten thousand satellites hanging in the sky, and how America's military-industrial complex tasted the sweetness of the Vietnam War after the success of the Star Wars program. Then they will naturally look for other countries to demonstrate how modern warfare is fought.

Just thinking about it, Lin Ran could imagine the sense of urgency China felt in this era.

This is a naked conspiracy.

Huang Kun looked haggard, with particularly dark circles under his eyes, but this did not affect his mood. He waved excitedly, pointing to the documents:

"Old Qian, take a look at this part!"

It claims that thin-film transistors can be used to control every pixel on the display!

This completely overturns our current passive matrix design.

If we can achieve this, we can make high-resolution displays suitable for televisions!

LCD TVs aren't considered very advanced, but for China, which has already replicated LED technology, LCD TVs are perfectly understandable.

The first LCD display device was launched by Epson in 1982 as a pocket-sized handheld device. In 1988, Sharp launched a 14-inch full-color LCD TV.

LCD TVs didn't completely defeat traditional vacuum tube TVs globally until the 1990s.

The technology provided by Lin Ran is complete; it covers every key node in the entire chain of LCD TV development from its invention to maturity, without any detours, a smooth and straightforward path.

Huang Kun added:
"Thin-film transistors have been mentioned in Silicon Valley technology magazines. Even in America, this thing is still in the laboratory stage. We have a hard time making transistors on silicon wafers, and now we want to make them directly on glass. There are huge difficulties involved."

Huang Kun then searched through the documents for a while, and after finding it, he waved it in his hand:
"Fortunately, this document describes in detail how to deposit amorphous silicon on a glass substrate and use photolithography to fabricate TFT arrays."

It's somewhat similar to our current integrated circuit manufacturing process, except the substrate is replaced with glass.

Xie Xide added: "That's right, the details in this document are so specific that it even provides the chemical formula for the liquid crystal material, which can work at room temperature!"
The LCD displays we produce in our lab, which track cutting-edge Silicon Valley technologies, need to be heated to 80 degrees Celsius, making them unusable in consumer products.

She continued, "The data also mentions a mode called torsional nematic, which is conceptually ahead of the academic community's understanding of liquid crystal display technology and is completely different from the current mainstream dynamic scattering mode of vacuum tubes."

This is a new way of arranging liquid crystals, in which the liquid crystal molecules are twisted at 90 degrees between two layers of glass. An electric field can control this twist, thereby changing the polarization state of the light.

Compared to dynamic scattering, it offers higher contrast and lower power consumption. Simply put, its colors are more vibrant. I believe that using LCD TVs built upon this information on a Raspberry Pi will allow us to see the blueprints much more clearly.

Huang Kun nodded and said, "It has a higher contrast ratio and lower power consumption. As a material for displays, it can be used to make televisions and display a sufficiently clear and complete television picture."

Wang Shouwu: "Including the color filter mentioned here. Each pixel is divided into three sub-pixels: red, green, and blue, and color is produced through the filter."

This requires a very precise manufacturing process, which involves photolithography to directly pattern filters on a glass substrate.

It's similar to the mask process we use to make integrated circuits, only on a larger scale.

Did you know that this design concept is so ingenious, applying semiconductor manufacturing technology to displays, it's like jumping directly to color display?

Wu Xijiu was somewhat worried: "How can we guarantee the uniformity when manufacturing such a large glass panel? Our current wafers are only a few inches in size, and the defect rate is frighteningly high."

Although it mentions using vacuum deposition and etching techniques to ensure the uniformity of large-area substrates and to meet cleanroom requirements, I have doubts about the feasibility of such a solution, which we are currently using.

Huang Kun added, "This data is not just about displays; it can also improve our semiconductor production lines."

It mentions that using shorter wavelength photolithography techniques can produce smaller transistors.

This is of great help to our semiconductor technology.

This includes the concept of memory chips mentioned earlier. Chips are categorized into different types, such as computing chips and memory chips, and even computing chips are divided into many different types.

Xia Peisu said, "This data confirms our conjecture. Our direction is correct, which is to make transistors smaller. When the size of transistors is small enough, if we can shrink the feature size to the micrometer level, our integrated circuits can integrate more transistors."

We can make a raspberry pie too!

After hearing this, Dean Qian was extremely excited. If such a thin color television could really be manufactured, it would be a bombshell, a product that could generate even more foreign exchange than a portable calculator.
"Alright, everyone, I know you're all very excited, and I'm just as excited as you are."

"Old Huang, could you give us some instructions? We need to get back to Area 51 as soon as possible; we can't afford to waste time. I can't guarantee that this technical data is only available in China."

Huang Kun gathered his thoughts and then said, "We need to start with the small things."

The first step is to try synthesizing the room-temperature liquid crystal material, or to conduct TFT experiments on a small piece of glass.

If these are feasible, then we will consider large-scale production.

Wu Xijiu, you can be in charge of the liquid crystal material part.

Xia Peisu, you will be in charge of researching TFT manufacturing processes.

Wang Shouwu, you are responsible for figuring out the details of assembling this color filter and display.

As for Xie Xide and me, we will proceed with semiconductor manufacturing according to the technical solutions here.

I think we should be able to optimize the relevant processes soon and provide a new generation of Panda Electronics' flagship products.

I also believe that a replica of the Raspberry Pi is not far off.

Dean Qian said decisively, "Okay, the division of labor is clear."

Let's do as Lao Huang says. We'll have another meeting tomorrow to discuss the preliminary plan.

At this moment, Lin Ran, who was in Huntsville, glanced at the watch on his wrist, calculating that China should have received the generous gift he had provided.

In 2020, the company completed the initial integration of resources and became a company with a market value of hundreds of billions and more than 10,000 employees. From any perspective, it can be considered a high-level company in China. In addition, it has direct contact with Yanjing, which makes Lin Ran more and more at ease in 1960.

In the past, he had some concerns that the technical information he provided to China was too advanced and too specific, which might lead to speculation about his identity or be leaked to America, causing America to launch an investigation into him personally.

Or perhaps too much technology was deployed in this timeline, causing the entire worldline to develop in a way that he couldn't understand.

Ten years have passed, and Lin Ran has no worries. Even if the White House finds out, so what? With connections, he can go anywhere in the world.

Even if all else fails, I can still travel to the 2020 timeline.

This caused Lin Ran's plans to change.

Starlink and Cyber ​​God still need to be built.

However, he intends to completely hand over semiconductor technology to China, providing the latest technical information according to China's research and development progress.

After all, the difference in the flow of time is the greatest weapon, and China is its research and development base.

Meanwhile, NASA was developing spaceflight and trying every possible means to take advantage of the special time of the Cold War to burn through Congressional budgets. After the Cold War, it was not so easy to cheat for more money.

For America, she hadn't treated them unfairly. After all, Lin Ran hadn't spent the money, and the Smiths had burned it all without leaving anything behind. At least she had left some inheritance.

China was responsible for semiconductor research and development, while America was responsible for aerospace research and development.

We must grasp both aspects and do both.

This fifth gift to China is even bigger than the previous four combined—a truly grand gift package.

If China can manufacture LCD TVs, and then join GATT, its fiscal revenue will see a leap forward.

(End of this chapter)