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Shartaya Mollett's avatar

Fascinating read. Incredible how a 1,400-year legacy is still shaping innovation today. Thank you for sharing this hidden thread of history.

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Lile Mo's avatar

Its amazing am just so in awe at how they have managed to tie everything together and that every piece of history is not discarded but kept safely for future use

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Shartaya Mollett's avatar

Yes, it truly is amazing. The care and intention behind preserving every piece of the story is something to be in awe of.

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Lile Mo's avatar

I think that's something most cities in the world don't have. That historical reference that's alive

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Shartaya Mollett's avatar

It’s true, without living history, cities can feel a bit lost or disconnected.

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Joe Robinson's avatar

Wow, that's a mindblower of a debut for your series. Congrats! I can't believe how much ground you covered. and did so in a very novel way through numbered breakouts and the links between then and now. Very original. There's an energy level in this writing that speeds you from historical linkage to modern usage and back again. The past is present technology. This must have been a huge research project. How did you find all the stuff from ancient dynasties?

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Lile Mo's avatar

Thanks so much, Joe! Thrilled you enjoyed the debut - and especially that the historical-modern linkages resonated. You're absolutely right about the marathon ahead, which is why Hefei was the perfect starting point. Its blueprint - where drowned villages become quantum labs and ancient canals feed modern grids - gave me the template: China doesn't discard its past, it reprograms it.

My research process looks like a conspiracy theorist's browser history (except all the connections are real):

🔎 Tab 1: A Ming official's frantic scroll about flood control

🔎 Tab 2: A 2023 infrastructure tender with suspiciously familiar diagrams

🔎 Tab 3: Some sleep-deprived historian's thesis connecting them

The shocker? How often 'innovation' just means finding the right 'CTRL+F' terms for civilization's oldest playbook. Hefei proved that - now to test the pattern across 706 more cities.

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Joe Robinson's avatar

I learned a lot from your story. It’s a truism that we all stand on the shoulders of those before us, but that’s particularly true with science. One discovery leads to another leads to another. We only know that in a general sense, though. Your work shows us the specifics. And that’s fascinating.

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Lile Mo's avatar

One part of the 3rd article looks at the power brokers of the City and i had assumed all cities have these Multi Century families only to realise that in the second City Xiong'an it was a clean slate start in 2017 so no such people yet the structure i created had said that. It just means lots of changes in each city as they aren't the same even though of the same mould

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Aliette Hernandez Carolan's avatar

Beautifully written and incredibly informative. Enjoyed learning this history and fascinated by the modern day threads still being applied today.

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Lile Mo's avatar

I was struck with that a lot and also the way the city is purposefully directing how the city develops showed such a strong will we rarely see in our local governments. Its one wild story i have ever stumbled upon

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Debbie Liu's avatar

This is some kind of briliance.

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Digital-Mark's avatar

Fascinating article filled with an insane amount of history and breakthroughs.

Keep it up and I cannot wait for the next article to be released. 😊

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Lile Mo's avatar

Thanks so much you justboosted my spirit. I am glad you found the article insightful. We still have two more for HEFEI coming Friday and Sunday plus Documentary Tuesday

I hope by the end of the week we understand the city

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Debbie Liu's avatar

That's if the rest of us can keep up with the breadth and depth of what you are writing. good grief, do you even have a day job? this must take so much time.

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