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The Story of China’s First Email Link How It Got Changed

Presentation at the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Beijing, China, July 12, 2012

Jay Hauben hauben@columbia.edu

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The Internet

1973 to the present

Developed as an open, scientific and engineering collaboration

International from the very beginning

Guided by a vision of a big advance to human society

A new universal inexpensive communications system.

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Computing in China: A Travel Report (Covering 3 weeks in July 1972)

中国计算技术：考察报告（1972年7月历时三周） Science Magazine, 1973, Volume 182, Issue 4108, pp. 134-140

科学杂志，1973年 第182期 发行号：4108，134-140页

在上海计算所进行非正式的讨论

In July 1972 a group of US computer scientists visited China to exchange expertise

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In November 1972, China

sent a computer scientist,

Li Fu-sheng,

Shengyang Institute of

Computing Technology,

Chinese Academy of

Sciences on the first team

of Chinese scientists to

tour the US.

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Bob Kahn Vint Cerf

US US

Peter Kirstein Yngvar Lundh Paal Spilling Hubert Zimmerman

UK Norway Norway France

Louis Pouzin

France

Some of the Active participants in creating TCP/IP

1973-1978

创造TCP/IP的部分积极参与者

1973-1978

6 Karlsruhe in Southwest Germany

.*

Europe > Germany > Karlsruhe

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Professor Werner Zorn

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Senior Advisor of the Chinese Institute for Computer Applications (ICA)

王运丰

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ICA

Chinese Institute for Computer Applications

中国计算机应用研究所

Located at the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT)

Under the Chinese State Commission of Machinery Industry

To provide data processing and computer services to

small and medium organizations that could not afford their

own computer installations.

The ICA became a foremost computer networking center.

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The World Bank Chinese University Development Project II (1982)

$145 million

Import into China of 19 mainframe computers

Siemens BS2000 manufactured in West Germany.

One Siemens BS6200 went to the ICA

Institute for Computer Applications in Beijing

中国计算机应用研究所

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Professors Zorn and Wang collaborated to organize the first

Chinese Siemens Computer Users Conference

(CASCO)

September 1983

“Would Professor Zorn do something more for China?”

That planted the seed that grew into the Chinese-German

computer networking collaboration

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CSNET = Computer Science Network

Email network started in the US 1981

Based on ordinary telephone lines and

switches using a communication protocol

with the name X.25

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ICA and Karlsruhe team members in Beijing

15 The First CSNET Email Message to Leave China (http://www.internetdigital.org/image/firstemail.jpg)

http://www.internetdigital.org/image/firstemail.jpg

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The transmission of this first email message

over an X.25 connection.

Over a telephone land line: ICA Siemens computer to PKTELCOM

Over a satellite link to ITAPAC, Italy

Over a landline data network: DATEX-P, Germany to Karlsruhe

Siemens host

Over a local data network to Karlsruhe VAX 11/750, the central

CSNET node for Germany.

Over a satellite to CSNET center in Boston

From Boston distributed to CSNET participating computers

worldwide

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The Institute for High Energy Physics (IHEP) belonging to the Chinese

Academy of Science opened an email connection in 1989 with its

partner in the US, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in

California. Message Handling Systems (MHS) were set up in 1990

between the German Research Network (DFN) and the Chinese

Research Network (CRN) and between the Beijing Tsinghua University

Network (TUNET) and its partner in Canada at the University of British

Columbia (UBC).

IHEP EMAIL LINK

1989

IHEP (China) SLAC (USA)

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On May 17, 1994, IHEP and SLAC established a full

TCP/IP connection between China and the US.

The internet protocol, TCP/IP allows for full internet

functionality.

This connectivity opened the internet to China and

China to the internet.

IHEP TCP/IP LINK

1994

IHEP (China) SLAC (USA)

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Dr. Li Cheng Chiung Ruan Ren Cheng

Mary Ann Plubell 2003

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Werner Zorn and Wang Yufeng 维纳.措恩 王运丰

Karlsruhe University Institute for Computer

Germany Application China

德国卡尔斯鲁大学 中国计算机应用研究所

China-CSNET connection developed 1983-1987

中国计算机网络接入的发展 1983-1987

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The official time lines contain some

seriously mistaken information and

are also omitting important facts.

They cause hereby fatal

misinformation meanwhile spread all

over the world

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Madame Hu Qiheng

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The Internet Timeline of China 1987~1996

http://www.cnnic.net.cn/html/Dir/2003/12/12/2000.htm

1. In September 1987, with the support from a scientific research

group led by Professor Werner Zorn of Karlsruhe University in

Germany, a working group led by Professor Wang Yunfeng and

Doctor Li Chengjiong built up an Email node in ICA, and successfully

sent out an Email to Germany on Sep 20th. The Email title was

"Across the Great Wall we can reach every corner in the world."

27 Madame Hu Qiheng Professor Werner Zorn

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“The international collaboration in science and technology

is the driving force for computer networking across the

country borders and facilitating the early Internet

development in China.”

Mdm Hu Qiheng

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"Just as Germany was helpful with China establishing

an email link with the CSNET in 1987, today China is

offering its experience to Vietnam in network

construction and to the DPRK in setting up and

managing the domain name system of dot KP.“ Qian Hualin

Chief Scientist and Vice

President of the Internet

Society of China

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Thank you for your attention

谢谢

hauben@columbia.edu

This story is told at

‘Across the Great Wall’: The China-Germany Email Connection 1987-1994

http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/china-email.doc

mailto:hauben@columbia.edu