The Rapid Growth of the Chinese Internet — and Where It's H
文章来源:未知 文章作者:enread 发布时间:2020-03-25 07:10 字体: [ ]  进入论坛
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
每12个月,在中国就要发生一场全球最大的人口迁移。在农历新年40余天的旅行高峰期中,无数家庭的重聚与欢庆,同时伴随着30多亿次的出行。全国2.9亿外来务工群体经历着这些旅行中最艰难的部分,其中大部分人1年才有这1次机会回家看望父母和留守的孩子们。
Once every 12 months, the world's largest human migration1 happens in China. Over the 40-day travel period of Chinese New Year, three billion trips are taken, as families reunite and celebrate. Now, the most strenuous2 of these trips are taken by the country's 290 million migrant workers, for many of whom this is the one chance a year to go home and see parents and their left-behind children. 
 
But the travel options are very limited; plane tickets cost nearly half of their monthly salary. So most of them, they choose the train. Their average journey is 700 kilometers. The average travel time is 15 and a half hours. And the country's tracks now have to handle 390 million travelers every Spring Festival. Until recently, migrant workers would have to queue for long hours -- sometimes days -- just to buy tickets, often only to be fleeced by scalpers. And they still had to deal with near-stampede conditions when travel day finally arrived. 
 
But technology has started to ease this experience. Mobile and digital tickets now account for 70 percent of sales, greatly reducing the lines at train stations. Digital ID scanners have replaced manual checks, expediting the boarding process, and artificial intelligence is deployed3 across the network to optimize4 travel routes. New solutions have been invented. China's largest taxi-hailing platform, called Didi Chuxing, launched a new service called Hitch5, which matches car owners who are driving home with passengers looking for long-distance routes. In just its third year, Hitch served 30 million trips in this past holiday season, the longest of which was further than 1,500 miles. That's about the distance from Miami to Boston. This enormous need of migrant workers has powered fast upgrade and innovation across the country's transport systems. 
 
Now, the Chinese internet has developed in both familiar and unfamiliar6 ways. Just like in Silicon7 Valley, some of the seismic8 shifts in technology and consumer behavior have been driven by academic research, have been driven by enterprise desires, with the whims9 of privilege and youth sprinkled in every once in a while. 
 
I am a product of the American tech industry, both as a consumer and a corporate10 leader. So I am well acquainted with this type of fuel. But about a year and a half ago, I moved from my home in New York City to Hong Kong to become the CEO of the South China Morning Post. And from this new vantage point, I've observed something that is far less familiar to me, propelling so much of China's innovation and many of its entrepreneurs. It is an overwhelming need economy that is serving an underprivileged populous11, which has been separated for 30 years from China's economic boom. The stark12 gaps that exist between the rich and the poor, between urban and rural or the academic and the unschooled -- these gaps, they form a soil that's ready for some incredible empowerment. So when capital and investment become focused on the needs of people who are hanging to the bottom rungs of an economic ladder, that's when we start to see the internet truly become a job creator, an education enabler and in many other ways, a path forward. 
 
Of course, China is not the only place where this alternative fuel exists, nor the only place where it is possible. But because of the country's sheer scale and status as a rising superpower, the needs of its population have created an opportunity for truly compelling impact. When explaining the rapid growth of the Chinese tech industry, many observers will cite two reasons. The first is the 1.4 billion people that call China home. The second is the government's active participation13 -- or pervasive14 intervention15, depending on how you view it. Now, the central authorities have spent heavily on network infrastructure16 over the years, creating an attractive environment for investment. At the same time, they've insisted on standards and regulation, which has led to fast consensus17 and therefore, fast adoption18. The world's largest pool of tech talent exists because of the abundance of educational incentives19. And local, domestic companies, in the past, have been protected from international competition by market controls. 
 
 
04:41
Of course, you cannot observe the Chinese internet without finding widespread censorship and very serious concerns about dystopian monitoring. As an example: China is in the process of rolling out a social credit rating that will cover its entire population, rewarding and restricting citizens, based on highly qualitative20 characteristics like honesty and integrity. At the same time, China is deploying21 facial recognition across many of its 170 million closed-circuit cameras. Artificial intelligence is being used to predict crime and terrorism in Xinjiang province, where the Muslim minority is already under constant surveillance. 
 
