area51novel Chapter 160 The Weight of Data
Chapter 160 The Weight of Data
2020 11 Month 13 Day.
One day has passed since the joint open letter from the six professors was released.
On this day, the public discourse was strangely divided.
On one hand, the hashtag #SuChenIsASkilledTechnologyGeniusOrMarketingGenius# has garnered over 700 million views and remained on Weibo's trending topics for a full 24 hours. The comments section is divided into two distinct camps—half supporting Su Chen and half questioning him, with the debate so intense that almost every comment receives hundreds of replies.
On the other hand, the 170-page technical white paper that Lin Wei uploaded last night caused almost no stir among the general public.
The reason is simple—nobody watches.
The 170-page technical document is full of mechanical test data for carbon fiber composites, performance curves for MEMS sensors, and process parameters for DRIE deep silicon etching... To the average internet user, this stuff is like a book written in a foreign language.
"President Lin, the white paper has only been downloaded a little over four thousand times," Zhang Haotian reported on the phone, his tone tinged with frustration. "Compared to the tens of millions of views the open letter has received, it's a drop in the ocean."
"Four thousand times is enough." Lin Wei's voice was unexpectedly calm. "Of those four thousand people, how many are intellectual property from universities and research institutions?"
Zhang Haotian checked the backend data and was stunned.
"...more than 1,600 times. Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences... and also dozens of times from AVIC and CASC."
"That's right." Lin Wei's lips curled up slightly. "I don't want everyone to see it. I want it to be seen by those who truly understand it."
"But Mr. Lin, what about public opinion? Ordinary people don't read white papers; they only read open letters. If we don't respond directly, this 'marketing genius' label will only get stuck."
Lin Wei remained silent for a few seconds.
"So I'm going to do the second thing."
"What?"
"Live technical Q&A session."
"Live stream?" Zhang Haotian's voice held a hint of surprise. "Have President Su go live?"
"No. Su Chen won't get involved—he's in the lab; he won't be distracted by a media war." Lin Wei's tone became decisive. "I'll handle it myself."
"you?"
"Yes. I went live with all the raw data, experimental records, and third-party testing reports, letting them question me face-to-face. They said the data in the white paper was unreliable? Then I laid out the source of the data, the testing institution, and the experimental number for each set in front of a national audience."
Lin Wei paused for a moment.
"And I want to invite Fang Jianhua to participate."
"Fang Jianhua?" Zhang Haotian was taken aback. "Will he come?"
"He has to come. If he doesn't, it's tantamount to admitting that his open letter can't withstand scrutiny. If he comes, I'll dismantle every single one of his arguments in person. If he doesn't come, I'll dismantle it alone on camera—and then the whole internet will say, 'Fang Jianhua doesn't dare to come.'"
"This... Mr. Lin, this is risky. What if Fang Jianhua brings up the argument again on the live stream that 'Su Chen isn't a technical genius'? How will you refute that? You can't just say Su Chen is a genius without providing evidence, can you?"
A smile appeared on Lin Wei's lips.
"Who says we can't produce evidence?"
"What do you mean?"
"Did you know Su Chen has a habit?" Lin Wei's voice softened slightly. "Every night, he records his technical thoughts in a notebook. From the first day he founded Hongyuan Feiniao, almost a year now, his notebooks are already fourteen volumes full."
Fourteen notebooks?
"Yes. Each one has a date, technical sketches, calculations, and his own annotations. The third one records the date he first drew the design sketch for the guide channel—March 2, 2020."
Lin Wei paused for a moment.
"Hongyuan Feiniao's DRIE technology team was officially established on June 15, 2020. Team discussions on the flow channel solution began in July."
In other words…
"In other words, the core idea for the flow channel solution was already on Su Chen's laptop three and a half months before the team was formed. The team did engineering verification and optimization, but the initial inspiration—the key idea that changed the entire DRIE technology roadmap—was conceived by Su Chen alone."
Zhang Haotian remained silent for a long time.
"Mr. Lin, these notebooks... can they be made public?"
"Not all of it will be made public. Only the pages about the flow channel will be released. Those few pages will suffice."
"Understood. I'll contact Zhao Mingyuan."
……
That afternoon, Yuchen.com posted a teaser on its official Weibo account—
"Tomorrow at 2 PM, YuChen.com, in conjunction with 36Kr, will host a 'HongYuan Feiniao Technical Q&A Livestream.' Ms. Lin Wei, co-founder and COO of HongYuan Feiniao, will provide complete technical documentation and address each of the questions raised in the recent open letter."
Meanwhile, we have extended a live broadcast invitation to Professor Fang Jianhua, the signatory of the open letter. Professor Fang is welcome to attend and provide in-person testimony.
The teaser was shared over 20,000 times within half an hour.
