The Story of Six Generations of My Family

In 1840, beyond the mouth of the Pearl River, the cannons roared. Chen Ahai was fishing at sea. He looked back and saw yellow smoke rising above his village. His father knelt on the deck and kowtowed. “Head north. Don’t look back.” That one journey would span six generations. Chen Ahai fought the British at Sanyuanli and died with the Taiping Army at Tianjing. Chen Shuisheng cast cannons during the Self-Strengthening Movement and died of illness on the eve of the Xinhai Revolution. Chen Huosheng lived through the Xinhai Revolution, the Northern Expedition, the Nanchang Uprising, and Yan’an. Chen Jianguo worked at Ansteel through the Reform and Opening Up. Chen Yuanhang founded a chip startup in Shenzhen and stood at the mouth of the Pearl River in 2026. No System, no transmigration, no golden finger. Just a knife, a book, the craft of cannon casting, and one plea: “Stay alive.” They fished, cast cannons, fought wars, smelted steel, and wrote code. They never meant to change history. They only wanted to survive within it. But by the end, they realized: the fate of the family is the fate of the nation, and the fate of the nation is the fate of the family.