China's internet future looks bright in Wuzhen

I’m happy to say I’ve recently joined what I can only imagine must be a fairly exclusive club: People who have hugged a robot.

This honor was one of many granted when I attended the 4th World Internet Conference in Wuzhen earlier this month. The convention center and expo buildings were abuzz with activity, showcasing cutting-edge technologies and giving attendees a firsthand look at the future of the internet. I tested out a translation device (accurate in English and Spanish!), got a health readout from a simple face scan and matched reflexes with a hyper-intelligent computer. Spoiler alert on that last one: I lost. Repeatedly.

But it wasn’t all glitz. I also attended forums where top industry and government leaders discussed the internet’s potential, the right course for its development and how it might best be used to improve the lives of people all over the world. Compared to the gee-whiz sheen of the expo and its striking displays, you might assume those discussions were drab — but in all honesty, the high-level conversations got me more excited than even the snazziest piece of future tech.

The reason why is simple. At the expo, attendees were privileged enough to test out the kind of advanced electronics that will soon make their way into homes and cities in the wealthier parts of the world. That’s all well and good for the people who can afford them. But for everyone else, in places where many don’t have internet access at all, the more pressing question is how their personal situations can be improved. This is what the forums, like the one I attended on internet-assisted poverty alleviation, set out to answer.

China has led the way in global poverty reduction, responsible for more than 70 percent of the world’s people lifted out of poverty in the last 30 years. The “last mile” on the road to a poverty-free China will be a tough one to walk — the people remaining are in far more desperate situations than even the 800 million who came before them on this journey. Difficult problems call for thoughtful, sophisticated answers. This is where the internet comes in.

Creating new avenues for success can ensure stability and comfort for rural residents wracked by economic insecurity. Too often farmers work from incomplete or inaccurate information, or are hamstrung by a lack of confidence in a market for their products. Because of this, they produce inefficiently, missing out on extra income. Data sharing and communication through the internet would allow those farmers to optimize their harvests, getting the best possible price for their products and raising income for them, their friends and neighbors. Access to a digital market also expands the customer base; crops or meat that had no buyer years ago can now be sold to someone across the country.

These changes mean nothing, of course, without widespread access to the internet and improvements in shipping infrastructure. Having a customer for your wares isn’t much help if products spoil due to transportation delays, or if you can’t communicate.

This issue is well-known, though. Internet centers are being built in villages as part of the large-scale poverty reduction program, and China is poised to be the world’s top producer of fiber optic cable in the coming years. Between 2015 and 2020 the government will have spent 140 billion yuan ($21.2 billion) serving 30 million households and 98 percent of villages with high-speed internet. The digital silk road, part of the overall Belt and Road Initiative, will expand these technological improvements to other countries, connecting people inside and outside national borders in hopes they can achieve similar victories in poverty eradication.

As the digital share of the economy grow and companies adapt, development must continue in an equitable way. New industries being built from the digital economy is inevitable, but making sure these advancements are spread out — both geographically and among social groups — will safeguard the “better life” every person desires.

Which is why the most impressive part of the expo came in the form of a self-driving electric car. The technology in the vehicle was astounding; a harbinger of the new, more convenient society China is striving to build. But more significant than the innovations under the hood and dashboard was what the car’s designer told me: that when the machines go into manufacture, design and distribution will be a 100 percent local affair in Zhejiang province. To me, that says it all. Spreading out production to guarantee growth across the whole of China means people are guaranteed skilled work as the economy shifts, and prioritizing training means the entire labor force will be ready for those changes. With internet connectivity increasing every year and new routes for online education spreading, populations previously left behind face incredible opportunity in the digital age.

As more and more households go online and join the global community, consideration of all people’s needs takes on greater importance. Some countries have seized on this crucial moment in history to throttle affordable internet plans — unforgivable in light of the popular consensus Web access is an essential right. China, with its public ownership of broadband routes and an eye on reasonably priced, universal coverage, is leading the way when it comes to finding a role in cyberspace for everyone.

If I held any doubts about this before, my trip to Wuzhen was all the confirmation I needed.

The author is a copy editor with chinadaily.com.cn.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.