China ICT (Info Communications Technology) Industry, Infra, Commerce, Exports: News & Discussions

[Kyle Sun]

because we are a developing country.

 

[Dungeness]

Cashless society, afraid by @Götterdämmerung, is simply unstoppable.
I don't care the big companies know my eating habits, I just don't want to bring any coins or notes.

It is the dawn of things to come. China is taking the lead! Just like HSR, electrical cars, among many other things.

 

[cirr]

I am so darn lazy these days that I could hardly be bothered with sending texts in Wechat.

Instead I use Wechat mostly for voice message or video talk.

Only

 

[TaiShang]

If QQ is a supercharged Facebook, WeChat is something like WhatsApp on steroids

That explains why China's government was super-smart, ultra-visionary, and mega-pragmatic to protect home industries in their nascent periods.

If China's government were not smart, visionary, and pragmatic, we could not have spoken of a complete indigenous national internet ecosystem that is larger than the leaders of industrial and technological revolutions in some not too distant past.

Just put yourself in the shoes of a country in which FB, Twitter and What'sApp are the leading medias and imagine how much you would have suffered in terms of lost opportunities in the form of money, technology, employment, innovation...

 

[Dungeness]

That explains why China's government was super-smart, ultra-visionary, and mega-pragmatic to protect home industries in their nascent periods.

If China's government were not smart, visionary, and pragmatic, we could not have spoken of a complete indigenous national internet ecosystem that is larger than the leaders of industrial and technological revolutions in some not too distant past.

Just put yourself in the shoes of a country in which FB, Twitter and What'sApp are the leading medias and imagine how much you would have suffered in terms of lost opportunities in the form of money, technology, employment, innovation...

Good point！

Many of our friends here are so proud that they get to use FB etc., as if this was a proof they were "Freer" than Chinese. When they realize their internet ecosystem is in the hands of foreign multinationals, it is already too late. Their IT industries have already been castrated for good, and they can never have a chance to catch up with China's QQ, WeChat, WeiBo, Tmall, Taobao, Baidu, etc. Maybe this is the price to pay for their "democracy"?

 

[TaiShang]

Good point！

Many of our friends here are so proud that they get to use FB etc., as if this was a proof they were "Freer" than Chinese. When they realize their internet ecosystem is in the hands of foreign multinationals, it is already too late. Their IT industries have already been castrated for good, and they can never have a chance to catch up with China's QQ, WeChat, WeiBo, Tmall, Taobao, Baidu, etc. Maybe this is the price to pay for their "democracy"?

Those friends of ours are free to be backwards, un-innovative, poor, and not in total control of their internet industry. In fact that does not hurt us because it saves us from unnecessary (potential) competition. To all their heart's desire, they can fill their stomach with democracy, if democracy means to make their countries a technological/industrial pariah of the West.

I am just happy how it has so far occurred for China. If our leadership had taken the advice from the West, today we would be proud of the next Twitter update on our phones. That would be the only pride left to us.

And that would be demeaning.

 

[JSCh]

National big data engineering lab unveiled
By Ouyang Shijia | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-03-11 19:47

China's first national engineering laboratory for big data distribution and exchange technologies was officially unveiled on Saturday in Beijing, in a move to seek breakthroughs in research, application of big data and boost China's digital economy.

Founded by Shanghai Data Exchange Corp, China Internet Network Information Center, China United Network Communications Group Co, Fudan University and China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the national engineering lab aims to enhance China's ability in supporting fundamental sectors of big data. Inspur Group Co Ltd also contributed to the lab's launch.

"We are really honored to have the opportunity to lead the construction of the national engineering lab. We will work closely with our partners to promote the research of key technologies and applications of big data in different fields," said Tang Qifeng, CEO of Shanghai Data Exchange Corp.

According to Tang, the lab will develop core technologies of big data, build application and innovation centers in terms of finance, media, energy, healthcare, education, advanced manufacturing and other areas and launch research centers to help the nation better manage big data.

Yang Shanlin, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of the national engineering lab, said the key is to further the application of big data.

"The application drives the development of both big data technologies and related industries," he added.

In February, China's National Development and Reform Commission formally approved the construction of the National Engineering Laboratory for Big Data Distribution and Exchange Technologies. Tang said about one third of the investment came from the NDRC and the rest was contributed by Shanghai Data Exchange Corp and its partners.

 

[AndrewJin]

I am so darn lazy these days that I could hardly be bothered with sending texts in Wechat.

Instead I use Wechat mostly for voice message or video talk.

Only

I only use voice message/video message/video phone/voice phone with closed friends and family.

