In the past two days, an article lamenting Chinese Web3 entrepreneurs went viral far beyond its usual reach, which prompted me to publish ahead of schedule the DAO I have been gradually preparing to build.
The popularity of that article shows that the need among Chinese entrepreneurs for recognition is still very widespread. So in fact, it is not hard to build a Chinese help Chinese community; what is hard is to genuinely carry forward the positive elements of Chinese culture, rather than understanding what “Chinese” means in a negative, oppositional sense (non-white, non-Western, non-English, and so on). Why is the Jewish community so strong? The key is still that faith provides cohesion. But the distinctive feature of the Chinese is precisely that they have no faith in the monotheistic sense. So what, in the end, is the true cultural cohesion of the Chinese? My understanding is: first, Chinese characters; second, the recording of history. This is the point of leverage for our Dao, which is to say why our dao must make the humanities its main focus.
I am posting below the white paper for Huawendao DAO (draft, version 2.1.1).
1. Basic Setup
1.1 Narrative Background: The New Continent
Since Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin white paper in 2008, people have discovered a “new continent” in the digital world. At first people called it blockchain or the crypto world; more recently people have called it the metaverse or Web3.
In any case, this new continent transcends traditional national borders and is a land of opportunity, a territory with no master. At first it was a group of freedom-seeking pioneers who came here to explore, but as the pioneers kept bringing back considerable wealth and novel things from the new continent, more and more people decided to move there, becoming pioneers and builders of this land of freedom.
Of course, compared with the American continent in the Age of Sail, the new continent of the digital world is slightly different: it does not accommodate the human body of flesh and blood. People enter this world by projecting their spirits into various digital avatars. And at least for now, human beings cannot permanently “leave their souls behind” and take root in the digital world. But precisely because of this, people are even more free and unrestrained in the digital world. There are no waves, no disease, and no killing here, but there is still wealth, power, and human nature.
Wherever there are people, there will be struggle and cooperation, and the pioneers of the new continent will also form communities large and small. Some of these communities are nothing more than extensions of the old order, such as companies; others, however, attempt to establish a new order, such as DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations). DAOs seek to create new communal consensus and governance mechanisms in order to adapt to the environment of the new continent and its characteristics (blockchain and decentralization).
We believe that the focus of a DAO lies in “autonomy.” If our goal is merely to dig for gold or make money and then bring it back to the old continent, then a DAO organization may not be the most efficient. But if we are trying to explore new forms of autonomy in the new continent, then the DAO is an unavoidable path: the starting point from which pioneers can ultimately take root in the new world.
1.2 Identity: Huayi
Innovation requires breaking old chains, but that does not mean breaking everything old. Only by standing on the foundation of history can humanity continue to progress.
The new continent is free, but people will not return to barbarism. New consensus and new order always have traditional roots.
The culture of the American continent was reshaped by the colonists, including Latins, French, English, and so on. Their respective traditional cultures and customary practices formed the background tone of the new order on the American continent. The “immigrants” who venture into the new continent of the digital world also have roots and sources; they have not discarded everything from the old world.
If the future of the new continent is to be prosperous and beautiful, then its culture and language cannot possibly be monolithic; there will be communities of European descent, American, African, and so on, living side by side and prospering together in their cultural differences. Of course, we hope that people of Chinese descent will also occupy a place in this new world.
We hope that Chinese culture will also be revived in this digital new continent. We hope that Chinese communities at home and abroad, including people of all countries influenced by Chinese culture, will gather strength and carve out an “ecological niche” uniquely characterized by Chinese culture, blooming with distinctive brilliance in this free and diverse new continent.
In fact, ever since the early development of Bitcoin, Chinese communities at home and abroad have been actively participating in the development of blockchain technology in various ways. More recent waves such as NFTs, the metaverse, and Web3 have also not been left behind, and many explorations and constructions have been undertaken. But unfortunately, Chinese communities have not yet established a good reputation in this new world; indeed, many investors even avoid projects led by Chinese teams, and many Chinese entrepreneurs have had to package themselves as foreign projects.
Aside from the barriers created by language and national conditions, Chinese explorers do indeed have many shortcomings. For example, first, some Chinese projects are too eager for quick success and quick profit; some Chinese-language communities are filled with an atmosphere of exploiting loopholes and making fast money, lacking long-term vision and making it difficult to form solid accumulation and sedimentation; second, some Chinese projects often fall into the dead end of copying one another and vicious competition, lacking an environment of sharing, co-creation, and mutual prosperity; third, many Chinese projects do not sufficiently embody the distinctive connotation of Chinese culture.
