I grew up in "Factory 404," a secret nuclear industrial city in the Gobi Desert that officially didn't exist on public maps. This is a memoir about my childhood there.

It was a surreal place: we had elite scientists living next to laborers, a zoo in the middle of the desert, and distinct "communist" welfare, all hidden behind a classified code.

This is Part 1 of the story. I'm happy to answer any questions about life in a Chinese nuclear base!

Always interesting to read about people's lived realities that are completely different

When I worked at Microsoft the biggest complaints were parking and the variety of subsidized foods at the cafeteria.

I smell cooked

Visiting my grandparents I remember we had to go through a sort of border control to get there.

My mom told stories of how the government would change the asphalt every year in that city to cover the nuclear dust.