 

[Dungeness]

I only use voice message/video message/video phone/voice phone with closed friends and family.

Here we still heavily rely on old fashion voice call and text. There are too many WeChat like apps, Whatsapp, Line, Snapchat..... and they don't talk to each other.

 

[AndrewJin]

Here we still heavily rely on old fashion voice call and text. There are too many WeChat like apps, Whatsapp, Line, Snapchat..... and they don't talk to each other.

Too many similar apps are the problem.

 

[TaiShang]

Alibaba revenue surges 60% in 4th fiscal quarter
Xinhua | Updated: 2017-05-19

Two men chat beside a logo of Alibaba at its headquarters on the outskirts of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo/Agencies]


HANGZHOU - China's e-commerce giant Alibaba said Thursday that its quarterly revenue jumped 60 percent year on year in the fourth fiscal quarter ending March.

The group's revenue was about 38.6 billion yuan ($5.6 billion) in the quarter, beating market expectations, Alibaba said. This was Alibaba's highest quarterly revenue growth since a public initial offering.

The company said that the figure was mainly driven by robust revenue growth across all its segments, "in particular our China commerce retail revenue growth."

Revenue in the fiscal year surged 56 percent to about 158.3 billion yuan year on year, according to Alibaba.

Meanwhile, the annual number of active buyers on its retail platform in China climbed to 454 million, while the monthly number of active users on its mobile platform reached 507 million.

Daniel Zhang, chief executive officer of Alibaba, said the robust quarter demonstrated Alibaba's successful interaction with its 500 million consumers as well as its ability to create value.

 

[JSCh]

Tuesday, May 23, 2017, 11:22
Alibaba gets smart about deliveries
By He Wei in Hangzhou

Employees of a delivery service company use robots to sort parcels in Yiwu, Zhejiang province. (Photo/Xinhua)

Cainiao Network Technology Co Ltd, a courier aggregator backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, unveiled on Monday a smart logistics platform that uses 1 million new energy vehicles for express delivery, the latest move to ride China's logistics boom.

By partnering with automakers including SAIC Motor Corp Ltd and Dongfeng Motor Group Co, Cainiao will dedicate the cars to couriers and merchants for smart transportation, which features the use of big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence in goods delivery.

The company also pledged to provide 50 billion yuan ($7.26 billion) of financial support through MYBank, a financial unit under Alibaba, to support couriers, supply chain companies and drivers, Cainiao President Wan Lin told the 2017 Global Smart Logistics Summit in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, where Alibaba is headquartered.

Wan predicted the platform would save 10 billion yuan in logistics expenditure annually, as it trims the rate at which its vehicles travel empty and reduces the driving distance via intelligent route planning using a leading algorithm.

China's courier industry is expected to be handling 1 billion parcels per day within five to eight years, but few couriers have developed the capabilities needed to cope with that astonishing amount, said Jack Ma, Alibaba's billionaire founder and chairman.

Ma added that the massive number of packages handled during Single's Day - when many online retailers offer massive discounts - will soon become a daily reality.

"That's why we are calling on all express delivery firms to transform into data companies and embrace new technologies," he said.

Unlike Amazon.com Inc or domestic rival JD.com Inc, Alibaba does not own its logistics infrastructure but uses Cainiao to assemble a network of delivery firms and builds a data platform that enables speedier and more efficient service by letting couriers bundle deliveries in the same area.

Combining upstream selling data on e-commerce platforms, couriers can realize virtually end-to-end forecasting, halving the time for parcel sorting, Wan noted. New technologies can also cut time, cost and errors in delivery through standardizing addresses and using digital labeling codes.

China's smart logistics market is projected to grow fivefold to 1 trillion yuan by 2025, an emerging segment that is poised to drive the next phase of growth in the world's largest logistics market, which hit 11 trillion yuan in 2016, said He Liming, head of China the Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.

New applications, such as driverless cars and drone deliveries, will also help lower the logistics cost to GDP ratio, a key gauge tracking economic efficiency, to 10 percent in the coming years, down from 14.9 percent in 2016, He said.

 

[cirr]

Alibaba to help build China's first big data college to offer postgraduate courses

2017-05-24 08:57

Global Times Editor: Li Yan

China's first big data college to provide both undergraduate and master's programs will be set up in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, a move to meet the country's future demand for talents as its big data industry develops.

The Chengdu University of Information Technology and Aliyun, Internet giant Alibaba's cloud computing subsidiary, jointly announced in Chengdu Tuesday during the 2017 Yunxi summit, one of China's largest cloud computing events, that they will work together to build the college.

The Sichuan college will be the third Alibaba big data school but the first to provide postgraduate courses to students, china.com.cn reported.

