China's FAST Telescope Discovers Over 156,000 Neutral Hydrogen Sources, Reshaping Early Universe Understanding

China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) has detected 156,411 neutral hydrogen sources across nearly half the sky, a significant breakthrough in radio astronomy. Published as a cover story in *Science China Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy*, these findings establish FAST as a new global reference in hydrogen survey research and are expected to advance understanding of galaxy formation, evolution, dark matter distribution, and large-scale cosmic structures.