Every great nation has a place where its fondest dreams are made. In China that place is Haidian, its own Silicon Valley, a mishmash of technology startups and retail shops that has grown up on the periphery of Peking University. Lining the streets of Haidian are some of China's finest electronics shops, selling surprisingly sophisticated computer parts and peripherals.
Technology is China's future.
The early years of Mao's new republic were exhilarating and disastrous. The success of the Communist revolution climaxed a century-long drive by the Chinese to reclaim their historical greatness Ever since Deng Xiaoping launched his economic reforms in 1978, the country has been mad for technology. Like other intellectuals, he was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution, for his role in creating one of China's first computers, Red Flag. But Wang secretly persisted in his goal of finding a way to streamline, through computer technology, the laborious task of printing in Chinese characters. When he finally received backing for research from Peking University in the 1980s, Wang hired students rather than established scientists, and gave them free reign to explore their curiosity.