By Gu Yekai, People’s Daily
Chinese consumers now actively harness artificial intelligence for knowledge queries, presentation design, and conversational interfaces. Official statistics indicate that since China’s internet debut three decades ago, its digital populace has swelled beyond 1.1 billion, with generative AI tools engaging roughly 250 million users.
This quarter-billion adoption metric underscores AI’s seamless permeation into societal rhythms. The tech-savvy appetite of China’s netizens cultivates an innovation ecosystem where experimental technologies find rapid commercialization. Such vast uptake signals the nation’s dual dominance in internet infrastructure development and AI implementation.
Market forces and preferences remain ultimate arbiters of technological viability. Within the current AI acceleration phase, China maintains stride with global pioneers. The country leads in peer-reviewed AI research publications and patent authorizations globally, while hosting the world’s second-largest cluster of AI enterprises.
This robust foundation renders the recent proliferation of breakthrough AI applications an inevitable outcome rather than industry happenstance. When cutting-edge R&D catalyzes novel industrial ecosystems, mass adoption follows not as conjecture but as market physics in action.
Since its full integration into the global internet in 1994, China has emerged as the world’s largest digital marketplace, distinguished by an unparalleled base and an innovation engine that rivals Silicon Valley’s dynamism. Transitioning from trend adoption to technological co-development and selective leadership, the nation’s internet sector exemplifies how sustained R&D investment yields transformative dividends–mirroring the arc of China’s broader technological ascendancy.
Global analysts increasingly posit that China’s artificial intelligence breakthroughs may catalyze paradigm shifts across scientific disciplines, compelling international observers to recalibrate their assessments of the country’s innovation capacity. Yet maintaining this momentum demands more than fleeting ambition: it requires institutional tenacity. The evolutionary leap from 3G catch-up to 5G primacy illustrates this trajectory, having established the infrastructural bedrock for today’s mobile internet dominance.
Not all innovation springs from aspiration. External pressures–such as AI chip export controls–have paradoxically galvanized domestic problem-solving. Chinese tech conglomerates now pioneer workarounds while contributing these insights to the global knowledge commons, demonstrating resilience through open collaboration.
This ethos permeates beyond AI. A tripartite commitment from state institutions, corporate entities, and civil society has driven consistent annual growth in R&D expenditure. Policy frameworks incentivize experimentation, digital infrastructure achieves near-total penetration, and the doctrine of “innovation-led development” now underpins national strategy.
The true import of China’s 250 million generative AI users lies not in the statistic itself, but in what it signifies: a societal conviction that technological self-reliance is neither optional nor aspirational, but existential. When necessity and capability converge, innovation ceases to be a choice–it becomes inevitability.
Three cultural phenomena are reshaping global perceptions: the viral adoption of lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu among overseas audiences, DeepSeek’s emergence as an AI trailblazer, and the box office triumph of animated epic Ne Zha 2. These achievements collectively signal a paradigm shift in global perceptions of Chinese innovation.
In the realm of technological competition, demonstrated capability proves more persuasive than rhetoric. China progresses resolutely along its distinctive path of technological advancement. Academic metrics reveal dominance in fundamental research through both volume and influence of high-impact publications. The nation continues to lead global patent filings in emerging technologies, with its industrial ecosystem ranking first in WIPO’s Global Innovation Index for science and technology clusters–marking two consecutive top rankings in the biennial index.
What distinguishes this evolution is its self-reinforcing nature: each technological milestone cultivates public confidence, which in turn fuels subsequent advancements. International observers increasingly recognize this virtuous cycle – not as isolated technical accomplishments, but as systemic capacity building that redefines innovation’s geographical frontiers.
A translation system is exhibited at the 2024 Global AI Product and Application Expo in Suzhou, east China’s Jiangsu province, Dec. 10, 2024. (Photo by Zhang Congyu/People’s Daily Online)
Candidates compete in the Global Final of Enjoy AI global robotics competition at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), Dec. 15, 2024. (Photo by Zhang Mingwei/People’s Daily Online)
AI technologies are exhibited at the Apsara Conference 2024 in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang province, Sept. 19, 2024. (Photo by Long Wei/People’s Daily Online)
