Look at development through data! A study on the ＂report card＂ of China’s Internet development in the past ten years

The reporter learned from the press conference of the Blue Book in world internet conference in 2023 that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China’s Internet development has continuously opened up a new situation, and the construction of a network power and a digital China has taken new steps. From 2012 to 2022, the scale of China’s digital economy increased from 11 trillion yuan to 50.2 trillion yuan, leading the world in many aspects, such as Internet application, the number of netizens and the development of artificial intelligence. At the same time, as a big Internet country, China continues to play an active role in promoting other countries to share the fruits of digital development.

First, outstanding achievements have been made in informatization construction. In the past ten years, China’s network infrastructure has been improved by leaps and bounds, the average download rate of broadband network has increased by nearly 40 times, the mobile communication network has evolved from 3G to 5G, and the world’s largest 5G network has been built. The number of netizens has nearly doubled. From December 2012 to June 2023, the number of netizens in China has increased from 564 million to 1.079 billion, and the Internet penetration rate has increased from 42.1% to 76.4%, forming the largest and vibrant digital society in the world. Internet companies are booming. The number of Internet listed companies in China has increased from more than 50 to nearly 160, and the scale of head Internet companies has been growing. The level of information benefiting the people and facilitating the people has been improved in an all-round way, the convenience level of people’s food, clothing, housing, transportation, medical care and education has been greatly improved, and the people’s sense of gain and happiness has been continuously enhanced. For example, travel service software makes it more convenient to take a taxi, and telemedicine system enables remote mountainous areas to enjoy high-quality services, and digital life has turned from ideal to reality.

Second, the network ecology continues to improve. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the network ecological governance has continued to deepen, and the "Clear" series of special actions have been carried out in depth, and special rectification has been carried out for outstanding problems such as "rice circle chaos" and cyber violence, which has effectively deterred illegal and bad online behaviors, promoted the healthy and standardized development of Internet information services such as webcasting, and the cyberspace has become increasingly clear. The level of social collaborative governance has been gradually strengthened, and the main responsibility of online letter enterprises has been continuously compacted. The majority of netizens have taken the initiative to participate, forming a joint force between online and offline, and promoting the fundamental transformation of network governance from "management" to "governance". In the past ten years, the comprehensive network governance system has been basically completed, and a good situation of co-construction, co-governance and sharing has gradually taken shape.

Third, the online energy is abundant and the main theme is high. In the past ten years, the mainstream public opinion in cyberspace has been consolidated and expanded. Constantly innovate communication concepts and means, promote the party’s innovative theory to "fly into the homes of ordinary people", and launch a large number of phenomenal new media works such as "looking at the main peak with majestic mountains" and "holding mom’s hand". Carefully do a good job in online major theme publicity and major topic setting, and launch online publicity activities such as "It is a century-old glory to have a great career" around major themes such as the centenary of the founding of the Party, the 20th National Congress of the Party, and the Beijing Winter Olympics, so that positive energy can generate a large flow and good voice can become the strongest voice. Constantly strengthen the international communication power of the Internet, and gradually build a narrative system of China discourse and China. The credible, lovely and respectable image of China is more vivid, and "Yunnan elephants go north and return south" and CCTV Panda Channel have become distant stories talked about all over the world.

Fourth, the pace of self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology in the field of network information has accelerated. In the past ten years, digital technologies such as big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and quantum information have become the first echelon of global scientific and technological innovation; 5G realizes comprehensive leadership in technology, industry, network and application; A number of high-level original achievements have been made in the field of quantum science and technology. The quantum computing prototypes of "Nine Chapters No.2", "Nine Chapters No.3" and "Zu Chongzhi No.2" came out, and the "Mozi" quantum satellite was successfully launched. The self-developed Beidou satellite system has completed global networking, serving users in more than 200 countries and regions around the world, and "China’s Beidou" has truly become the "Beidou of the world".

Fifth, the network security system and capabilities have been continuously improved. In the past ten years, the top-level design of network security has been continuously improved, and the "four beams and eight pillars" of the network security policy and regulation system have been basically completed. The protection level of key information infrastructure in important industries and fields such as energy, transportation, finance and public services has been significantly improved, and positive progress has been made in data security governance and personal information protection. The network security industry and technology have developed steadily. Network security personnel training, national network security awareness and skills have been continuously strengthened.

Sixth, the degree of legalization of cyberspace has been continuously improved. In the past ten years, the process of network legislation has been accelerated, and laws and regulations such as network security law, data security law, personal information protection law, key information infrastructure security protection regulations, and minors’ network protection regulations have been promoted, basically forming a network legal system based on traditional legislation and focusing on network-specific legislation such as network content construction and management, network security and informationization. Strengthening network law enforcement, optimizing the working mechanism of network law enforcement, and managing the network strictly according to law have achieved remarkable results. Innovatively carry out the network law popularization work, expand the new mode of "internet plus law popularization", and effectively improve the concept and quality of the whole society’s network rule of law.

