Cyberspace community of shared destiny
Cyberspace community of shared destiny has become a buzzword since the Second WICopened in East China's water town Wuzhen on Dec 16.

The phrase not only caught the audience attention as the theme of the big event, but alsotook center stage when President Xi Jinping made it a promise during his keynote speechat the opening ceremony of the conference.

Li Tao, founder and CEO of APUS, said he was excited to hear President Xi's proposal ofbuilding a cyberspace community of shared destiny, because "to construct global networkinfrastructure and promote interconnectivity is essentially to bridge the information gapbetween different countries."

And other Internet tycoons shared the feelings of Li Tao.

Baidu Inc CEO Robin Li said: "There will be more chances for operations among Internetenterprises in a cyberspace community of shared destiny."

Alibaba Group's founder Jack Ma said: "The phrase voiced our innermost thoughts, sinceprinciples of opening, sharing and transparency are the key for joint governance of theInternet and this is a responsibility that shall be shared by both the governments and theindividuals."

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity was an issue of concern among many attendees of the conference asPresident Xi Jinping urged the fostering of "a peaceful, secure, open and cooperativecyberspace."

Addressing the opening ceremony of the WIC, Xi said: "Cyber surveillance, cyber attacksand cyber terrorism have become a global scourge," noting the periodic occurrenceworldwide of infringements of individual privacy and intellectual property rights.

Internet experts and business leaders at the conference agreed that no country is endowedwith network hegemony or the right to interfere in others' domestic affairs and thereshould not be "double standards" in safeguarding cyber security.

Meanwhile, industry thinkers also spoke on how to protect the rights of juveniles fromInternet rumors and acknowledged that shielding them from crime and pornographyremains a challenge.

Cyberspace administration departments in China have their own standards andbenchmarks of inspecting and even deleting some online posts or websites, officials said.The posts and websites cannot violate Chinese laws or infringe upon the rights andinterests of others, and should not harm the healthy growth of juveniles.

Sharing Economy

The government will support the sharing economy and Internet-empowered innovations,said President Xi Jinping at the opening ceremony of the conference.

Xi's remarks boosted the confidence of the new-emerging business model, which alsobecame a hot topic at the conference. Cheng Wei, CEO of Didi Kuaidi, China's largest car-on-demand service provider, said car-hailing business is a typical example of how sharingeconomy can thrive in China.

According to him, the company, which was founded in 2012 with an initial investment of800,000 yuan ($123,760), has grown into the largest mobile-based transportationplatform in the world with an estimated value of 100 billion yuan.

Sharing economy is the best way to solve the traffic jam in a long run, said Cheng, referringto Beijing's limited resources. About one in four of the 20 million living in the capital hastheir own vehicle. And the more than five million vehicles have brought down the averagespeed at rush hour to 12 km per hour.

The sharing economy will continue to thrive because it is much more than hailing a car orrenting an apartment from those who have idle assets, said Charles Chao, CEO of SinaCorp, China's online media company. "Any areas that can match demand with supply canadopt this model," he said.

Internet Plus

As one of the buzzwords in China’s Internet industry, Internet Plus emerged as the ideabehind what businesses, both new and old, have been doing to apply the Internet and otherinformation technology to their industries.

After taking on the Internet industry for almost a year, the phrase continued to be the talkof town in Wuzhen, where the annual three-day World Internet Conference concluded onDec 18. Officials, researchers, and business leaders referred to the term while mapping outthe future for China’s Internet-related sectors.

One of the sub forums during the conference centered on Internet Plus.
Haier Group CEOZhang Ruimin, one of the best-known business executives in the country, explained how atraditional home appliance manufacturer such as Haier can transform into an Internetenterprise. Automaker Geely Group is also looking to human-computer interaction as atrend for modern car production, according to the company’s CEO Li Shufu.

The phrase came to the public attention after Premier Li Keqiang brought it about in theGovernment Work Report on March 5. Li proposed the “Internet Plus” as a strategy torestructure China’s economy and maintain growth momentum. The plan aims to integratemobile Internet, cloud computing, big data and the Internet of Things with modernmanufacturing.

Internet of Things

Imagine a world where - be it cars or wearable devices – all things can be connected toeach other via the Internet. That was one of the hot topics on the sidelines of the SecondWIC, with tech tycoons predicting the sector of Internet of Things (IoT) could be the nextEl Dorado for the Chinese tech industry in near future.

