Four New Great Inventions of China: Over 1B Monthly WeChat Users
On March 5, the first session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) opened in Beijing’s Great Hall of People. NPC members Pony Ma, Wang Yaping, and Xu Liyi were interviewed by media.
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On March 5, Pony Ma, Tencent Chairman and CEO, said that during the Spring Festival this year, WeChat had more than one billion active monthly users globally.
Ma said that the Chinese economic reform was a great achievement for China. No other country in human history had brought more than 700 million people out of poverty in a short span of 40 years. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (2011-2016), China’s economy has blossomed, especially in the internet and technology sectors.
For example, he said, four out of the world’s top ten internet companies are Chinese enterprises. In the process of social development, a new term called China’s Four New Great Inventions (high-speed railways, mobile payments, shared bicycles and online shopping) was born.
Since 1984, Ma has been working and living in Shenzhen. He named himself as a witness, participant and beneficiary of the development of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone.
Tencent has developed from a small company of five staff 20 years ago into a large company with more than 40,000 employees. Its market capitalization exceeds $500 billion. Shenzhen developed from a small fishing village before the Chinese economic reform to the current international metropolis. In 2017, the GDP of Shenzhen exceeded $346 billion USD (2.2 trillion yuan), reaffirming the success of the Chinese economic reform.
“In the future, I would like to use scientific and technological innovation to further promote reform and openness,” Ma said, “and I also hope that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area can play a more important role in the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’.”
Regarding China’s digitization process, Ma believes that “Internet+” is the means and the digital economy is the result. A digitized China and a powerful network power are our goals.
