Event Description
The Red Coast Base was a large-scale radio facility secretly constructed by China during the Cold War, ostensibly for searching for extraterrestrial signals but also serving military communication functions. Ye Wenjie was transferred to the Red Coast Base due to her physics background. During her research, she made a revolutionary discovery: the sun could serve as a cosmic-scale electromagnetic wave amplification antenna. When electromagnetic waves of specific frequencies were directed at the sun, it would amplify them billions of times before retransmitting them into space.
This discovery meant humanity effectively possessed the ability to broadcast to the entire universe. After prolonged inner turmoil, Ye Wenjie made the decision that changed everything. Using the Red Coast Base's equipment and the solar amplification effect, she transmitted a signal containing information about Earth into the cosmos. This signal expanded into the depths of space at the speed of light and was ultimately intercepted eight years later by the nearest Trisolaran star system. Ye Wenjie's motivations were complex and profound — utterly disillusioned with human civilization, she hoped a more advanced alien civilization might come to Earth and help humanity emerge from barbarism and ignorance. She did not realize, or perhaps refused to consider, the potentially catastrophic consequences this decision might bring to Earth.