September, 2022
走访机构 | SITES
贵州省气象局贵阳国家基准气候站
Guizhou Meteorological Bureau Guiyang National Climatological Reference Station
数安汇大数据安全靶场
Shu’anhui Big Data Security
贵州省射电天文数据处理重点实验室
School of Physics and Electronic Science, Guizhou Normal University
中科院地球化学研究所
Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
FAST天眼基地
FAST Base
腾讯数据中心
Tencent Data Centers
苹果数据中心
Apple Data Centers
云上贵州
Guizhou-Cloud Big Data
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2021年夏天的走访中，我们通过“地质”、“气象”、“数据”和“天文”四类机构的实地走访和交流，从不同角度尝试诠释贵州作为数据重镇的缘由，在2022年的走访中，我们试图提出四个细分视角，
In summer 2021, we conducted visits and exchanges with institutions involved in geology, meteorology, data, and astronomy. From these different perspectives, we attempted to determine why Guizhou has become a data hub. In the 2022 site visits, we will examine this question in four ways:
走访机构 | SITES
贵州省气象局贵阳国家基准气候站
Guizhou Meteorological Bureau Guiyang National Climatological Reference Station
数安汇大数据安全靶场
Shu’anhui Big Data Security
贵州省射电天文数据处理重点实验室
School of Physics and Electronic Science, Guizhou Normal University
中科院地球化学研究所
Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
FAST天眼基地
FAST Base
腾讯数据中心
Tencent Data Centers
苹果数据中心
Apple Data Centers
云上贵州
Guizhou-Cloud Big Data
>>>
2021年夏天的走访中，我们通过“地质”、“气象”、“数据”和“天文”四类机构的实地走访和交流，从不同角度尝试诠释贵州作为数据重镇的缘由，在2022年的走访中，我们试图提出四个细分视角，
In summer 2021, we conducted visits and exchanges with institutions involved in geology, meteorology, data, and astronomy. From these different perspectives, we attempted to determine why Guizhou has become a data hub. In the 2022 site visits, we will examine this question in four ways:
- 东数西算
贵州属于“东数西算”工程已批复的8个国家算力枢纽节点之一，我们如何结合实地调研，理解“算力西移”的过程以及背后的跨区资源配置动力？这又将如何影响贵州“冷数据”（一般指时效性需求不太高、对时延不敏感的数据）存储为主的现状？
Data in the East, Computing in the West
Guizhou is one of the eight national computing power hubs approved for the Data in the East, Computing in the West program. How can we incorporate on-the-ground research to better understand this westward movement of computing power and the underlying inter-regional resource allocations? How will this influence the primacy of “cold data” storage (usually for data that has lower time effectiveness and time sensitivity requirements) in Guizhou?
- 天文数据
天文研究已经成为一个经典大数据场景，FAST每年新增约10PB数据，预计未来五年的数据总量将超过100PB。这些数据也会通过贵阳FAST早期科学数据中心作为节点传输至北京国家天文台，并最终通过云端与全国及世界共享。我们如何理解天文数据从收集、运算到建模最终变为新认知/发现的过程？同时，如何看待它的本地性和全球性之间的动态？
Astronomical Data
Astronomical research has become a classic use-case for data. Every year, FAST (Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope) adds 10 PB of new data, and it is estimated that its total data will exceed 100 PB in the next five years. This data is sent via FAST’s early scientific data center in Guiyang to the National Astronomical Observatory in Beijing, then it is shared with all of China and the rest of the world through the cloud. How should we think about the process of collecting, computing, modeling, and finally generating new knowledge or discoveries? How should we think about the interaction between its local and global impact?
