Internet of Things Photo: IC

A batch of Chinese top-name internet entrepreneurs gathered over the weekend in a rare case in Beijing, celebrating the 30th anniversary of China's connection to the internet. 

In the past three decades, the Chinese internet industry has witnessed many milestones such as the booming waves of internet start-ups since the 1990s and the number of Chinese internet users exceeding that of the US, making it the world's largest in 2008.

What's more telling is that Chinese internet tech firms have been expanding at a breakneck pace despite the relentless US crackdown, which means that the Chinese internet industry is transforming itself from being merely followers to global leaders and bellwethers, market insiders and experts said.

Along with the growing prowess of Chinese internet companies, the Chinese economy has also seen the ever-growing roles of technological and digital drivers, as well as improvements of the digital infrastructure that significantly boosted investment. 

Entrepreneurs and observers expect that the next stage of China's internet growth will usher in a new tide of industrial reform and unleash more new quality productive forces, creating more globally competitive firms in newly emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum information, which will inject new impetus to the world's second-largest economy.

"Three decades have passed in a flash. Along with the internet's growth, we're all pioneers, builders, participants and beneficiaries," Zhou Hongyi, founder and chairman of 360 Security Technology, said in a post on his Weibo account on Saturday. 

Zhou was one of the participants in a symposium held on Saturday by the Internet Society of China, themed "Thirty years of China's internet development - seizing the opportunity for a new start." April 20 was the 30th anniversary of China's link-up to the internet. 

Other attendees are Tencent chairman Pony Ma Huateng, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun, Sohu CEO Zhang Chaoyang and Qi Xiangdong, chairman of Qi An Xin Technology Group - the first time in recent years that these internet big names had gathered together - as well as Shao Guanglu, general manager of China Telecom, He Biao, general manager of China Mobile and others. 

Officials from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission and the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner, also joined the meeting. 

Zhou told the Global Times on Sunday that the "past three roaring decades" were characterized by several phases, including the unprecedented internet start-up boom in the 1990s, during which most Chinese companies "mimicked" the models of Western peers. 

It was then followed by a transitional period during which China surpassed the US to become the country with the largest population on the internet in 2008. In 2018, Chinese internet users hit a landmark level of 800 million, signaling the beginning of a shift toward China in the global internet axis. 

"The Chinese internet industry has been riding on a bunch of positive factors, including the population dividend, sufficient room for innovative creation and a simulative innovative environment, offering internet firms unprecedented development opportunities," Zhou explained, pointing to the ongoing digitalization transformation in industry and people's lives.

He said that China's internet development had reached a new height in recent years, with internet applications and intelligent devices extending their global reach, and homegrown innovative models being "replicated" in other parts of the world, with China moving from being a follower to a leading player in the internet industry.

Qi Xiangdong of Qi An Xin Technology took note of the internet's pivotal role in propelling China's economic development and social growth in the past decades. This miraculous rise would make an even bigger contribution amid the economy's march toward high-quality development, he stressed. 

"Now, building on the momentum of China's internet take-off, we will double down on efforts to develop new quality productive forces and the AI-related industry, leveraging our advantages in safeguarding internet security," Qi told the Global Times on Sunday.

According to the official MIIT WeChat account, the conference also highlighted priorities in the next stage of China's internet development, including proactively planning for 6G development and optimizing the hash rate facility arrangement. 

The conference also called for acceleration in core technology breakthroughs and the resulting transformation in cutting-edge industries such as AI and quantum information, so as to inject strong impetus into the development of new quality productive forces. 

Representatives from internet firms told the Global Times that Chinese tech companies, based on their accumulated edge in the internet industry and the rich number of application scenarios, should scale up inputs in AI amid the white-hot global race of the next round of the industrial revolution. 
"China's internet development is based on broader global cooperation and exchanges, which runs in stark contrast to the 'small clique' approach of the US that aims to crack down on China's tech rise. 

"China will continue to spearhead such open cooperation, which leads to win-win results," Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday.