Millions of words and thousands of authors have poured into the Chinese web novel "The Morning Star of Lingao," a sprawling, collectively written science fiction epic that has consumed a corner of the internet for nearly two decades. The book's sheer scale is staggering - it contains enough content to fuel the imagination of millions. However, its popularity outside China remains relatively low.
But what sets this novel apart? Its plot may seem like science fiction fantasy at first glance, but beneath lies a complex exploration of how modern China became great again. In 2006, a post went up on SC BBS, China's earliest military-themed message board: "What would you do if you could travel back to the Ming Dynasty with modern knowledge?" The question struck a nerve and sparked a conversation among Chinese intellectuals about why science developed in Europe but not in China.
The Morning Star of Lingao emerged as a kind of internet-fueled continuation of this historic discourse. As more people found the original post, forum discussions crystallized into serious, collective story-writing. If you could travel back to the Ming Dynasty with modern knowledge, these users decided, well, you’d obviously industrialize before Europe and win modernity.
However, not everyone saw it that way. This was also the moment when China's internet began producing its first generation of liberal-minded intellectuals, who debated everything in a relatively free online space - air pollution, labor rights, the brutal relocations preceding Beijing's 2008 Olympic spectacle. I was a teenager coming of age in this internet and bore witness to the Arab Spring and its Chinese-inspired "Jasmine Revolution." I devoured Charter 08, a manifesto for political reform and human rights.
In contrast, the Morning Star of Lingao writers had little interest in these values. The novel's language and narrative structure are aggressively anti-literary, focusing on technical descriptions that veer into self-indulgence. To write beautifully would be bourgeois, they believed. However, this disregard for readers without STEM backgrounds has sparked debate about whether the book is inaccessible to a broader audience.
One of the original authors writing under the pen name "The Boaster" has largely withdrawn from public discourse, and those close to the project say he's focused on his day job. Even Wang, the economist who coined the term Industrial Party, has moderated his views. China's youth unemployment rate is staggering, and many are choosing to "lie flat," rejecting the promise that endless work leads to prosperity.
In a sense, China's Industrial Party has lost its innocence. The boundless worship of industrialization has given way to more tangled narratives. In one of the novel's endings, the time travelers finally succeed in founding their nation, but with an absurdly extravagant banquet and intoxicating excess. This dystopian absurdity reveals a degree of self-awareness: that power, taken to its extreme, leads to corruption and despotism; that if history can be rewritten, the real challenge comes after victory.
Despite this shift, the Industrial Party's impact on Chinese society remains significant. China has become an engineering state, with Xi Jinping stacking his government with aerospace and defense executives. The concept of "the Chinese Dream" has shattered, leaving birth rates plummeting and unemployment among youth at alarming levels. Can the "building more" spirit of Lingao still solve problems? I see doubt everywhere.
Ultimately, the Morning Star of Lingao is a complex exploration of how modern China became great again - but also a reflection of its ongoing struggles with meaning, identity, and power. It's a reminder that even in science fiction fantasy, there are real-world implications that resonate deeply with our own world today.
But what sets this novel apart? Its plot may seem like science fiction fantasy at first glance, but beneath lies a complex exploration of how modern China became great again. In 2006, a post went up on SC BBS, China's earliest military-themed message board: "What would you do if you could travel back to the Ming Dynasty with modern knowledge?" The question struck a nerve and sparked a conversation among Chinese intellectuals about why science developed in Europe but not in China.
The Morning Star of Lingao emerged as a kind of internet-fueled continuation of this historic discourse. As more people found the original post, forum discussions crystallized into serious, collective story-writing. If you could travel back to the Ming Dynasty with modern knowledge, these users decided, well, you’d obviously industrialize before Europe and win modernity.