The IoT may become the best business opportunity in the next five years, said ZhouHongyi, CEO of Internet security and search company Qihoo 360 Technology, adding hiscompany has been focusing on IoT since two years before.

"The Internet of Things is like a new kind of language. It will enable everything to 'talk'with us through the Internet, which in turn will spur innovation and generate new businessmodels," Zhou said.

Yang Yuanqing, chief executive of Lenovo Group, said: "A smart future will demand smartconnections. The Internet will move toward creating smart technologies that boost the IoT,like connecting hardware devices with users, data and services."

Zhang Yaqin, president of Baidu Inc, said the search giant is already making significantprogress in the IoT sector with its self-driving vehicle. "Automobiles are the ultimatemobile devices that will help link consumers to other things," Zhang said, adding thecompany plans to put its self-driving car on the road within three years.

Liu Qiangdong, CEO of e-commerce site JD.com, said in the future no products can betermed commodities unless they are linked to the Internet.

China has attached great importance to the research and development of the IoT. Expertshave predicted that if it succeeds, the new technology will generate a new market worthseveral trillion yuan.

Virtual reality

Virtual reality or virtual realities (VR) replicates an environment that simulates a physicalpresence in places in the real world or an imagined world, allowing the user to interact inthat world. Virtual realities artificially create sensory experiences, which can include sight,hearing, touch and smell.

At the Light of the Internet Expo held in Wuzhen, many companies showed off theirapplication of virtual reality.

Nokia exhibited a virtual reality camera that can catch audio and video in full 360 degrees.Audience can watch a sports game with a 360-degree view.

Retail giant Suning installed a virtual fitting room. It enables shoppers to try on clothes tocheck one or more of size, fit or style, but virtually rather than physically.

Big data

Big data often refers to the use of predictive analytics or other certain advanced methodsto extract value from data, and seldom to a particular size of data set. Accuracy in big datamay lead to more confident decision making.

At several forums held during the conference, the term was highlighted by officials andbusiness leaders.

Jin Liqun, president-designate of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), saidthat big data can help AIIB staff analyze member country's infrastructure requirements inan accurate and scientific way.

Wu Xiaoling, vice-chairperson of Financial and Economic Affairs Committee in NPC, saidthat the utilization of big data has been treated as national strategy by many countries andeffectively using big data can facilitate financial service costs.

Artificial intelligence

Usually what heavyweight market players such as Baidu are betting on represents the trend of China's Internet landscape.

Therefore there was little surprise whey many believe the study of artificial intelligence (AI), or the intelligence exhibited by machines or software, is a field people can look up to in the next couple of years when BaiduChairman and CEO Robin Li said the company is investing big on it.

Baidu, China's major search engine provider, has applied AI technology to vehicles. Li said self-driving cars will be quite common on the roads in three to five years.

P2P

The P2P (peer-to-peer) online lending platforms is already an important part of Internetfinance in China and the industry was also one of the topics mostly discussed at the WorldInternet Conference in Wuzhen.

Internet-based instant lending and borrowing between strangers is called P2P lending.And the websites enabling such transactions are called P2P platforms.

Industry leaders and thinkers said the business saw extraordinary development in Chinabecause of the sad fact that for too long, the nation's small businesses have been under-serviced financially, if not ignored, by a few State-owned, inefficient banking giants.

Theemergence of the P2P platforms simply filled the gap.

P2P lending platforms differ from others, in that they lend money to unrelated individuals,or peers, without using a traditional financial intermediary such as a bank. As a result thereare still few laws and regulations applicable to the industry.

A shortcoming is that creditors usually don't have control over the platform operators, andtherefore their rights are not duly protected.
Industry leaders and thinkers believe how to build a stable and reliable risk control systemto screen out qualified enterprises with repayment ability and willingness is the greatestchallenge for the P2P market in China.

5G technology
China telecom's 5G technology showed its important role in Baidu's self-driven vehicles,Volvo's smart cars and Nokia's virtual reality shooting platform at the Light of the InternetExpo, an innovation gala for Internet fans during the Second World Internet Conference.

5G technology, known as an upgraded version of current 4G technology, is expected to rollout within five years. It can enable people to download a full-length movie or 100 songswithin one second.

China is already a driving force in several international efforts such as 5G technologydevelopment, said Zhao Houlin, secretary-general of the International TelecommunicationUnion, in an interview with China
Daily.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said the countryhas started exploratory work on 5G technologies and is planning commercial tests soon.