2024: 30 Years of the Chinese Internet Booming Digital Economy Amidst Challenges

2024: 30 Years of the Chinese Internet Booming Digital Economy Amidst Challenges2024 marks the 30th anniversary of China's full-fledged access to the international internet, a pivotal year for the deep integration of its digital and real economies. Over three decades, China's internet has achieved remarkable progress, but it also faces new opportunities and challenges

2024: 30 Years of the Chinese Internet Booming Digital Economy Amidst Challenges

2024 marks the 30th anniversary of China's full-fledged access to the international internet, a pivotal year for the deep integration of its digital and real economies. Over three decades, China's internet has achieved remarkable progress, but it also faces new opportunities and challenges. This article, based on the 55th Statistical Report on the Development of Internet Network in China (hereinafter referred to as "the Report") released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), reviews the 30-year development of the Chinese internet, and analyzes its current status and future trends.

Thirty Years of Glory: From 620,000 Users to 1.1 Billion Netizens

In 1997, the Chinese internet was in its infancy, with only 620,000 users primarily accessing the internet via dial-up. At that time, the internet was a nascent phenomenon in China, developing slowly. However, China's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001 brought unprecedented opportunities. Internet infrastructure construction accelerated, network access improved, internet applications diversified, and development speed significantly increased.

2005 marked a significant milestone. Broadband access surpassed dial-up, becoming the primary access method, signaling a new era of rapid internet development. That same year, the number of netizens surpassed 100 million a tremendous achievement for a developing country. In 2006, the Report first published the number of mobile internet users, reaching 13 million, foreshadowing the arrival of the mobile internet era. The issuance of 3G licenses in 2009 further propelled the shift from desktop to mobile internet, realizing a leap in mobile connectivity.

The Rise of the Digital Economy: The Convergence of AI and the Internet

In recent years, the digital economy has flourished. Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain have rapidly converged with the internet industry, giving rise to numerous new applications and business models. Generative AI, a significant branch of AI, has surged in the past two years, becoming one of the hottest investment areas globally, attracting substantial capital and talent.

By the end of 2024, 302 generative AI services had completed registration with the Cyberspace Administration of China, and China's total computing power ranks second globally. The number of AI companies in China exceeds 4,500, and the core industry scale has approached 600 billion yuan. This demonstrates China's strong innovation capabilities and development potential in the AI field.

The rapid development of generative AI has profoundly impacted people's lives. By the end of 2024, the number of internet healthcare users reached 418 million, a 3.72 million increase compared to December 2023, accounting for 37.7% of netizens. The number of generative AI product users reached 249 million, representing 17.7% of the total population. The Report shows that the 20-29 age group has the highest usage rate of generative AI products, at 41.5%.

User applications of generative AI products are also diversifying. Using generative AI products to answer questions is the most prevalent application (77.6% usage rate). 45.5% use them as office assistants, primarily for generating meeting minutes and creating presentations. With the rapid development of multi-modal large models, more and more users are using these products to generate images and videos (30%).

The Challenge of the Digital Divide: Bridging the Gap and Promoting Inclusive Development

Despite remarkable achievements, a digital divide persists. As of December 2024, there were 301 million non-internet users in China. The main reasons cited include: lack of computer/internet knowledge (30.9%), limited literacy (e.g., inability to use Pinyin) (20.9%), and lack of computer/internet access devices (13%). This data indicates that while many are enjoying the benefits of the digital economy, a significant portion of the population remains excluded.

Bridging the digital divide and achieving inclusive internet development is a crucial task. This requires the concerted efforts of the government, businesses, and society as a whole, through measures such as strengthening digital literacy education, providing more convenient network access, and developing more user-friendly internet applications, to enable more people to share the fruits of digital economic development.

Future Outlook: Upgrading and Building a Digital Powerhouse

The Report indicates that China's internet industry is entering a critical phase of upgrading. Future development requires strengthening new information infrastructure construction, systematically deploying key core technology research and development; accelerating the construction of a modernized industrial system supported by advanced manufacturing, promoting AI-powered new industrialization; and strengthening the research and development layout of general-purpose and industry-specific large models.

This requires continuous increases in R&D investment, enhancing independent innovation capabilities, building a secure and reliable network environment, fostering a sound digital economy ecosystem, promoting the deep integration of the digital and real economies, ultimately building a Digital China, and achieving high-quality development.

Conclusion:

Over the past three decades, the Chinese internet has achieved remarkable successes, transforming the lives of hundreds of millions. At this new historical juncture, the Chinese internet is entering a new phase, where opportunities and challenges coexist. Through continuous innovation and proactive responses to challenges, the Chinese internet is poised for a brighter future, contributing to the construction of a strong digital nation. Moving forward, China's internet needs to maintain rapid development while focusing on high-quality, inclusive, and secure growth, ensuring that the internet truly benefits all Chinese people.