The college, which is slated to start recruitment in 2018, will cultivate 1,000 advanced talents specializing in sectors including cloud computing, big data security and artificial intelligence within next five years, according to reports.

The college is also expected to provide big data-related training to government officials, businessmen and students, including two of Alibaba's well-recognized global big data talent certification programs.

It is estimated that China will need 1.8 million big data professionals in the next 3 to 5 years, about 1.5 million more than it has now.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/05-24/258755.shtml

 

[JSCh]

China launches big data engineering lab for government management
Source: Xinhua| 2017-05-25 19:32:44|Editor: Mengjie

People visit a demonstration center of Guizhou big data pilot zone in Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, May 25, 2017. The demonstration center is located in Guanshanhu District of Guiyang, with a construction area of 4,300 square meters. The mountainous Guizhou Province has become a pioneer in China's big data development due to a moderate climate, sufficient power supply and good network infrastructure. (Xinhua/Liu Xu)

GUIYANG, May 25 (Xinhua) -- China's first big data engineering laboratory newly launched in Guizhou Province is expected to help improve government management efficiency.

The lab, officially set up Wednesday, has several functions, including collecting and analyzing administrative data, offering privacy protection of data and applying big data technology to government decision making, clean government supervision, social management and public services.

The lab is located in the national high-tech industrial development zone in the provincial capital Guiyang.

"It will focus on the study of big data dedicated to government management and encourage the application and industrialization of big data in government management efficiency," said Wang Daming, head of the Council of National Engineering Laboratory.

The National Development and Reform Commission approved the joint construction of the laboratory by Guizhou and China Electronics Technology Group Corporation in November 2016.

Guizhou is the country's first pilot zone for big data. The technology has been widely applied in government management, business and daily life.

For example, the provincial high people's court has set up a big data system to aid the handling of cases and facilitate public inquiries.

The province also made a big data industrial map, which demonstrates companies' development in different areas, providing reference for policy making.

The province's computer, communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing industries saw their added value reach 9.3 billion yuan (1.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, about nine times that in 2011.

 

[Shotgunner51]

The 2017 China International Big Data Expo Opens in Guiyang
News provided by 2017 China International Big Data Expo
26 May, 2017, 06:34 ET

GUIYANG, China, May 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2017 China International Big Data Expo opened on Friday in Guiyang, capital city of southwest China's Guizhou Province. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sent a congratulatory letter while Vice Premier Ma Kai addressed the opening ceremony.

Premier Li pointed out that the digital economy is transforming mankind's way of production and living and is increasingly becoming a new engine powering economic growth. Guizhou Province followed the trend and pioneered in the process with remarkable fruits. China is willing to work with other countries to promote innovation and cooperation in digital economy.

Data has become one important fundamental and strategic resource and China should go further in big data innovative application to speed up transforming the manufacturing sector, according to Ma Kai.

With "Digital Economy Drives New Growth" as the theme, this year's expo will feature two summits, one exhibition and one contest. A total of 78 forums and 15 other activities will be held throughout the Expo.

Five high-end conferences on topics of machine intelligence, artificial intelligence, smart manufacturing, e-commerce and blockchain will be held during the summits.

As the first exhibition in the world with a theme centered around big data, the Guiyang Big Data Expo has now been successfully held for two years in a row. The previous expos have attracted investment worth 58.9 billion yuan (8.6 billion U.S. dollars) to Guizhou Province. The Expo became a national-level event in 2016.

Applicants for the Expo exceed 50,000, who come from 23 countries. Meanwhile, over 1,000 cutting-edge products, technologies and solutions are displayed brought by about 316 exhibitors from both home and abroad, according to the organizer.

Among the six exhibition halls, Hall 1 to Hall 5 exhibit the latest innovations and achievements and high-tech products in big data from world-renowned internet companies such as Oracle, Alibaba, Huawei, SAP, Foxconn and JD.com, while Hall 6 is designed as featured experience hall for VR, AR and AI.

On Thursday, a number of futuristic technologies were unveiled in the exhibition hall, such as the Driverless Magnetic Unit of central air-conditioning invented by Haier, the AR red envelope from Tencent and the latest lip-reading recognition technology from Hydata. Over 10,000 visitors went to the exhibition on Thursday.

The Guizhou provincial government rolled out a development strategy for big data in 2014, with the big data digital information sector scoring a 62-percent year-on-year growth in market scale that year. Guizhou's GDP totaled over 900 billion yuan in 2014, achieving the growth target outlined in the 12th Five-Year Plan one year earlier.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...big-data-expo-opens-in-guiyang-300464495.html