We believe that precisely under such circumstances, it becomes all the more necessary for us to uphold Chinese identity and insist on Chinese solidarity and co-construction. We believe in the depth and substance of Chinese culture, and believe in the potential of the Chinese people. Any cultural tradition has its dross, and rebuilding Chinese communities in the “new continent” is itself an opportunity to examine and elevate our cultural tradition.
So we proudly call ourselves “digital Huayi,” and in order to signal novelty, we may as well also call ourselves “Huayi.” Borrowing the character “yi” carries, on the one hand, the implication of freedom and liberation through “decentralization” (Houyi shooting down the suns), and on the other hand, it implies that we have “transformed and ascended” into the digital new continent in the form of digital avatars.
1.3 Basis of Consensus: Huawen
Our group of “Huayi” is not the first wave of Chinese immigrants to enter the digital new continent, just as those who sailed to America on the “Mayflower” in 1620 were not the first English immigrants either.
There were only 102 people on the “Mayflower,” a small portion of whom were Puritans seeking a land of autonomy for the sake of their faith, while some of the passengers were not there for faith but for freedom or wealth, coming together to America in search of opportunity. Among them were profit-seeking merchants, skilled craftsmen, fishermen, as well as ordinary poor people and slaves.
The reason this group of immigrants was later recognized as the forefathers of the United States is precisely because they concluded the Mayflower Compact, this autonomy compact marking the formation of a new order. Of course, after that they put the compact into practice, insisted on holding regular deliberations, and continuously improved their autonomous regulations; only then was this brief compact ultimately developed and brought to fruition.
Now, we too want to emulate our predecessors, establish our own consensus and compact, and form an autonomous organization with long-term vitality.
Among us there are also many believers in “decentralization” or the “crypto spirit,” as well as many skilled engineers and creators; naturally there are also profit-seeking merchants and free-riding poor people. But in any case, we believe we can seek common ground while reserving differences and build up a consensus foundation that belongs to us.
As Chinese people, “Huawen” is our basis of consensus. Chinese culture has always been inclusive, taking in all rivers and seas; in ancient times Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism coexisted and a hundred schools contended, and in modern times it can also embrace Western culture and welcome globalization. At the level of thought, ideas, belief, lifestyle, and so on, we pursue diversity and inclusiveness, but Chinese characters are the common denominator for all Chinese people at home and abroad, and even for the broader Sinosphere. Chinese characters carry the several-thousand-year heritage of Chinese civilization, and they will also be the cornerstone of Chinese culture in the new continent.
Among the writing systems currently existing in the world, Chinese characters are unique. Chinese characters are neither letters nor words; they are a distinctive “meta-script,” and each character is an independent yet open node.
Chinese characters are like the members of a DAO community: on the one hand, each individual is angular, square, independent, and self-sufficient; on the other hand, each individual only comes into proper meaning through contextual combination and linking.
Our DAO is named “Huawendao,” and we use Chinese characters as the identifiers of community members; each member has a “name” that belongs exclusively to them.
1.4 Rights Credentials: Reputation
The “name” marked by Chinese characters not only provides each community member with a clear identity certification, but is also the first anchor point for building consensus.
A “name” is not some label that can be summoned at will and discarded at will. When a person joins the community under a certain name, and through every word and deed builds ties with the community, his name is no longer an arbitrary number but becomes public knowledge widely accepted within the community.
What we call fame, reputation, and renown all refer to this community consensus condensed upon a name. When a person possesses sufficient renown, his name itself also contains power and wealth.
The power or wealth brought by renown is very different from stocks or securities as rights credentials in the general capital market. A person holding a large amount of equity will also gain power and wealth in a certain group (for example, the corresponding company), but he can sell and leave at any time. Especially for ordinary “retail investors,” the purpose of holding equity may simply be to sell in the short term; they may not necessarily build ties with the relevant group, nor do they necessarily truly care about that group’s long-term development.
Our goal is not to make quick money, but to build a self-governing community together, so we do not use shares or capital to define the weight of rewards or voting, but instead use “name” and the “renown” it condenses as the basis of community rights.
We will quantify “renown” and dynamically record the growth of each community member’s renown through community consensus. Those who contribute to community building can not only receive one-time bonuses or bounties, but also accumulate renown at the same time. The higher the renown, the greater the rights and interests within the community, but also the stronger the bond with the community—because renown cannot be “cashed out.” If a person wants to enjoy for the long term the benefits brought by renown, he will tend to continue staying in the community, maintaining communication and interaction.
“Seeking fame” and “pursuing profit” are not contradictory, but the order in which they come first makes a great difference. If people prioritize interests, and those who possess huge fortunes can automatically acquire renown, then the atmosphere of the community will be restless and barbaric. But if people first pursue renown and cherish reputation, and ultimately allow those who have cultivated a good reputation through sustained effort to enjoy the wealth that should accompany it, then we may be able to create a community atmosphere that is friendly, decent, far-sighted, and attentive to accumulation.
