Tech Giants: Starting from Bankrupt Companies

390: Construction begins on the third Guanghan Palace.On the first morning of November, the giant screens in New York’s Times Square lit up on Time with the cover of Time Magazine. Su Chen wore a red Chinese-style suit, while Lin Wan wore a phoenix crown and embroidered robe; the two looked at each other and smiled against a backdrop of Sanya’s blue sea and sky. Above the cover, large white letters read: ’The Xinghuo Era.’ The subtitle was: ’From a Shenzhen Factory to a Lunar Base—Su Chen’s Sea of Stars.’

This was the first Time since Time Magazine’s founding that a couple’s wedding photo had been used for the cover.

The editor-in-chief wrote in the foreword: ’Ten years ago, Su Chen was still building drones in a meeting room. Ten years later, he is building houses on the moon. This is not a business story. This is a story of civilization. When humanity looks back at the twenty-first century, they will remember not which war or which crisis, but this moment—a young man from the East, leading his wife and team, leaving human footprints on another planet.’

At 10:00 AM, global media began a frenzy. CNN headline: ’Su Chen Graces Time Cover—The ”Xinghuo Era” Officially Begins.’ The BBC’s title was more emotional: ’From the Wedding to the Moon—Su Chen’s Next Stop.’ The Yomiuri Shimbun took an Eastern perspective: ’A New Chapter for Eastern Civilization.’ On Twitter, the hashtag ’#XinghuoEra’ shot to number one globally, with retweets exceeding five million within half an hour.

Comments from netizens poured in like a tide. ’Time finally did something right.’ ’From a broken factory to a lunar base, this is the true ultimate comeback.’ ’Su Chen and Lin Wan are such a perfect match. One changes the world, and the other accompanies him while he does it.’

That same afternoon, at the Command Center. Su Chen stood before the large screen, which displayed real-Time footage of the moon’s Oceanus Procellarum—a gray wasteland in eternal silence, where three robots sat quietly, awaiting orders. He turned to look at Chu Tianming. ’When does construction on the lunar base start?’ Chu Tianming replied, ’The robots are already in position. We can start anytime.’ Su Chen nodded. ’Then let’s begin.’

At 3:00 PM that day, the global live stream began. Five billion people watched the screen simultaneously, witnessing the most important construction project in the history of human civilization. Three 3D printing robots started up at once, their mechanical arms spreading layers of lunar soil. As the laser sintering heads passed over, the lunar soil instantly melted and solidified, turning into a grayish-white solid. The first foundation block took shape.

Chu Tianming’s voice reached the world through the live stream, as calm as if he were announcing the weather, yet every word carried immense weight: ’For the first Time in human history, we are building a house on another planet. We aren’t using bricks from Earth; we’re using soil from the moon.’ Inside the Command Center, thunderous applause erupted. Liu Peiqiang stood in a corner, taking off his glasses to wipe them repeatedly. The sixty-five-year-old scientist had worked in aerospace since Chang’e 1; he had waited nearly twenty years for this day.

The CNN anchor’s voice trembled: ’This is the greatest engineering project in the history of human civilization. Greater than the Pyramids, greater than the Great Wall. Because this isn’t on Earth; it’s on the moon.’ The BBC anchor added: ’If successful, humanity will become a truly multi-planetary species.’ Twitter’s servers nearly crashed under the pressure as ’#BuildingOnTheMoon’ hit the top of global trends. The live comments poured down like a waterfall: ’Xingchen has opened a construction company on the moon!’ ’In the future, Xingchen will have the final say on lunar property prices.’ ’This is ten thousand Times more reliable than Musk’s Mars plan.’

December 10th, Mars Time. The yinghuo-1 lander entered the Martian atmosphere at a speed of twenty thousand kilometers per hour, the atmospheric friction burning the heat shield into an orange-red glow. The global live stream had an eleven-minute delay—that was how far the signal had to travel from Mars to Earth.

Eleven minutes later, the images were transmitted back. The Mars rover ’Yinghuo’ slowly drove down the landing platform. The red wasteland stretched to the horizon under a low, gray sky, with Olympus Mons faintly visible in the morning mist. The rover’s six wheels touched the ground, leaving deep tracks in the soft red soil. The path of the tracks formed four Chinese characters—’Xing Chen Da Hai’ (Sea of Stars).

