New tailor-made bikes by Ofo Inc are seen in Beijing, June 30, 2017. (Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn)
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of bikes. Every day millions of Chinese still ride them to work or go shopping. However, they no longer open bikes with keys, but by smartphone apps.
It is not only bikes. By scanning QR codes in stations and restaurants with a smartphone or logging in to one of thousands of mini-sites on Tencent's instant-messaging app WeChat, users can access and rent everything from sports equipment and washing machines, to umbrellas and cars.
The sharing economy, which is now re-shaping the life of millions, did not come out of nowhere. Behind it was years of technological development and industrial upgrading.
China's sharing economy witnessed a total transaction volume of 3.45 trillion yuan (511 billion U.S. dollars) last year, more than doubling that of 2015, which involved more than 600 million Chinese, according to a report released by the State Information Center in March.
NEW GROWTH DRIVERS
To seek new growth drivers and accelerate economic transformation, the government has been actively pursuing mass entrepreneurship and innovation, in a new round of scientific and technological revolution.
Mass entrepreneurship and innovation were first unveiled in the Government Work Report in 2015. Two years on, innovation is the buzzword in China's economy.
"Mass entrepreneurship and innovation in China prompts the growth of sharing economy, while the sharing economy makes it easier to start up new enterprises," said Xu Zhaoyuan, a researcher with the Development Research Center of the State Council.
According to a report by China's Ministry of Science and Technology and the Great Wall Enterprise Institute, China was home to 131 "unicorn" companies -- young, unlisted companies with a market value of over 1 billion U.S. dollars -- by the end of last year, including many leaders in the sharing economy, such as bike-sharing giants Mobike and Ofo.
"Mobike is a scientific and technological company, and is also a smart manufacturer; we are relentlessly exploring the edge of technology," said Mobike founder Hu Weiwei. Her bike-sharing business has attracted more than 100 million users worldwide.
An ordinary bicycle with a Mobike logo integrates several innovative technologies: a smart lock with GPS, the embedded Internet of Things chips, and a supporting artificial intelligence platform.
"Our business culture echoes China's development philosophy of innovation. The mode of sharing has not only inspired new entrepreneurs, but also spurred the production of traditional bike makers," Hu said.
According to Sun Hao, CEO of a bike producer in Tianjin, cooperation with the bike-sharing business has almost doubled his company's production volume.
Now, every few minutes, one sharing bike is delivered from our assembly line, said Sun, who expects his company to produce more than 20 million bicycles this year.
