This is Part 1 of a three-part series examining Chinese AI development from a genuinely Chinese vantage point. Part 1 traces the origins of the Chinese AI strategy, the philosophical shift from ambition to self-reliance, and the export control regime that reshaped everything. Part 2 will examine the specific companies, labs, and scientists who executed this strategy. Part 3 will look at where China is heading over the next five to ten years.

A Story Sometimes Told From the Wrong Side

Most coverage of Chinese AI treats it as a reaction to American innovation. DeepSeek gets framed as a surprise. Huawei’s chips get framed as a workaround. This series takes a different approach. It asks how China itself understands this journey, what problem its leaders believe they are actually solving, and why the country’s AI strategy looks the way it does today. Understanding the Chinese AI strategy on its own terms requires starting well before DeepSeek existed, well before ChatGPT existed, in a 2017 policy document that set the entire direction in motion.