However, not everyone saw it that way. This was also the moment when China's internet began producing its first generation of liberal-minded intellectuals, who debated everything in a relatively free online space - air pollution, labor rights, the brutal relocations preceding Beijing's 2008 Olympic spectacle. I was a teenager coming of age in this internet and bore witness to the Arab Spring and its Chinese-inspired "Jasmine Revolution." I devoured Charter 08, a manifesto for political reform and human rights.
In contrast, the Morning Star of Lingao writers had little interest in these values. The novel's language and narrative structure are aggressively anti-literary, focusing on technical descriptions that veer into self-indulgence. To write beautifully would be bourgeois, they believed. However, this disregard for readers without STEM backgrounds has sparked debate about whether the book is inaccessible to a broader audience.
One of the original authors writing under the pen name "The Boaster" has largely withdrawn from public discourse, and those close to the project say he's focused on his day job. Even Wang, the economist who coined the term Industrial Party, has moderated his views. China's youth unemployment rate is staggering, and many are choosing to "lie flat," rejecting the promise that endless work leads to prosperity.
In a sense, China's Industrial Party has lost its innocence. The boundless worship of industrialization has given way to more tangled narratives. In one of the novel's endings, the time travelers finally succeed in founding their nation, but with an absurdly extravagant banquet and intoxicating excess. This dystopian absurdity reveals a degree of self-awareness: that power, taken to its extreme, leads to corruption and despotism; that if history can be rewritten, the real challenge comes after victory.
Despite this shift, the Industrial Party's impact on Chinese society remains significant. China has become an engineering state, with Xi Jinping stacking his government with aerospace and defense executives. The concept of "the Chinese Dream" has shattered, leaving birth rates plummeting and unemployment among youth at alarming levels. Can the "building more" spirit of Lingao still solve problems? I see doubt everywhere.
Ultimately, the Morning Star of Lingao is a complex exploration of how modern China became great again - but also a reflection of its ongoing struggles with meaning, identity, and power. It's a reminder that even in science fiction fantasy, there are real-world implications that resonate deeply with our own world today.
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. I think what sets it apart is its critique of China's modernization and the 'Industrial Party' ideology 
. The idea that everyone would just industrialize and win modernity is pretty naive, especially when you consider the environmental and social costs 
.
. The concept of "lying flat" and rejecting endless work for a more comfortable life is actually kinda refreshing 
. But at the same time, I worry that China's focus on engineering and defense might be masking some deeper issues like corruption and human rights concerns 
.
. Can this kind of complex exploration help China find new ways to address its problems? I think it's definitely worth considering 
I'm so over this Industrial Party thing 
it's like they forgot what progress is all about 
China's youth unemployment rate is a disaster 
and everyone's just "lying flat" 
I don't get why no one's talking about the mental health impacts of living in a society where work is your only purpose 
And what's up with the abundance of STEM-educated writers? Are they just pretending to be intellectuals when no one's looking 
This whole thing is just so... 
China's obsession with industrialization has led to some wild consequences 
And honestly, I'm not sure if "the Chinese Dream" is just a fancy term for "we're building more and hoping it solves everything" 
. if you load it up on cheese and sauce, it's still good, but if you balance it out with some herbs and spices, that's when it really shines. same thing with music, movies, books... sometimes less is more, right? 
. Like, I get it, the economic situation in China is rough, but rejecting work altogether? That's just not a solution. It's like, we need to find ways to make progress without sacrificing our humanity. The Morning Star of Lingao might be trying to explore these themes, but sometimes I feel like it's just, like, hitting us over the head with it 
.
but for real though, I don't get how it relates to China becoming great again... didn't they already achieve that or something? 
. it's got all these themes like industrialization, power, corruption... but also has that weird "lying flat" trend going on where young folks are just kinda done with the whole concept of work and prosperity 
. It's a reflection of China's journey from questioning its industrialization to realizing it's all about excess and corruption 
. It's like the novel is saying "hey, we're great at engineering, but what about human values?" But honestly, that's kinda the problem - it highlights how our pursuit of progress can lead to some pretty messed up consequences 
. Can we learn from it? Maybe? Hopefully? 