A Historical Overview of Chinese Operating Systems and Their Development
This article traces the evolution of Chinese operating systems from the early research era in the 1960s through the first and second waves of domestic Linux distributions, examines government policies and market dynamics, and discusses recent trends such as multi‑architecture support, root community building, and the ongoing debate over true国产 (indigenous) status.
Recent years have seen significant progress in domestic operating systems driven by the "Xinchuang" wave, with brands like Kylin, UnionTech, and Deepin gaining visibility alongside earlier efforts such as the 150‑machine system (1968‑1973) and the first Chinese OS, CCDOS, in the 1980s.
The early period (1960s‑1980s) marked the birth of Chinese OS research, beginning with the 150‑engine project and the development of the first Chinese OS for the 150 machine, followed by DOS‑based Chinese versions like CCDOS and UCDOS, which helped popularize software localization.
The first wave (1999‑2008) featured a rapid rise of commercial Linux distributions—Xteam Linux, Red Flag Linux, Blue Point Linux, and Zhongruan Linux—supported by government procurement and the push for licensed software, but ultimately faltered due to poor user experience, lack of ecosystem, and competition from Windows.
The second wave (2009‑2019) was propelled by the national "Core‑High‑Base" (核高基) initiative, leading to the emergence of more mature projects such as NeoKylin, Galaxy Kylin, Ubuntu‑Kylin, Deepin, and UnionTech UOS, which focused on better usability, security, and broader hardware support.
Since 2020, new trends have emerged: expanding support for ARM, RISC‑V, and other architectures to meet government and enterprise procurement needs, and building independent "root" open‑source communities (openEuler, Anolis OS, OpenCloudOS, openKylin) to reduce reliance on foreign upstream distributions.
The article also addresses the controversy over whether these systems are truly indigenous, explaining that while they are built on the Linux kernel, extensive custom development, security hardening, and large code bases make them more than mere re‑branded shells, though complete independence would require a wholly self‑written kernel.
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