Chu Tianming’s voice trembled: ’For the first Time in human history, Chinese characters have been left on Mars. Not English, not Russian. Chinese.’ In the Command Center, people wept. Liu Peiqiang took off his glasses, tears streaming down his face.

Su Chen stood before the large screen, the red wasteland of Mars behind him. He was silent for three seconds before saying, ’Next stop, manned Mars mission.’ Thunderous applause broke out from the audience; some stood up to cheer, while others whistled.

February 15th, 2022, Command Center. On the large screen, Oceanus Procellarum on the moon. Six astronauts stood on the lunar surface, their white extravehicular suits shimmering silver in the sunlight, with the flags of China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the European Union printed on their chests. Behind them, three 3D printing robots were at work. The base walls had already grown from the ground to a height of one meter, then two, the grayish-white sintered lunar soil looking like solidified magma in the sun.

Five billion people watched the global live stream. Chu Tianming stood before the main control console, his voice booming: ’Today, construction on the ”Guanghan Palace” lunar base officially begins.’

On the large screen, the rendering of Phase I of the project slowly unfolded:

’Guanghan Palace’ Lunar Base Phase I Project (To be completed in 2023)

Living Module: Capacity for 8 people, equipped with life support systems, kitchen, dining room, and gym.

Laboratory Module: Three independent laboratories for biological experiments, physics experiments, and materials science experiments.

Energy Module: Solar array + small nuclear batteries, dual-backup power supply, total power of 100 kilowatts.

Communication Station: Direct laser communication to Earth, 10Gbps bandwidth, 1.3-second delay.

Chu Tianming added: ’Once Phase I is complete, Guanghan Palace will be able to accommodate eight permanent astronauts. In the future, it will expand to twenty, fifty, and eventually a hundred people. The moon is not just a destination; it is home.’

At 11:00 AM, Su Chen’s image appeared on the screen. He stood by a window in the Shenzhen Command Center, the Shenzhen skyline—Ping An Finance Center, Spring Bamboo Tower, and KK100—shining in the sunlight behind him. He wore a dark blue suit without a tie, his sleeves casually rolled up.

’Today, construction on Guanghan Palace begins. Humanity has its first home on the moon.’ He paused, his gaze sweeping across the room. ’The moon is just the starting point. Next stop, Mars. And after that—the Sea of Stars.’

Applause thundered through the Command Center. The six astronauts lined up on the lunar surface and saluted toward the camera.

That afternoon, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine issued a statement, worded as politely as a diplomatic note: ’Congratulations to Xingchen Aerospace. This is a milestone for human civilization. NASA looks forward to collaborating with Xingchen in the field of deep space exploration in the future.’ But privately, he complained to his assistant, his voice raspy and weary: ’Those people in Congress just won’t allocate funds. We landed on the moon fifty years ago, and now we can’t even afford to build a base.’

The Twitter comment section exploded instantly. ’NASA Administrator: Congratulations. Translation: We’re salty.’ ’America planted a flag fifty years ago; fifty years later, China is building a house. Who won?’ The harshest one read: ’Fifty years after America stepped on the moon, the Chinese started building houses.’

That evening in Shenzhen, Su Chen stood by his office window, watching the sunset over Shenzhen Bay. Lin Wan came over and stood beside him. Outside, the setting sun dyed the sea golden, and the distant Hong Kong skyline was faintly visible in the twilight.

’Construction on the lunar base has started, and we’ve reached Mars. What’s next?’ Lin Wan asked.

Su Chen smiled. ’Next, let humanity celebrate the Lunar New Year on the moon.’

Lin Wan smiled too. ’Then I’ll have to prepare the New Year’s Eve dinner. I wonder if a kitchen on the moon is easy to use.’

Su Chen took her hand. ’I’ll eat whatever you make.’

Outside, the sunlight was perfect. 380,000 kilometers away, six astronauts stood on the wasteland of Oceanus Procellarum, the walls of the base growing behind them. The grayish-white sintered lunar soil rose meter by meter. On the day it was capped, humanity would have its first home on the moon. Guanghan Palace—the name came from an ancient myth. Now, it had become a reality.