The most upvoted comment in the comment section is—
"Lin Wei personally stepped forward? Where's Su Chen? Why doesn't Su Chen respond himself? Is it because he's afraid or disdainful?"
The second most popular answer is—
"Su Chen is working on DRIE in his lab in Suzhou. The 250mm cavity is seven days away. Do you think he's afraid, or does he have something more important to do?"
……
Fang Jianhua's office at Beihang University.
He looked at the preview on YuChen.com on his phone, his face turning pale and then flushed.
"...responding to each of the questions raised in the open letter."
"At the same time, we have extended a live broadcast invitation to Professor Fang Jianhua, the signatory of the open letter."
He immediately dialed Ishikawa Akira's number.
"Mr. Ishikawa, Hongyuan Asuka is organizing a live technical Q&A session and has invited me to attend."
"I saw it." Ishikawa Akira's voice remained calm. "Professor Fang, you must go."
"Must?" Fang Jianhua's voice tightened. "But I was already completely outmatched at the last roundtable meeting, and this time they've brought a complete set of technical documents—"
"Professor Fang," Ishikawa Akira interrupted him, "if you don't go, the entire internet will say 'Fang Jianhua is afraid to face criticism.' Your open letter will immediately lose all credibility, and your personal academic reputation will be completely ruined."
Fang Jianhua's hands trembled slightly.
"But if I go, they'll produce the data—"
"Leave the data to me," Ishikawa Akira said in a low voice. "Professor Fang, Bosch's MEMS experimental database is the most complete in the world. If they produce any data, I can prepare corresponding angles of inquiry for you. I will compile all possible points of inquiry and corresponding responses and send them to you before tonight."
"……All right."
"Furthermore, Professor Fang," Ishikawa Akira added, "don't focus on the data. You might not win a data war. Focus on Su Chen himself—the narrative of 'who is using whom' is our core weapon. As long as the public believes Su Chen is using Professor Zhou Zhiyuan, no matter how good the data is, it's useless."
Fang Jianhua closed his eyes.
"I see."
……
at the same time.
Zhou Zhiyuan's study in Tsinghua Heqingyuan residential area.
The 67-year-old professor sat at his desk, the full text of the open letter displayed on his computer screen.
He has read it three times.
With each reading, his expression grew more somber.
"...persuaded by a 25-year-old businessman to 'endorse' his product for free in a live stream with 670,000 online viewers..."
"...Does Mr. Su Chen genuinely respect Professor Zhou's academic authority, or is he exploiting Professor Zhou's patriotism and academic reputation...?"
Zhou Zhiyuan slowly took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose with his hand.
He wasn't angry.
No, to be precise, he's already past the stage of being angry.
He is now feeling something deeper—sorrow.
Do these people who wrote the open letter know what they are doing? Do they know how many years behind China's MEMS education is? Do they know how deep the monopoly of Bosch and ST in MEMS experimental teaching in Chinese universities is?
He recalled 1998 when he taught the first MEMS course in China at Tsinghua University. Back then, there were no domestically produced experimental equipment, no domestically produced textbooks, and not even domestically produced MEMS chip samples. He and his students used only Bosch experimental boards—not because Bosch was superior, but because Bosch was the only option available.
Twenty-two years have passed.
The situation has hardly changed.
Until Su Chen appeared.
A 25-year-old young man made a technological breakthrough in DRIE deep silicon etching in less than a year, produced domestic MEMS sensors, and made a MEMS development board priced at 48.5 yuan per set—creating what Zhou Zhiyuan had been waiting for for 22 years.
Now, some people say he was "used" by this young man.
Zhou Zhiyuan picked up his phone and dialed Lin Wei's number.
"Mr. Lin, I want to participate in tomorrow's live broadcast."
Professor Zhou—
"Don't try to persuade me," Zhou Zhiyuan said calmly and firmly. "That open letter said Su Chen was exploiting my patriotism. Only I can respond to that."
"Professor Zhou, you don't need—"
"President Lin," Zhou Zhiyuan interrupted her, "when I taught my first MEMS course at Tsinghua University in 1998, I used Bosch's experimental boards. It's 2020, and my students are still using Bosch's boards. For twenty-two years, no one has made a domestic alternative. Now someone has finally done it. Tell me—did he take advantage of me, or did I wait for him for twenty-two years?"
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.
"I'll arrange a remote connection," Lin Wei said softly. "Professor Zhou, thank you."
"No need to thank me," Zhou Zhiyuan said calmly and fearlessly. "I was just doing what I had to do."
……
Suzhou, DRIE Laboratory.
Su Chen is checking the air path sealing test results of the 200mm cavity.
There are seventeen unread messages on my phone.
He glanced at the titles—"Live Q&A Session," "Professor Zhou to Connect," "Fang Jianhua Confirmed to Participate"—and then turned his phone over.