- 科学数据与数据中心
在上一论题基础上，我们如何进一步看待科学数据与数据中心的关系？从某种系统性的视角出发，数据中心可被视为更广泛网络中的节点，连接起地质、气象、水力、电力等不同的学科与部门——它们既是数据中心运行的支持性力量，同时也依赖于数据和新基建的开发与应用。我们试图考察数据与新基建如何影响了不同行业的工作方式、人与机器的关系和技术在其中的演化历程，以及这个包括数据中心在内的系统如何协同工作并相互影响。
Scientific Data and Data Centers
Based on our discussion of astronomical data, how should we think about the relationship between scientific data and data centers? From a systemic perspective, data centers can be seen as nodes in a broader network, connecting disparate scientific disciplines such as geology, meteorology, hydropower, and electricity. All of these disciplines support data center operations, but they also rely on the development and application of data and new infrastructure. We will investigate how data and new infrastructure have influenced working methods in different industries, the relationship between humans and machines, and the evolution of technology, and how this system, which includes data centers, can coordinate and influence work
- 新基建
以5G、物联网、工业互联网、卫星互联网为代表的通信网络基础设施，以人工智能、云计算、区块链等为代表的新技术基础设施，以数据中心、智能计算中心为代表的算力基础设施被称为“新基建”（信息基础设施方向）。我们试图通过走访，理解“新基建”在具体地区生活中所呈现的样貌，也寻访这些“新兴”地貌和三线遗产之间在地理和文化认知上的关联。
New Infrastructure
Communication network infrastructure such as 5G, the Internet of Things, industrial internet, and satellite internet, new technology infrastructure such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and blockchain, and computing infrastructure such as data centers and smart computing centers are collectively known as “new infrastructure” for information technology. Through these visits, we will attempt to understand new infrastructure in the context of life in the region and inquire into the geographical and cultural connections between this new infrastructure and the legacy of the Third-Front Movement.
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“端口，物质流，数据山脉”是一次关于当代科技生产基础地貌的调查走访和委任创作项目，始发站“云下贵州”围绕贵州展开。项目试图邀请人文和社科领域的研究者和写作者，进入包括数据中心、智能工厂、环境监测站和FAST射电望远镜在内的“基础设施”内部，将它们视作科技地图上的诸多端口，以在地的方式，鼓励观察式报告、创意影像等形式的知识生产。
Port: Material Flows, Data Valleys is a visit-based curatorial project on contemporary technological infrastructure. Initiated by Iris Long and He Zike in early 2021, the project is kindly supported by the Contemporary Visual Art Institute at Guizhou Normal University. With its first stop in Guizhou, China, “Under the Cloud” attempts to find a place for people between nature and technology within a temporal stack. The project also engages with the constant, ordinary foundational structures (including infrastructure and geological environments) that are either invisible or overlooked within our digital lives, as well as their lifespans within the context of deep time.
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2021年8月，当我们在这个谚语中讲述的“地无三尺平，天无三日晴”的内陆山地城市贵阳，从旧城区穿越隧道群及百米高的大桥，来到位于观山湖的高新开发区，看着眼前宽阔的马路与林立的科技大厦，很难想到在2008年这里还是一片山野与农场。卫星快照上，在这个以多云阴沉闻名的城市上空，一朵白云像往常一样飘浮而来，然而它很快就将改变成分，从水分子的聚合物变幻为数字化的信息载体。2021年5月，第七届中国国际大数据产业博览会（Big Data Expo）刚刚在此落下帷幕，“云上贵州”是该地区最大的大数据运营主体，以及苹果iCloud服务在中国大陆的唯一合作伙伴。
50公里外的贵安新区，作为中国第八个国家级的新区，曾是在贵阳与安顺之间为当地人熟知的马场镇和几其他几个乡镇的所在地。2017年苹果公司在亚洲的第一个数据中心在此开始建造，一时间使这个默默无闻的地区名声大噪。甚至早在此之前，这个新区已经获得了包括腾讯、华为和三大运营商在内的数据中心，及富士康、微软、高通等企业的合约。随后短短几年间，这些项目陆续落地完工，并在持续的热度下吸引着新的伙伴。谷歌地球截至2021年底的版本似乎还没来得及完全把握这样的变化，以至于在卫星地图上这个新建的iCloud数据中心一半是机房一半是泥土。当鸟瞰视角缓慢而不再准确时，我们选择了走到现场。
在这次走访中，我们瞥见在“数据”的框架下，贵州在愿景与危机中充满不确定性的未来。它既包含产业高速发展的许诺，也面临人才短缺的现状，技术更新换代的速度和人才培养的速度之间的落差，以及包括冷数据储存、西部的自然资源与算力之间的关系等新生话题。往地下走，这团“云”由一块逐渐石漠化的土地上所承载，往天空去，FAST正在回望宇宙的过去。我们试图探究这些多层展开的时间，是否有助于我们重新思考当下发生的一切。如果了解40年代的大后方转移，60-70年代以国防工业为核心的三线建设，以及更近一些的西部大开发和“西电东送”，也许会对于贵州的叙事及角色产生更多的理解，包括在不同的时期，地缘如何参与塑造了人的意识与活动，并留下了何种遗产。在能够被卫星图像记录的空白之外，我们也许也会听到历史的回声沿着时间通道的壁腔慢速反弹。
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In August 2021, when we visited the inland city of Guiyang, known for being a place “without three feet of level ground or three days of clear skies,” we traveled from the old city, through webs of tunnels
and across bridges hundreds of meters high, to the High-Tech Industrial Development Zone along Guanshan Lake. We took in the broad roads and clusters of tall tech buildings, and it was hard to imagine that this was all mountains and farmland as recently as 2008. On satellite imagery, the usual clouds float over a place famed for its overcast skies. However, the clouds have recently changed in Guizhou; once a collection of water molecules, the word is now most often used to refer to the storage of digital information. In May 2021, at the close of the Seventh China International Big Data Industry Expo, Guizhou-Cloud Big Data was the largest big data company in the region and the only mainland China partner of Apple iCloud services.
