Ma Qianzu
Strategic Concepts & Mechanics
Primary Evidence
"Perhaps the most interesting way that the Industrial Party’s ideas have been propagated is through an online novel, *The Morning Star of Lingao*, which has been serialized by a group of authors since 2009. It is an alternate-history project that imagines that five hundred people from contemporary China traveled back in time to Lingao County in Hainan (the tropical island that is China’s southernmost province) in the year 1628. Their goal? To trigger an industrial revolution in the Ming dynasty. [Ma Qianzu](private://read/01k3jwt46q240aq6fe12mqkyr0/16_Notes.xhtml#_idTextAnchor386) is a writer involved in the early creation of this series and is one of the more interesting personalities on the Chinese internet. Ma propelled the Industrial Party toward a breakout moment in 2011: After China’s deadliest train collision, he forcefully advocated that the state should press forward with its development of the high-speed rail program (which it did). Ma is also a thinker with an independent streak. In recent years, he has exposed wasteful government spending and has been critical of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. These unusual positions have sometimes landed him in the censors’ crosshairs."
"Perhaps the most interesting way that the Industrial Party’s ideas have been propagated is through an online novel, *The Morning Star of Lingao*, which has been serialized by a group of authors since 2009. It is an alternate-history project that imagines that five hundred people from contemporary China traveled back in time to Lingao County in Hainan (the tropical island that is China’s southernmost province) in the year 1628. Their goal? To trigger an industrial revolution in the Ming dynasty. [Ma Qianzu](private://read/01k3jwt46q240aq6fe12mqkyr0/16_Notes.xhtml#_idTextAnchor386) is a writer involved in the early creation of this series and is one of the more interesting personalities on the Chinese internet. Ma propelled the Industrial Party toward a breakout moment in 2011: After China’s deadliest train collision, he forcefully advocated that the state should press forward with its development of the high-speed rail program (which it did). Ma is also a thinker with an independent streak. In recent years, he has exposed wasteful government spending and has been critical of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. These unusual positions have sometimes landed him in the censors’ crosshairs."