Shen Zhiming walked in from outside, carrying two cups of coffee.
"Mr. Su, have you seen what's going on online?"
"I read the title."
"President Lin will be going on the live stream tomorrow to respond to that open letter on your behalf." Shen Zhiming hesitated for a moment. "President Su, are you really not planning to come forward yourself? Those things in that letter... saying you're not a technical genius, saying you took advantage of Professor Zhou..."
Su Chen took the coffee and took a sip.
"Shen Zhiming, how many more days until the 250mm cavity arrives?"
"Chen Guodong said it would take at least five days."
"Five days." Su Chen nodded. "If, in five days, the initial uniformity of the 250mm cavity is within 5%—do you think anyone will still remember that open letter?"
Shen Zhiming thought for a moment and then shook his head.
"So," Su Chen placed his coffee cup on the table, his gaze returning to the test data in front of him, "the best response isn't what you say, but what you do."
Shen Zhiming was silent for a few seconds, then nodded slightly.
He suddenly understood why Su Chen was able to make these things.
It's not because he's particularly smart.
It's not because he always knows what's most important.
……
That evening.
As the live stream announcement from Yuchen.com spread across the internet, the "Technical Q&A Live Stream" quickly became a new hot topic.
On Weibo—
Fang Jianhua has confirmed his participation in the live broadcast! This time it's a head-on confrontation!
"Lin Wei, a mere COO, is dealing with the questions from six professors? Su Chen doesn't even dare to step forward himself?"
"Hilarious! Su Chen's working on DRIE in the lab, and you want him to come out and argue? Do you want China's DRIE technology to be two years behind or two months behind?"
"The key is whether Lin Wei can handle it. Fang Jianhua is the vice dean of Beihang University; his academic qualifications speak for themselves."
"Don't forget, everyone. Last time at the roundtable, Fang Jianhua also had 'academic qualifications to back him up,' but Professor Zhou completely crushed him."
On Zhihu, the question "What do you think of Hongyuan Feiniao's upcoming technical Q&A live stream?" received more than 300 answers within an hour.
The most upvoted answer comes from a prominent figure on Zhihu (a Chinese Q&A website) in the aerospace field.
"I carefully read the 170-page technical white paper that Hongyuan Feiniao released last night."
As an engineer who has worked in the field of aerospace materials for fifteen years, I can say with certainty that the data quality of this white paper surpasses that of 90% of the technical documents of domestic enterprises.
A few key points:
1. The mechanical data for the lightweight carbon fiber composite material is supported by a third-party testing report from the Department of Materials Science at Tsinghua University, with traceable testing numbers and dates. The tensile strength figure of 1850 MPa, if genuine, is close to the performance level of Dongli T700.
2. The performance curves of the MEMS sensors have been verified by AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China). AVIC certification is not something that can be obtained by just anyone.
3. Although the core formula for DRIE deep silicon etching process parameters has not been disclosed, if the publicly available uniformity data (±3.2% for 200mm wafers) is reliable, it has already reached the international second-tier level.
So here's the question—the open letter said Su Chen was "not a technical genius, but a marketing genius." Then how did a "marketing genius" obtain the AVIC's testing and certification? How did he get a third-party testing report from Tsinghua University's Department of Materials Science?
Marketing can deceive the public, but it cannot deceive testing instruments.
Looking forward to tomorrow's live stream.
This answer received over five thousand likes within two hours of being posted.
In the WeChat group "Drone Technology Exchange Group".
A calm analyst shared this Zhihu answer.
"Take a look at this, everyone. This 170-page white paper is starting to make waves in the tech community."
Pilot Chen: "Finally, someone in the know has spoken up! I told you that open letter was utter nonsense!"
A calm analyst said, "Old Chen, don't get too excited. Recognition within the tech community is one thing, public perception is another. Most people don't read white papers; they only look at trending topics. Right now, 'Su Chen is a marketing genius' is still trending."
Xiao Wang from Shenzhen: "So tomorrow's live stream is crucial. If Lin Wei can subdue Fang Jianhua on the live stream, then public opinion can truly turn the tide."
Drone A-Jie: "What I'm more curious about is—what is Su Chen doing? Doesn't he care at all?"
A calm analyst commented, "He's working on a 250mm DRIE lens in Suzhou. Honestly, if he's not a technical genius, his mindset already surpasses 99% of entrepreneurs. With hundreds of millions of people online debating whether you're a fraud, you can sit calmly in your lab, unmoved—that composure itself is genius."
Old Chen, the Flyer: "Alright, stop praising me. We'll watch the live stream together in the group tomorrow at 2 PM. Nobody can miss it."
Shenzhen Xiao Wang: "+1."
Drone A-Jie: "+1."
Calm Analyst: "+1."
……
250mm cavity countdown: 5 days.