Yet, the internet has continued to grow, and it is so big -- much bigger than I think most of us realize. By the end of 2017, the Chinese internet population had reached 772 million users. That's larger than the populations of the United States, Russia, of Germany, of the United Kingdom, of France and Canada combined. Ninety-eight percent of them are active on mobile. Ninety-two percent of them use messaging apps. There are now 650 million digital news consumers, 580 million digital video consumers, and the country's largest e-commerce platform, Taobao, now boasts 580 million monthly active users. It's about 80 percent larger than Amazon. On-demand travel, between bikes and cars, now accounts for 10 billion trips a year in China. That's two-thirds of all trips taken around the world. So it's a very mixed bag. 
 
The internet exists in a restricted, arguably manipulated form within China, yet it is massive and has vastly improved the lives of its citizens. So even in its imperfection, the growth of the Chinese internet should not be dismissed, and it's worthy22 of our closer examination. 
 
Let me tell you two other stories today. Luo Zhaoliu is a 34-year-old engineer from Jiangxi province. Now, his home region used to be extremely important to the Communist party because this was the birthplace of the Red Army. But over the decades, because of its separation from the economic and manufacturing centers of the country, it has slid into irrelevance23. Luo, like so many in his generation, left home at a young age to look for work in a major city. He ended up in Shenzhen, which is one of China's tech hubs. As the young migrate, these rural villages are left with only elderly, who are really struggling to elevate themselves above abject24 poverty. 
 
After nine years, Luo decided25 to return to Jiangxi in 2017, because he believed that the booming e-commerce marketplace in China could help him revive his village. Like many rural communities, Luo's home specialized26 in a very specific provincial27 craft -- making fermented28 bean curd29, in this case. So he started a small factory and started selling his locally made goods online. There have been many years of consumption growth across China's major cities. But recently, technology has been driving an explosion in craft goods sales among China's middle and upper classes. WeChat and other e-commerce platforms allow rural producers to market and sell their goods far beyond their original distribution areas. 
 
Research companies actually track this impact by counting what is called "Taobao villages." This is any rural village where at least 10 percent of its households are selling goods online and making a certain amount of revenue. And the growth has been significant in the last few years. There were just 20 Taobao villages in 2013, 212 in 2014, 780 in 2015, 1,300 in 2016 and over 2,100 at the end of 2017. They now account for nearly half a million active online stores, 19 billion dollars in annual sales and 1.3 million new jobs created. In Luo's first year back home, he was able to employ 15 villagers. And he sold about 60,000 units of fermented bean curd. He expects to hire 30 more people in the next year, as his demand rapidly rises. 
 
There are 60 million left-behind children scattered30 across China's rural landscape. And they grow up with at least one parent far away from home, as a migrant worker. Alongside all the general hardships of rural life, they often have to travel vast and dangerous distances just to get to school. They account for 30 percent of the country's primary and high school students. Ten-year-old Chang Wenxuan is one of these students. He walks an hour each way every single day to school, across these deep ravines, in an isolated31 landscape. But when he arrives at the small farming village in Gansu province, he will find just two other students in this entire school. Now, Chang's school is one of 1,000 in Gansu alone that has less than five registered students. So with limited student interaction, with underqualified teachers and schoolhouses that are barely furnished and not insulated, rural students have long been disadvantaged, with almost no path to higher education. 
 
But Chang's future has been dramatically shifted with the installation of a “Sunshine Classroom.” He's now part of a digital classroom of 100 students across 28 different schools, taught by qualified32 and certified33 teachers live-streaming from hundreds of miles away. He has access to new subjects like music and art, to new friends and to experiences that extend far beyond his home. Recently, Chang even got to visit the Frederiksborg Castle museum in Denmark -- virtually, of course. 
 