Some 50 kilometers outside of Guiyang proper lies Gui’an New District, once an obscure township that, in 2017, became the site of Apple’s first data center in Asia, operated in partnership with Guizhou-Cloud Big Data. If you register an iCloud account in China, you’ll get a notification that your data is being hosted by GCBD. Apple is not the only tech firm building data centers in Guizhou. The Gui’an New District authorities proudly highlight data center deals with companies like Tencent, Huawei, and Qualcomm. Even satellite imagery can fail to capture the changes underway around Guiyang: As of late 2021, Google Earth still showed the now-finished GCBD data center as a half-built complex, surrounded by dirt.
When the bird’s-eye view was slow to update and no longer accurate, we chose to visit.
During this visit, we saw that Guizhou had an uncertain future with this data industry, resting somewhere between hope and crisis. It had made promises to develop the industry rapidly, but it was facing a shortage of talent. The city is also confronting a dislocation between the speeds at which technology and talent can be developed, and the relationship between cool data storage, natural resources in western China, and computing power. The ground on which these “clouds” rest is becoming increasingly rocky, even as FAST looks to the sky above to gain insight into the universe’s past. We attempt to explore whether these temporal stacks can help us to re-think everything that is happening right now. If we understand the shift to the rearguard in the 1940s, the Third Line Movement focused on national defense in the 1960s and 1970s, and the more recent large-scale development of western China and the transfer of electricity from the western to eastern regions, we may gain a better understanding of Guizhou’s narrative and role, including the influence that region has had on shaping human consciousness and activity at different points in time and the kinds of legacies that has left. In addition to the gaps that can be captured on satellite imagery, we may hear the echoes of history slowly rebounding off the walls of the tunnels of time.
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“端口，物质流，数据山脉”是一次关于当代科技生产基础地貌的调查走访和委任创作项目，始发站“云下贵州”围绕贵州展开。项目试图邀请人文和社科领域的研究者和写作者，进入包括数据中心、智能工厂、环境监测站和FAST射电望远镜在内的“基础设施”内部，将它们视作科技地图上的诸多端口，以在地的方式，鼓励观察式报告、创意影像等形式的知识生产。
Port: Material Flows, Data Valleys is a visit-based curatorial project on contemporary technological infrastructure. Initiated by Iris Long and He Zike in early 2021, the project is kindly supported by the Contemporary Visual Art Institute at Guizhou Normal University. With its first stop in Guizhou, China, “Under the Cloud” attempts to find a place for people between nature and technology within a temporal stack. The project also engages with the constant, ordinary foundational structures (including infrastructure and geological environments) that are either invisible or overlooked within our digital lives, as well as their lifespans within the context of deep time.