1.5 Elements of Governance: Recording History
Although we need to quantify and accumulate “renown” for community management, renown is not merely a simple numerical score. Renown is the embodiment of each community member’s words, deeds, and achievements. We not only need to record the abstract renown points for each community member, but also need to record the historical process by which people help one another and build the community.
The essence of blockchain is an “immutable public historical record.” We will use blockchain technology to record history and take “on-chain history” as the basis and outcome of community governance.
Cuneiform writing was originally associated mostly with commercial activities, whereas Chinese writing very early on became linked with the activity of recording history. From oracle bone script and bronze inscriptions onward, Chinese characters have always been tied to historiography. The continuous succession of the Twenty-Four Histories shows that regard for history is an inherent part of Chinese culture.
Prestige has, since ancient times, been underwritten by historical records; the so-called “earning one’s name in the blue annals” is the highest aspiration of countless noble-minded and heroic individuals. Of course, this is not the exclusive province of the Chinese: Western scientists also scramble for priority and naming rights in scientific discoveries. But in ancient China, historiographical activity was especially institutionalized: the left historiographer recorded events, the right historiographer recorded words, and the office of historiographer was itself a governance model unique to Chinese civilization. Within the governance system, the historiographer played both a religious role, providing ritual standards and a vessel for meaning, and a practical role, responsible for supervision and evaluation.
As a Chinese community built on blockchain, it is only natural that Huawendao would introduce the element of “history” into community governance.
Once the community grows, historiographical activity will no longer be limited to recording events within the community itself. We can produce all kinds of products carrying historical elements, such as Web3 archives, historical and cultural NFTs, and so on, exporting culture in the “new continent.”
2. Practical Implementation
(Only the first two items were deployed before the project launch; subsequent items may be further modified after the project launches through community discussion.)
2.1 The “Thousand-Character Classic” NFT
The first release will be Thousand-Character Classic NFTs, totaling 1,000 non-repeating Chinese characters (traditional), recorded on-chain in Unicode form, with no images and no attributes.
Among them, the three characters 『華』『文』『道』 will be reserved by the three initiators (as markers of founder identity); all other characters will be minted in blind-box form and revealed within one week after the public sale concludes.
To build a good initial community atmosphere, the initiators will seek out Chinese elites to distribute whitelists. Each initiator will retain 40 whitelist spots for subsequent activities, and the remaining mint allocations should be distributed as much as possible.
After obtaining a whitelist spot, one may mint one Chinese character at a price of 0.1 ETH; the minting date is to be determined. After whitelist users complete minting, if any remain, the leftover characters will be sold in public sale at 0.15 ETH each.
The Chinese character NFTs may be freely traded both during the blind-box period and after revelation, with a 5% royalty.
All minting fees and royalty income go into the DAO treasury, to be used to support community projects or, later, to reward contributors according to merit.
If after the public sale there are still unsold remaining characters, they will all be returned to the treasury, and the community will decide how to handle them. For example, they may be listed at a suitable time, auctioned in batches, and so on; the resulting income will also go into the treasury.
2.2 Official website, Twitter, Discord, etc.
Set up a simple official website providing basic introductions, the white paper, the minting interface, and so on.
The official Twitter account will be used to release announcements and interact with other projects.
The community’s main activity venue will be Discord, which will require several people with management and operations talent. Only users who hold Chinese character NFTs will be able to enter the internal discussion area.
Adopt Notion and other co-creation tools.
2.3 The “Annals” NFT
Compile the “Annals” on a regular basis and release them in NFT form. The “Annals” include textual records (for example, on July 27, 2022, 『華』 wrote the first draft of the Huawendao white paper) and quantified prestige records (for example, 『華』 (ETH address) prestige +100, total 1100).
The compilation of each new issue of the “Annals” requires approval through a community vote. First, the relevant administrator performs factual verification and quantified scoring, then submits the matter for public discussion within the community, and after a preliminary consensus has formed, a vote is held.
Prestige is bound at the same time to both the “character” and the ETH address. For example, if 『華』 is transferred from ETH address 1 to ETH address 2, then the prestige previously recorded under “『華』 (ETH address 1)” is reset to zero, and “『華』 (ETH address 2)” will be treated as a new member with the same name, whose prestige will be recorded anew. If special events such as a stolen wallet occur, prestige may be transferred only after community discussion and a vote (to be recorded in the next issue of the “Annals”).
Each issue of the “Annals” can be made into the form of a medal or milestone, to be awarded to the member who made the greatest contribution during that period.
“Prestige” does not require an additional token; it only requires reading the “Annals” NFT. In other words, by reading the quantified record in the latest NFT within the “Annals” NFT, one can determine how much prestige a certain name has accumulated.
