In recent years, the bike was as good as disappeared from Beijing's street scene. But now, many bicycles ride around thanks to the countless rental companies. It is only a symptom of the digital revolution that is flooding China.
When Katie Melua sang in 2005, "9 million bicycles in Beijing", the bikes were virtually disappeared from the street scene. Older people were still on their Flying Pigeon and in the suburbs there was still some cycling. But in the center of Beijing the car ruled over the street, with all the traffic jams and air pollution that belonged to it. 12 years later, a car is still the dream of the Chinese middle class but the bikes are back. They are no longer black, but yellow, orange and light blue. They are rent bikes, through an app on the smartphone. Anyone who wants to use a bike scans the QR code with a smartphone, then types a code and rides away. Afterwards, you can leave the bike where it suits you. The sidewalks in Beijing are full of bicycles these days. They stand between the parked cars.
Houseplants, makeup and a masseuse
The explosion of rental bicycles is just one of the symptoms of the fast-paced digitization of Chinese society. People who still walk with real cash is hopelessly old-fashioned. Bank cards are also out of fashion: you pay with a smartphone. Losing your phone is a real disaster. Online shopping is also a big deal. You can literally deliver everything at home. Food, makeup, houseplants, a masseuse, and all in a record time. And paying you do with your smartphone. The danger is then, especially during the cold winter, that you hardly ever get out. It's so much more comfortable to cocoon and deliver everything at home.
Big Brother
One of the reasons for the success of online payment is the Chinese app WeChat, developed by Tencent. WeChat is a Chinese alternative to Facebook and WhatsApp, but it's much more than that. Users can find friends, share photos and locations, and call and chat. But they can also pay: anyone who links a bank account number to his personal account gets a code and that code can be scanned by the seller. A salesperson who can’t afford a scan device, can just print a QR code that they hang on the wall. The customer scans that code, enters the amount and pays it. An electronic sound confirms the payment.
China comes from very far, and people are very interested in everything that's new. They are also less concerned about their privacy. They assume that the government, like Big Brother, already knows everything about them. And so, they hesitate less to link their bank card to an app or agree with face registration. China is extremely ambitious. For example, the country wants to be a leader in artificial intelligence by 2030. And by 2025 all new cars must be electric. The government has understood that these technology companies are giving a lot of people work and investing a lot of money into it.
New Chinese Wall
Technology flourish in China. But what's up with that giant firewall that pulled China around the country? Instead of the famous Chinese Wall, that new wall must keep out all unwanted and politically sensitive information, something that also affects the academic and business world. In a sense, China has done a very clever move, not only politically but also economically and strategically. Because of that firewall, American competitors like Google, Facebook and E-bay did not enter the country. And so, China has developed its own alternatives like Tencent and Alibaba. Because of the huge scale of the Chinese market, these companies has now become giants themselves. It is an immense country with enormous market potential. By their size, they can afford to develop their own standards and rules.
First, they bought technology from the West, which they have copied afterwards. And now they do it themselves and develop their own technology. So they climb up on the value chain. In innovation and creativity, the investments are gigantically. I can only assume that this country will continue to grow.
