Join ZJU to build your own "Million-Cubic World"

This is the most unconventional General Education course I’ve ever taken, and the one I’m most grateful for choosing. This glowing review, posted on the CC98 forum in October 2025 by XUE Yuhang—a senior at Zhejiang University’s Chu Kochen College—perfectly captures the magic of Million-Cubic Future World. Even more telling is XUE’s dedication: he has audited the class for four consecutive years and stepped up as a Teaching Assistant in 2025, a testament to the course's enduring pull.

Launched in 2015 by Professor XU Xiangguo of the College of Energy Engineering, the course was officially renamed in 2024 and has since been recognized as a top-tier undergraduate program in Zhejiang Province. It is a unique blend of rigorous technical demand and humanistic depth. The premise is bold: Earth’s resources are depleted, and humanity must migrate to another planet. Working in multidisciplinary teams, students must use a one-million-cubic-meter space to design a self-sustaining, energy-independent future colony.

Unlike traditional courses, there are no standard answers—only infinite possibilities. Students from diverse majors collaborate to bridge the gap between complex mathematical modeling and human-centric design. Projects range from hardcore engineering feats, such as shape-shifting micromaterials, to poetic and imaginative concepts like Whale Fall Civilizations. At the final presentations, thirteen teams showcased their visions. The Smoke-Free Group ultimately took top honors for their brilliant circular resource design, illustrating the profound power of cross-disciplinary synergy.

The secret to the course's success lies in Professor XU’s structural guidance. By using four key pillars—including energy and technology—as a framework and four distinct scenarios to facilitate integration, the course ensures logical coherence while sparking maximum creativity. It challenges students to break free from conventional thinking, fostering independent thought through criticism and reconstruction. Above all, it helps students realize a deeper truth: the inherent value of the human spirit.

From using Minecraft (MC) to model virtual worlds to founding the MC Cubic Club to build a Virtual ZJU, this course has grown beyond the classroom into a creative ecosystem that spans the physical and virtual realms. It awakens the power of imagination and the courage to create. Ultimately, it teaches every student that the true essence of education is to build a cubic foundation of creativity and responsibility in an uncertain future.

Adapted and translated from the article written by SHI Xuanxuan, HU Yihan, YANG Yi, ZHOU Jinyi
Translator: SEE TZE YING ('27, Statistics)
Photo: HU Yihan, LI Jiale
Editor: JIANG Chenqi ('27, Structural Engineering), HAN Xiao