Thank you for sharing. I have been researching this topic for about ten years now and no first hand accounts like to talk or are they alive anymore, this is a very important story, especially in contrast the the dominant Western narratives, thank you!

Thanks a lot, I really first thought "404" was just a geek reference and not the actual code name !

I have some very good friends which are Chinese but are not able to read English, do you mind if I do a AI translation, and if you can check it to see if it translate what you're trying to convey ? (I propose that as I think it would be too much to ask to ask to redo the text in Chinese)

Edit: haha I see you actually did the reverse ! Do you mind sharing also the original CHinese script ? That would also help me with my own mandarin learning !

Did you interview Yuan Gongpu or was this part from another source?

I'm interested in the laborers who did the work, not just the scientists who designed everything.

Thanks for your story.

Since you mention a trip to Beijing, I wonder what the security precautions were to keep the secret base secret. I assume visitors from other cities would need to apply for a travel permit similar to the one still required for some border areas in Xinjiang and Tibet, but were there also restrictions on people leaving?

Was there anything you can recall that 404 maybe had but the rest of China might not have because of its special status? Access to newer consumer technologies, or something like that? Just was curious if there was something “better” about living in a government secret beyond long train rides and melting neighbors.

> 404 is a classified code for a nuclear industrial base.

Can you expand? A code under what system? What were some other code numbers and what (unclassified) things did they refer to? Did each code refer to a specific city or specific factory? Or were all cities/factories dedicated to a certain type of industry or military objective classified under the same code? Why did they teach you this code number growing up?

I'm really fascinated by this. Fantastic story overall, can't wait for part 2!

Thank you for sharing these memories.

I'd be very interested to hear any thoughts you might have about Jung Chang's book "Wild Swans".

I read this book a year or two ago and learned a lot from it, but I also learned that many people who grew up in China take issue with the author's account. I'd be grateful for any remarks you may be able to share.

What would you say to someone who has long been fascinated by nuclear weaponry and hopes to one day witness a test explosion?

I see even China hasn't tested in decades and so my chances of doing this are close to nil, but I ask because your answer could tell more how you feel about the technology and its future. My physics professor told me to study supernovae instead.

I just wanted to say ‘thank you!’. This was a really interesting read, looking forward to the next part!

Amazing story, thank you for sharing it

Hi OP, as a side question, are you using an LLM like ChatGPT to translate or write your comments here?

Just wanted to say thank you for sharing this view into entirely different world for many of us!

Fascinating and well told - many thanks!

Thanks Vincent for submitting, this is really fascinating.

Well written, and interesting. I'm slightly surprised at the detailed memories you have from such an early age.

> During the “Three Years of Hardship” (1959–1961), when more than 30 million people across China starved to death, our factory area faced a desperate crisis. At one point, there were only a few days’ worth of rations left in the warehouses, and workers began to suffer from severe edema due to malnutrition.

I was curious about this part and lingering perspectives among Chinese citizens. How do they regard the past mass starvations and deaths in the 1900s? Are these events well known? Are they seen as a catastrophe? Do they blame someone (like the government) or is it seen as the cost of progress or a natural disaster? Do old and young people see these events differently from each other?

Thanks for writing and sharing!

Thank you so much for sharing your experience!

Great article, thx for sharing it! What i want to know, where exactly is this city? I mean geographically, i even could not locate it on GMaps or the like?? I mean, i get it, thats the whole point isnt it? Still curious.

Very interesting, thank you.