City preview · HEFEI

Hefei's gold-mine hoax became a physics paper

USTC denied a rumor about gold beneath its First Teaching Building. Students later used it to introduce a paper in an electromagnetism competition. At Xiaoyaojin, a grandfather returned to the elephant slide he had once brought his son to. EAST's superconducting coils need liquid helium, while the funding for a BOE screen factory can be traced through a share subscription.

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USTC East Campus, First Teaching Building · Editorial illustration, not a historical photo

From a campus classroom to a screen factory

A gold-mine paper, an elephant slide, cold coils, and factory shares

Four complete stories and their public sources are shown here; the rest of the collection is in the app.

01 · USTC East Campus, First Teaching Building

A gold mine becomes homework

The gold was fake. The homework wasn't.

Around April Fools' Day in 2019, a screenshot claiming gold had been found beneath USTC's First Teaching Building spread online. The university denied it. In 2021, students used the rumor to introduce a paper for the university's Electromagnetism competition, discussing how apparent resistivity could help locate possible mineral deposits. The mine remained a campus joke; the search method became a real paper, presented at the competition.

Source: society.people.com.cn Source: physics.ustc.edu.cn

02 · Xiaoyaojin's white elephant slide

Sliding down the same elephant

He brought his son. Then he brought his grandson.

After Xiaoyaojin Park reopened in 2021, 68-year-old Zhang Rentao brought his family to the elephant slide. He told a reporter he used to bring his son; now he brought his grandson. During the renovation, the park kept the elephant in place and sanded and repaired its surface. Other rides had changed, but children could still slide down the same elephant.

Source: ah.sina.com.cn Source: cnr.cn Source: ctdsb.net

03 · Fusion Innovation Exhibition Hall

An artificial sun needs to stay cold

Extreme heat and extreme cold work together.

EAST on Science Island uses magnetic fields to confine plasma at temperatures above 100 million degrees Celsius. Its superconducting coils, meanwhile, need liquid helium at about minus 269 degrees Celsius. Vacuum insulation helps separate the two. Keeping the artificial sun running means maintaining both extremes at once.

Source: ipp.cas.cn Source: ipp.cas.cn Source: hf.cas.cn

04 · Hefei BOE Optoelectronics, East Entrance

Buying shares before making screens

The money reached the factory through shares.

In 2009, Hefei Xincheng and Hefei Lanke together subscribed RMB 3 billion for newly issued BOE shares. Other investors also participated, and part of the proceeds funded the sixth-generation LCD project in Xinzhan. The arrangement involved buying shares in the listed company, then BOE putting capital into its Hefei subsidiary. Following those steps explains more than simply calling the money a gift to a factory.

Source: vip.stock.finance.sina.com.cn Source: static.cninfo.com.cn Source: hfjtjt.com

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