Our community looks to the long term, so prestige does not need to be updated in real time or frequently. Between the issuance of one issue of the “Annals” and the next, there is ample time for public disclosure and correction, so as to avoid loophole-exploiting and malicious “score farming” and the like.
2.4 Voting mechanism
First of all, one must possess at least one Chinese character NFT in order to participate in various community votes. Depending on the issue, voting may follow either a one-character-one-vote mechanism or a mechanism that weights votes by prestige. When major decisions are involved, prestige shall always be used as the voting weight.
Voting does not necessarily require on-chain contracts; most voting and decision-making activities can be carried out flexibly within the community, and then recorded on-chain afterward in the form of public disclosure and entry into the “Annals.”
Routine decision-making activities may include electing community administrators, recorders, and other positions; determining whether a certain historical record is genuine and valid; quantitatively scoring a particular contribution; deciding the community’s next small or major direction of joint effort, and so on.
As the community matures and consensus becomes more solid, we can gradually codify some routine operations into contracts and carry them out on-chain.
2.5 Initial projects
In addition to jointly improving community governance, we of course also need to establish some community projects that can foster mutual assistance and co-creation. These projects may be proposed or introduced by any community member. Once consensus is reached, they can become community-incubated projects, funded either by private bounties from community members or, where consensus has been reached, by drawing on the treasury. Participants will have their prestige recorded, and the returns from a successful project should also feed back to the community in a certain proportion.
Projects incubated by the community do not necessarily need to align directly with the “Huawen” character. Any project in the Web3 field may seek support within the community. We believe that any excellent project led by Chinese people is in line with the basic consensus that digital Chinese people need to establish themselves in the new continent. In any case, we do not need to hide behind a disguise as a Western team in order to seek support; rather, we can openly and honorably make our mark in the name of the Chinese.
The founding team will propose some illustrative project ideas, such as:
1. Illustrated Thousand-Character Classic project
Using AI-generated art to illustrate the Thousand-Character Classic, we can create one illustration for each character, or one illustration for each sentence (such as “Heaven and Earth, dark and yellow; universe, vast and primordial”). The completed illustrations can be given to each Chinese character holder as an avatar or banner. We can even produce a physical book of the Thousand-Character Classic for sale or as a gift.
2. Novel co-creation project
Co-created by the community, a Jin Yong-style Chinese-flavored novel.
3. Crypto-world chronicle project
Collectively write the history of blockchain development within the community, forming products such as a wiki archive, biographical profiles, pixel-style animations, and distinctive NFTs.
4. Co-created academic paper project
Collaboratively write academic papers on the history of blockchain / the metaverse / Web3, especially contributions related to Chinese people, and publish them in international journals to introduce the contributions and thought of Chinese people to the international academic community.
2.6 Member expansion
In the initial stage, the community will adhere to an elite route; only after forming a certain degree of consensus and norms will it consider further expanding membership. The first expansion could be the introduction of Shuowen Jiezi, expanding to roughly 10,000 Chinese characters. A long-term expansion plan can be carried out through “word formation”: holders of Chinese characters can rent out characters for use in forming words, thereby creating new “phrase” NFTs, ultimately absorbing an unlimited number of new members.
2.7 Token issuance
In the early stage, the community can operate perfectly well around just two NFTs, and there is no need to issue a tradable token. In order to avoid excessive profit-seeking and legal risks as much as possible, we will not rush to issue a token before the conditions are mature.
However, to provide room for imagination as a long-term prospect, we do not rule out issuing a token at an appropriate time when community consensus has been reached. Of course, the token cannot replace the status of prestige, nor can it be directly exchanged for prestige. But there may be indirect uses; for example, the token can be used to post bounties within the community, and those who complete the bounty can obtain the corresponding prestige while also receiving the token (subject to community approval).
2.8 Cultural export
In the long run, we can standardize the historiographical system formed by the community and provide objective, neutral third-party “narrative” services for the entire digital new continent.
Smart contracts need third-party audits to ensure security; historical narration likewise deserves to be reviewed by an objective and neutral third party. The reputation, standing, contributions, and black history, and so on, of a project and its team members are often more important than the contract itself. We can provide neutral and reliable historical compilation services to the outside world.
In addition, we can also promote the value of a large category of NFT products. For example, the founder of Twitter turned the first tweet into an NFT for auction and sold it for a high price. This has already proved that there are people willing to collect “objects of historical significance.” But this kind of NFT has not yet developed; in part, this is because similar NFTs are still only isolated cases and have not yet taken shape, lacking eye-catching series products and any standards or norms whatsoever.
If we can create technical standards and cultural consensus for this kind of “historical memorabilia,” then it may drive the rise of an entire NFT collectibles category.
Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.
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