From raising AI lobsters to China Travel, these industry buzzwords outline the development direction of China’s future industries.
During China’s Two Sessions, deputies are solving problems through discussions on science and technology, culture, industrial development and other topics.
Tech: AI, 6G and BCIs Take Centre Stage
Science and technology-related topics account for half of the discussions at the Two Sessions. Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the buzzwords.
“This reflects that AI has begun to penetrate all aspects of China’s economic and social life,” said Zhou Zhihua, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and vice president of Nanjing University.
Zhou stated that China has a strong demand and a positive attitude towards the application of new technologies in production and daily life, which has enabled the sound development of AI.
The commercialisation of 6G is also around the corner. In the view of Miao Wei, senior vice president of ZTE Corporation, 6G is far more than just an improvement in communication speed; it will also spawn new formats characterised by universal perception and intelligent ubiquity.
Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) also made their debut in this year’s Government Work Report. Han Bicheng, founder of Zhejiang Unisound Technology Co., Ltd., said that in the next 5 to 10 years, China’s BCIs industry will experience a critical leap from technological breakthroughs to large-scale applications, with user scale witnessing explosive growth.
Culture: AI Reshapes Creation, China’s Appeal Grows
This year, the open-source AI agent tool OpenClaw has surged in popularity, and “raising AI lobsters” has become a hot topic at the Two Sessions.
Complex scenes that used to take time, effort and even risks to shoot can now be realised in an instant with AI generation.
When AI takes over the “how to do it”, humans can focus on “why to do it”. Zhang Yiwu, professor at Peking University, noted that in the AI era, humanities and social science fields such as ethical research and value judgment are ushering in new growth points.
Deputies believe that the overseas expansion of short dramas is entering a “quality year”. Zhao Dongling, a screenwriter, suggested accelerating the improvement of the micro-drama industry ecosystem, strengthening intellectual property protection, and encouraging creators to focus on high-quality content.
During this year’s Two Sessions, many deputies talked about “China Travel” and “Becoming Chinese”. It reflects the growing attractiveness of China.
China has implemented unilateral visa exemptions for 50 countries and comprehensive mutual visa exemptions for 29 countries. Last year, the proportion of foreign visitors entering China with visa exemptions reached as high as 73%.
Jiang Ying, chair of Deloitte China, found through research that inbound tourists are staying longer, and travel destinations have extended from core cities to small and medium-sized cities. Jiang believes that it is necessary to develop immersive and interactive experience products for inbound tourists.
Industry: Frontier Sectors Accelerate Growth
Aerial rescue, drone delivery… With the continuous expansion of application scenarios, China’s low-altitude economy is accelerating.
Deputies held heated discussions on the low-altitude economy. Huang Maoxing, vice president of Fujian Academy of Social Sciences, believes that China’s low-altitude economy is generally in a stage of accelerating takeoff.
Speaking of quantum technology, Wang Zhiming, dean of the School of Physics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, said it is one of the most fiercely competitive fields in the world. He stated that China attaches great importance to the development of quantum technology and has made remarkable progress in key fields such as quantum precision measurement and quantum communication. Some achievements have entered the implementation stage, affecting people’s livelihoods.
“Embodied intelligence represented by humanoid robots will not take too long to move from the stage to thousands of households,” said Min Weidong, dean of the Metaverse Research Institute at Nanchang University. In his view, the current development of the AI industry is ushering in a qualitative change.
Min predicted that in the next few years, embodied intelligent humanoid robots are expected to take the lead in breakthroughs in two scenarios: caregiving and industrial manufacturing. “Caregiving focuses on simple movements and emotional communication, while industrial manufacturing emphasises precise operations. These two fields have the most urgent demand and are the easiest to run the model.” He also reminded that safety capabilities should be embedded in the entire process of AI development.
Written by Sha Liu, charts created by Di Wang, additional reporting by CNS.
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