This study adopts a media archaeology approach to investigate the “China Education Computer,” a microcomputer that gained widespread popularity in China during the 1980s. By examining its developmental background, hardware configuration, and policy-driven promotion, this paper analyzes the computer’s mediating role in educational practice, social relations, and the broader project of Chinese modernization. I argue that, as a medium, the “China Education Computer” materially embedded educational technology schemes tailored to late-developing countries; practically facilitated the dissemination of computer literacy and the formation of information subjects; and discursively produced and reinforced the governance logic of state-led modernization. The designation of “education (xuexi in Chinese)” was not merely a commercial tactic driven by market logic; rather, it functioned as an intervention into a broader socio-historical conjuncture shaped by the pressures of the emerging information society and the anxieties associated with modernity. In this sense, the “China Education Computer” embodied an expansive vision of social development that integrated information futurism, technological progressivism, and discourses of individual “quality” (suzhi). Although it ultimately became a “failed medium” amid complex historical tensions, the technological practices and developmental ideals it articulated have continued to shape the trajectory of Chinese society. By unearthing this neglected medium, the study not only enriches the historical narrative of Chinese digital media but also provides a nuanced perspective and analytical framework for understanding the cultural politics of a society in transition.