Seventh, the international discourse power and influence of cyberspace have been significantly enhanced. In the past ten years, China initiatives and programs such as global development initiative, global security initiative and global civilization initiative have been put forward one after another, and the Global Data Security Initiative has been launched. The China-Arab Data Security Cooperation Initiative and the China+Five Central Asian Countries Data Security Cooperation Initiative have been issued with the League of Arab States and the five Central Asian countries respectively to promote the formulation of global digital governance rules. World internet conference International Organization was established to build a platform for global Internet sharing and governance. Participated in Internet governance-related forums and conferences under the framework of the United Nations, and formulated information security standards and technical proposals that were absorbed by the International Organization for Standardization. We will further promote the construction of the "Digital Silk Road", promote in-depth cooperation between countries in the field of digital economy, and let the fruits of Internet development benefit people of all countries.

The conference also introduced the development achievements of digital society in China.

The first is to promote the balance of high-quality resources. In 2022, the national education digitalization strategic action was fully implemented, and the national smart education public service platform was integrated and launched. Over the past year or so, the total number of platform visits exceeded 26 billion, making it the largest educational resource library in the world. The "Journey to the West of massive open online course Plan 2.0" continued to be carried out, helping the western region to carry out mixed teaching for 4,467,700 times, with 495 million students participating in the study, effectively narrowing the regional education gap and promoting the sharing of high-quality resources. Digital health has accelerated development. At present, there are more than 3,000 Internet hospitals in China, and more than 25.9 million people have carried out Internet diagnosis and treatment services. As of June this year, the number of Internet medical users in China has reached 364 million, accounting for 33.8% of the total netizens, and medical services are more convenient, efficient and high-quality.

The second is to promote employment development. Digital economy has an important impact on employment scale, employment structure, employment form and employment quality, and generally presents the characteristics of promoting employment development. The ninth national survey of the workforce shows that there are about 402 million employees in China at present, and 84 million workers with new employment forms, represented by online car drivers, couriers and take-away delivery agents, have accounted for one fifth, which plays a "reservoir" and "stabilizer" role in stabilizing employment. In recent years, China has issued a number of detailed policies to enable platform enterprises to fulfill their social responsibilities and protect the rights and interests of workers in flexible employment and new employment forms. At present, the pilot project of occupational injury protection for new employment forms has been running smoothly and orderly. As of September this year, a total of 6.68 million people have been included in the scope of occupational injury protection, and the pilot targets have generally achieved all the insurance coverage. Digitalization has enhanced the ability of public employment service. The "Employment Online" platform provides nearly 40 million job information, and provides 157 million job-seeking recruitment services for 28.65 million people; As of June this year, the National Employment Service Platform for College Students has collected 16.24 million pieces of job information. According to a sample survey, about 30% of graduates have achieved employment through relevant channels of the platform. At the same time, the education and training of digital technology continued to increase, and the actions to improve the digital literacy and skills of the whole people were carried out in depth to promote the general improvement of the digital adaptability and creativity of the whole people.

Third, information benefits the people and is more inclusive. China has vigorously promoted the aging transformation and barrier-free construction of digital technology, the barrier-free level of intelligent software and hardware has been steadily improved, the barrier-free service capacity of basic telecommunications enterprises has been significantly enhanced, and the charging and complicated operation of TV "dolls" have been effectively rectified to help the elderly and the disabled better adapt to and integrate into digital life and share the fruits of Internet development. On September 1 this year, the Law on the Construction of Barrier-free Environment was officially implemented, which clearly defined the combination of barrier-free environment construction and aging transformation, and put forward barrier-free requirements for Internet websites, mobile Internet applications, intelligent terminal equipment and basic telecommunications services. The construction of barrier-free environment has entered a new stage, and the inclusive, inclusive and more temperature-sensitive digital society is slowly unfolding.

The fourth is to promote urban and rural development and innovation of governance model. Digitalization permeates the Asian Games and Universiade venues, as well as urban operation and people’s lives, which drives urban development to release new vitality and make life better. The social changes triggered by the digital revolution provide new kinetic energy for rural revitalization and agricultural and rural modernization. As of June this year, the Internet penetration rate in rural areas was 60.5%, rural network infrastructure basically achieved full coverage, and new models such as live e-commerce were innovated and developed. In the first half of this year, the retail sales of rural networks nationwide reached 1.12 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.5%. The Internet has helped new rural formats such as rural tourism, leisure agriculture and homestay economy to flourish. By the end of 2022, a total of 12.2 million entrepreneurs have returned to their hometowns, many of whom have applied digital technology. "Village broadcasting" has become an important driving force for young people to return to their hometowns for employment and entrepreneurship, and it has also become a new way of life for new farmers in the Internet era. The countryside has increasingly become a beautiful home for living and working in peace and contentment.(Reporter Zhang Sai, Guo Min, Chen Yanqing)