Now, online education has existed for many years outside of China. But it has never reached truly transformative scale, likely because traditional education systems in other tech centers of the world are far more advanced and far more stable. But China's extreme terrain34 and size have created an enormous and immediate35 need for innovation. There's a tech start-up in Shenzhen that grew to 300,000 students in just one year. And by our best estimation at the Post, there are now 55 million rural students across China that are addressable and accessible by live-streaming classes. This market of need is larger than the entire US student population between kindergarten and grade 12. 
 
So I'm extremely encouraged to find out that private investment in ed-tech in China now exceeds one billion dollars a year, with another 30 billion dollars in public funding that is committed between now and 2020. As the Chinese internet continues to grow, even in its imperfection and restrictions36 and controls, the lives of its once-forgotten populations have been irrevocably elevated. There is a focus on populations of need, not of want, that has driven a lot of the curiosity, the creativity and the development that we see. And there's still more to come. 
 
In America, internet population, or penetration37, has now reached 88 percent. In China, the internet has still only reached 56 percent of the populous. That means there are over 600 million people who are still offline and disconnected. That's nearly twice the US population. An enormous opportunity. 
 
Wherever this alternative fuel exists, be it in China or Africa, Southeast Asia or the American heartland, we should endeavor to follow it with capital and with effort, driving both economic and societal impact all over the world. Just imagine for a minute what more could be possible if the global needs of the underserved become the primary focus of our inventions. 
 
Thank you. 
 
(Applause) 


