On the 118th floor of Shanghai Tower, beyond the cloud-piercing observation deck, the Huangpu River wound through the neon-lit city like a jade ribbon. Inside the glass walls, a discreet charity dinner was underway. Li Yuanshan, dressed in a custom suit, held a glass of champagne as he quietly discussed a new project to digitize rural education with several businesspeople. The watch on his wrist was an ordinary mechanical one he’d bought five years ago, its edge now marked by fine scratches.
“Mr. Li, how many schools does your ‘Starlight Initiative’ reach now?” a journalist asked.
“By the end of last year, it was 2,174,” Li Yuanshan replied in Mandarin, still carrying the unmistakable traces of a southwestern accent. “This year, we plan to add another 500, focusing on the mountainous regions of the southwest.”
Across the banquet hall, a huge LED screen played a documentary about Zhiyuan Technology’s development. Images flashed by: cave classrooms on the Loess Plateau, stilt-house primary schools in the Yunnan mountains, the futuristic research and development center at Zhiyuan Technology headquarters... The film ended on a faded old photograph: a small, thin boy with a battered schoolbag on his back, walking along a winding mountain path, with range after range of gray mountains behind him.
The camera zoomed in. In the lower-right corner of the photo was a line of faded writing: September 1, 2003, first day of school, age twelve.
The boy’s eyes shone with astonishing brightness, as if he could already see the sea beyond the mountains.