>>>
2021年8月，当我们在这个谚语中讲述的“地无三尺平，天无三日晴”的内陆山地城市贵阳，从旧城区穿越隧道群及百米高的大桥，来到位于观山湖的高新开发区，看着眼前宽阔的马路与林立的科技大厦，很难想到在2008年这里还是一片山野与农场。卫星快照上，在这个以多云阴沉闻名的城市上空，一朵白云像往常一样飘浮而来，然而它很快就将改变成分，从水分子的聚合物变幻为数字化的信息载体。2021年5月，第七届中国国际大数据产业博览会（Big Data Expo）刚刚在此落下帷幕，“云上贵州”是该地区最大的大数据运营主体，以及苹果iCloud服务在中国大陆的唯一合作伙伴。
50公里外的贵安新区，作为中国第八个国家级的新区，曾是在贵阳与安顺之间为当地人熟知的马场镇和几其他几个乡镇的所在地。2017年苹果公司在亚洲的第一个数据中心在此开始建造，一时间使这个默默无闻的地区名声大噪。甚至早在此之前，这个新区已经获得了包括腾讯、华为和三大运营商在内的数据中心，及富士康、微软、高通等企业的合约。随后短短几年间，这些项目陆续落地完工，并在持续的热度下吸引着新的伙伴。谷歌地球截至2021年底的版本似乎还没来得及完全把握这样的变化，以至于在卫星地图上这个新建的iCloud数据中心一半是机房一半是泥土。当鸟瞰视角缓慢而不再准确时，我们选择了走到现场。
在这次走访中，我们瞥见在“数据”的框架下，贵州在愿景与危机中充满不确定性的未来。它既包含产业高速发展的许诺，也面临人才短缺的现状，技术更新换代的速度和人才培养的速度之间的落差，以及包括冷数据储存、西部的自然资源与算力之间的关系等新生话题。往地下走，这团“云”由一块逐渐石漠化的土地上所承载，往天空去，FAST正在回望宇宙的过去。我们试图探究这些多层展开的时间，是否有助于我们重新思考当下发生的一切。如果了解40年代的大后方转移，60-70年代以国防工业为核心的三线建设，以及更近一些的西部大开发和“西电东送”，也许会对于贵州的叙事及角色产生更多的理解，包括在不同的时期，地缘如何参与塑造了人的意识与活动，并留下了何种遗产。在能够被卫星图像记录的空白之外，我们也许也会听到历史的回声沿着时间通道的壁腔慢速反弹。
In August 2021, when we visited the inland city of Guiyang, known for being a place “without three feet of level ground or three days of clear skies,” we traveled from the old city, through webs of tunnels
and across bridges hundreds of meters high, to the High-Tech Industrial Development Zone along Guanshan Lake. We took in the broad roads and clusters of tall tech buildings, and it was hard to imagine that this was all mountains and farmland as recently as 2008. On satellite imagery, the usual clouds float over a place famed for its overcast skies. However, the clouds have recently changed in Guizhou; once a collection of water molecules, the word is now most often used to refer to the storage of digital information. In May 2021, at the close of the Seventh China International Big Data Industry Expo, Guizhou-Cloud Big Data was the largest big data company in the region and the only mainland China partner of Apple iCloud services.
Some 50 kilometers outside of Guiyang proper lies Gui’an New District, once an obscure township that, in 2017, became the site of Apple’s first data center in Asia, operated in partnership with Guizhou-Cloud Big Data. If you register an iCloud account in China, you’ll get a notification that your data is being hosted by GCBD. Apple is not the only tech firm building data centers in Guizhou. The Gui’an New District authorities proudly highlight data center deals with companies like Tencent, Huawei, and Qualcomm. Even satellite imagery can fail to capture the changes underway around Guiyang: As of late 2021, Google Earth still showed the now-finished GCBD data center as a half-built complex, surrounded by dirt.
When the bird’s-eye view was slow to update and no longer accurate, we chose to visit.
During this visit, we saw that Guizhou had an uncertain future with this data industry, resting somewhere between hope and crisis. It had made promises to develop the industry rapidly, but it was facing a shortage of talent. The city is also confronting a dislocation between the speeds at which technology and talent can be developed, and the relationship between cool data storage, natural resources in western China, and computing power. The ground on which these “clouds” rest is becoming increasingly rocky, even as FAST looks to the sky above to gain insight into the universe’s past. We attempt to explore whether these temporal stacks can help us to re-think everything that is happening right now. If we understand the shift to the rearguard in the 1940s, the Third Line Movement focused on national defense in the 1960s and 1970s, and the more recent large-scale development of western China and the transfer of electricity from the western to eastern regions, we may gain a better understanding of Guizhou’s narrative and role, including the influence that region has had on shaping human consciousness and activity at different points in time and the kinds of legacies that has left. In addition to the gaps that can be captured on satellite imagery, we may hear the echoes of history slowly rebounding off the walls of the tunnels of time.
