On September 20, 1987, an email was sent from the Ordnance Industry Computer Application Research Institute in Beijing, China, to the University of Karlsruhe in Germany.
The body of the email is very short and actually includes one sentence (bilingual in German and English):
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“Ueber die Grosse Mauer erreichen wie alle Ecken der Welt.”
“Across the Great Wall we can reach every corner in the world. ”
This sentence means:
“Crossing the Great Wall, we can reach every corner of the world.”
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This seemingly ordinary email has extremely important significance in the history of Chinese science and technology. It was the first email sent by China and the first “intimate contact” between China and the Internet.
The sender of the email is Professor Qian Tianbai from the Institute of Computer Applications.
The network Qian Tianbai used was not the Internet built independently by my country, but an international networking project jointly built by the Institute of Computer Application Technology and the University of Karlsruhe in Germany in 1986 – the Chinese Academic Network (CANET). ).
The transmission path of this email is also quite tortuous.
After the email is sent, it first passes through the PAD machine located on the Beijing side of the Italian public packet network ITAPAC, crosses half the world, and enters the ITAPAC main network in Italy. Then, enter Germany's DATEX-P packet network. Finally, we arrived at the University of Karlsruhe. At that time, the rate of this line was only 300bps.
In any case, this email kicked off the Internet era in China. Since then, more and more domestic universities and research institutes have begun to join in the research of the Internet and try to establish larger-scale computer networks.
▉ Early exploration and technology accumulation
In early 1988, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of China officially built the first X.25 packet switching network in China——CNPACcovering cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Xi'an, Wuhan, Chengdu, Nanjing, and Shenzhen.
In the same year, the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences adopted the and email communications in North America.
In December, the Tsinghua University campus network adopted the email software package (using the X.400 protocol) introduced by Professor Hu Daoyuan from UBC University in Canada, connected to UBC University in Canada through the X.25 network, and opened an email application.
In May 1989, the China Research Network (CRN) realized interconnection with the German Research Network (DFN) through CNPAC of the then Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. With the help of DFN's gateway, CRN can communicate with the Internet.
In 1991, the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences adopted the DECNET protocol to connect to the LIVEMORE laboratory of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in the United States through X. 25 and opened an email application.
The establishment of connections one after another inspired the Chinese people.
However, these connections can only be regarded as “Internet indirect connections” or “single-function (mail) connections” and are not true “complete Internet direct connections”.
Attempts to establish complete direct connections soon began at the academic and government levels.
October 1989,Zhongguancun Regional Education and Scientific Research Demonstration NetworkThe project was officially launched. The project is financed by a loan from the World Bank, and is jointly invested and supported by the State Planning Commission (State Planning Commission), the State Education Commission (National Education Commission), the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the National Natural Science Foundation.The World Bank named it “National Computing and Networking Facility of China”, that is NCFC.
At the end of 1992, NCFC completed the construction of three school networks (CASNET, the Chinese Academy of Sciences network, TUNET, the Tsinghua University campus network, and PUNET, the Peking University campus network). One year later, the NCFC backbone network project was completed, using high-speed optical cables and routers to interconnect the three school networks.
Next, NCFC's goal is to connect directly to the Internet.
▉ Overcome resistance and achieve breakthroughs
As we all know, the Internet originated in the United States. Although it was called the International Internet, it was actually under the control of the United States at the time. If China wants to truly connect to the Internet, it must obtain the consent of the United States.
Academics from both China and the United States are very positive about China's access to the Internet.
In October 1991, at the Sino-US High Energy Physics Annual Conference, US spokesperson White Torkey proposed that China should connect to the Internet as soon as possible.
In June 1992, at the INET'92 annual meeting held in Kobe, Japan, researcher Qian Hualin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences met with the head of the International Networking Department of the National Science Foundation of the United States and formally proposed for the first time that he hoped to be able to connect to the Internet.
As a result, China's request met with opposition from the US political circles. The reason for their opposition is that they believe that China, which comes from the socialist camp, will use the Internet to steal American information and technological research results.
After repeated negotiations and communication, the United States reluctantly agreed to establish a dedicated line connection first. The United States has put forward strict requirements for this dedicated line: 1. It can only be connected to the Energy Science Network (ESNET); 2. It must not spread viruses; 3. It must not be used in the military and commercial fields.
For long-term considerations, China accepted these conditions.
On March 2, 1993, the 64K dedicated line from the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in the United States was officially opened, becomingChina's first dedicated line to “partially connect to the Internet”.