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 migration mDpxj     
n.迁移,移居,(鸟类等的)迁徙
参考例句:
  • Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
  • He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。
2 strenuous 8GvzN     
adj.奋发的,使劲的;紧张的;热烈的,狂热的
参考例句:
  • He made strenuous efforts to improve his reading. 他奋发努力提高阅读能力。
  • You may run yourself down in this strenuous week.你可能会在这紧张的一周透支掉自己。
3 deployed 4ceaf19fb3d0a70e329fcd3777bb05ea     
(尤指军事行动)使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 ); 施展; 部署; 有效地利用
参考例句:
  • Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
  • The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。
4 optimize WIoxY     
v.使优化 [=optimise]
参考例句:
  • We should optimize the composition of the Standing Committees.优化人大常委会组成人员的结构。
  • We should optimize our import mix and focus on bringing in advanced technology and key equipment.优化进口结构,着重引进先进技术和关键设备。
5 hitch UcGxu     
v.免费搭(车旅行);系住;急提;n.故障;急拉
参考例句:
  • They had an eighty-mile journey and decided to hitch hike.他们要走80英里的路程,最后决定搭便车。
  • All the candidates are able to answer the questions without any hitch.所有报考者都能对答如流。
6 unfamiliar uk6w4     
adj.陌生的,不熟悉的
参考例句:
  • I am unfamiliar with the place and the people here.我在这儿人地生疏。
  • The man seemed unfamiliar to me.这人很面生。
7 silicon dykwJ     
n.硅(旧名矽)
参考例句:
  • This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
  • A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。
8 seismic SskyM     
a.地震的,地震强度的
参考例句:
  • Earthquakes produce two types of seismic waves.地震产生两种地震波。
  • The latest seismic activity was also felt in northern Kenya.肯尼亚北部也感觉到了最近的地震活动。
9 WHIMS ecf1f9fe569e0760fc10bec24b97c043     
虚妄,禅病
参考例句:
  • The mate observed regretfully that he could not account for that young fellow's whims. 那位伙伴很遗憾地说他不能说出那年轻人产生怪念头的原因。
  • The rest she had for food and her own whims. 剩下的钱她用来吃饭和买一些自己喜欢的东西。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
10 corporate 7olzl     
adj.共同的,全体的;公司的,企业的
参考例句:
  • This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
  • His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。
11 populous 4ORxV     
adj.人口稠密的,人口众多的
参考例句:
  • London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
  • China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。
12 stark lGszd     
adj.荒凉的;严酷的;完全的;adv.完全地
参考例句:
  • The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
  • He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。
13 participation KS9zu     
n.参与,参加,分享
参考例句:
  • Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
  • The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。
14 pervasive T3zzH     
adj.普遍的;遍布的,(到处)弥漫的;渗透性的
参考例句:
  • It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
  • The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的,并且难以估算。
15 intervention e5sxZ     
n.介入,干涉,干预
参考例句:
  • The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
  • Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。
16 infrastructure UbBz5     
n.下部构造,下部组织,基础结构,基础设施
参考例句:
  • We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
  • We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设,发展各类群众文化。
17 consensus epMzA     
n.(意见等的)一致,一致同意,共识
参考例句:
  • Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗?
  • What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么?
18 adoption UK7yu     
n.采用,采纳,通过;收养
参考例句:
  • An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
  • The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。
19 incentives 884481806a10ef3017726acf079e8fa7     
激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 ); 刺激; 诱因; 动机
参考例句:
  • tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
  • Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者,提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
20 qualitative JC4yi     
adj.性质上的,质的,定性的
参考例句:
  • There are qualitative differences in the way children and adults think.孩子和成年人的思维方式有质的不同。
  • Arms races have a quantitative and a qualitative aspects.军备竞赛具有数量和质量两个方面。
21 deploying 79c9e662a7f3c3d49ecc43f559de9424     
(尤指军事行动)使展开( deploy的现在分词 ); 施展; 部署; 有效地利用
参考例句:
  • Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
  • Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。
22 worthy vftwB     
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的
参考例句:
  • I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
  • There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。
23 irrelevance 05a49ed6c47c5122b073e2b73db64391     
n.无关紧要;不相关;不相关的事物
参考例句:
  • the irrelevance of the curriculum to children's daily life 课程与孩子们日常生活的脱节
  • A President who identifies leadership with public opinion polls dooms himself to irrelevance. 一位总统如果把他的领导和民意测验投票结果等同起来,那么他注定将成为一个可有可无的人物。 来自辞典例句
24 abject joVyh     
adj.极可怜的,卑屈的
参考例句:
  • This policy has turned out to be an abject failure.这一政策最后以惨败而告终。
  • He had been obliged to offer an abject apology to Mr.Alleyne for his impertinence.他不得不低声下气,为他的无礼举动向艾莱恩先生请罪。
25 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
26 specialized Chuzwe     
adj.专门的,专业化的
参考例句:
  • There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
  • These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。
27 provincial Nt8ye     
adj.省的,地方的;n.外省人,乡下人
参考例句:
  • City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
  • Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。
28 fermented e1236246d968e9dda0f02e826f25e962     
v.(使)发酵( ferment的过去式和过去分词 );(使)激动;骚动;骚扰
参考例句:
  • When wine is fermented, it gives off gas. 酒发酵时发出气泡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • His speeches fermented trouble among the workers. 他的演讲在工人中引起骚动。 来自辞典例句
29 curd oYmzN     
n.凝乳;凝乳状物
参考例句:
  • I'd like to add some pepper to the bean curd.我想在豆腐里加一点辣椒粉。
  • The next one is bean curd with crab roe.下一个是蟹黄豆腐。
30 scattered 7jgzKF     
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的
参考例句:
  • Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来,塞进文件夹里。
31 isolated bqmzTd     
adj.与世隔绝的
参考例句:
  • His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
  • Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。
32 qualified DCPyj     
adj.合格的,有资格的,胜任的,有限制的
参考例句:
  • He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
  • We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。
33 certified fw5zkU     
a.经证明合格的;具有证明文件的
参考例句:
  • Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
  • The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。
34 terrain sgeyk     
n.地面,地形,地图
参考例句:
  • He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
  • He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。
35 immediate aapxh     
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的
参考例句:
  • His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
  • We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。
36 restrictions 81e12dac658cfd4c590486dd6f7523cf     
约束( restriction的名词复数 ); 管制; 制约因素; 带限制性的条件(或规则)
参考例句:
  • I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
  • a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制
37 penetration 1M8xw     
n.穿透,穿人,渗透
参考例句:
  • He is a man of penetration.他是一个富有洞察力的人。
  • Our aim is to achieve greater market penetration.我们的目标是进一步打入市场。
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