In June 1993, NCFC experts took advantage of various opportunities to reiterate China's requirements for “full-featured Internet access” at the INET'93 annual meeting. They gained support from most attendees and greatly promoted the progress of the project.
In early April 1994, the China-US Joint Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation was held in Washington, USA. Before the meeting, Hu Qiheng, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, reiterated the request to the National Science Foundation (NSF) to connect to the Internet on behalf of China, which was recognized by the United States.
At this point, all obstacles have been removed.
On April 20, 1994, NCFC's 64K international satellite dedicated line to the Internet was officially opened (through the American Sprint Company), realizing a full-function connection with the Internet.
From this day on, China officially entered the door of the Internet world and was recognized internationally as a country with a truly full-featured Internet.77th country.
▉ Four major backbones, laying the foundation
One month later, on May 21, 1994, the Computer Network Information Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences completed the setup of China's national top-level domain name (CN) server, changing the history of China's CN top-level domain name servers being placed abroad. (The Chinese top-level domain name CN was officially registered at SRI-NIC on behalf of China on November 28, 1990 by Professor Qian Tianbai.)
After NCFC was connected to the Internet, the Chinese Academy of Sciences further expanded it.
In April 1995, the Chinese Academy of Sciences launched the network project of institutions outside Beijing (referred to as the “100 Institute Network” project). The goal is to expand the network to 24 cities across the country based on the more than 30 research institutes in Beijing that have already been connected to the network, so as to achieve the goal of realizing the interconnection of all domestic institutes. Computers in academic institutions are interconnected and interconnected with the Internet.
In February 1996, the Chinese Academy of Sciences made a decision to officially change the name of this interconnected network developed based on NCFC to“China Science and Technology Network (CSTNet)”.
China Public Computer Internet (ChinaNet)
In September 1994, shortly after China entered the Internet world, the General Administration of Telecommunications of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce to officially launchChina Public Computer Internetof construction. This network is now the famous first backbone network in China——ChinaNet.
In January 1995, according to the agreement, the General Administration of Telecommunications of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications opened 64K dedicated lines to the US Internet in Beijing and Shanghai respectively (also through the US Sprint Company). The two nodes, Beijing and Shanghai, are connected using 2M bandwidth.
In January 1996, the State Administration of Telecommunications officially began to provide Internet access services to the whole society (through telephone network, DDN dedicated line, X.25 network, etc.).This move announcedChina’s Internet Civilization EraStart.
Since the network access code for narrowband dial-up access is 163, ChinaNet is also called 163 Network(It has nothing to do with NetEase’s 163).
In addition to the China Science and Technology Network (CSTNet) and the China Public Computer Internet (ChinaNet), the China Education and Scientific Research Computer Network (CERNET) and the China Jinqiao Information Network (CHINAGBN) were also simultaneously constructed in China at that time:
China Education and Research Computer Network (CERNET)
In early July 1994, the “China Education and Scientific Research Computer Network” pilot network built by Tsinghua University and six other universities was opened and interconnected with the Internet through the international export of NCFC.
In August 1994, the China Education and Scientific Research Computer Network (CERNET), invested by the State Planning Commission and hosted by the State Education Commission, was officially established.
In December 1995, the construction of the “China Education and Scientific Research Computer Network (CERNET) Demonstration Project” was completed. This website is what we often call the “education network” now (college readers should be familiar with it).
China Jinqiao Information Network (CHINAGBN)
On March 12, 1993, Vice Premier Zhu Rongji presided over a meeting to propose and deploy the construction of a national public economic information and communication network (referred to as the Golden Bridge Project).
On August 27, 1993, Premier Li Peng approved the use of US$3 million in prime minister's reserve funds to support the start of the preliminary construction of the Golden Bridge.
On June 8, 1994, the preliminary construction of Jinqiao was fully launched. In August 1995, the Jinqiao Project was initially completed, and networking (satellite networks) were opened in 24 provinces and cities, and interconnected with international networks.
On September 6, 1996, the 256K dedicated line connecting China Jinqiao Information Network (CHINAGBN) to the United States was officially opened. China Jinqiao Information Network announced that it has started to provide Internet services, mainly providing access to dedicated line group users and single-point Internet services for individual users.
Eventually, a pattern of four major backbone networks was formed in China. It was these networks that supported the start of China’s Internet.
In December 1997, the four major backbone networks were interconnected. Since then, China's Internet has entered a new era!
references:
1. History of Internet development in China, Station B
2. The origin and development history of the Internet, Baidu
3. Review of the development history of China’s Internet over the past twenty years, Liu Lu and Pan Yu
4. History of computer development in China, Baidu