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THE
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CHINA’S FIRST EMAIL.On September 14, 1987, scientists from China
and Germany together, sent China’s first email entitled “Across the
Great Wall, we can reach every corner in the world.” The email was
received in Germany six days later, on September 20.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------数码科技在中国的延伸
| Clément
Renaud--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overthelastfewdecades,theharshinternationalcompetitionbetweennationsfortechnologicaldominationhasshiftedtowardsdigitaltechnology.ThisglobalrivalryhaslargelycontributedtoframingtechnologyinChinaasadirectcontinuityof
the Chinese state. Discourse around the Internet in China—the
so-called“ChineseInternet”—hasbeenfueledbytechno-nationalismsbothinandoutsideofChina,enhancingtheneedfornation-statestoreasserttheirpower
inthefaceofincreasinglycomplexproductionandcommunicationnetworks.
Historicalreferencesandanalogy(suchastheGreatWall)havebeenpresentsincetheearlydaysoftheInternetinChina,andprovidedahistoricalanchorfornationalclaimsovercomputernetworks.DigitaltechnologyhasoftenbeenrenamedafterDeng’ssocialismepithet,thefamous“withChinesecharacteristics.”Thisself-reinforcingnarrativeofdigitalChina’sothernesspleasedboththeChineseandnon-Chinesesides,asitofferedacomfortableframeofreferencefornationalorregionalissues.
Toconsider theworldof technologyas competing sides fails to
address themost important underlying issues and questions we are
facing. We need tounderstand how digital technology operates and
contributes to our
world’scurrentchanges—bothwithinChinaandelsewhere.TheprevalenceofanationalframeofreferencehelpssupportscientificandbusinessclaimsbutpreventsusfromexploringmorepreciselythepoliticalandsocietalnegotiationsexpressedinsuccessivetechnicaldecisionsthatcreateddigitaltechnologyinChina,andtheirrelevancetoourworldasawhole.
In this chapter, Iwill presentanoverviewof some importantmoments
in
thehistoryofdigitaltechnologyinChina.TheconstructionofChina’sdigitaledificehas
involved a complex set of local, national and international actors,
fueledbyvariousambitions.Thepresenttextaimsatobservingthesedynamicsandexposingtheirdiversitywithinandoutsideofthecountry.
THE ASCENT OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN CHINA
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MING KWAI CHINESE TYPEWRITER.Throughout the 19th and 20th
centuries, the Chinese language was considered cumbersome and unfit
for the expression of modern ideas by many reformers both in China
and abroad. The global expansion of the Remington ignited fervent
discussion on the necessity to romanize it. Patented in 1952, the
Ming Kwai (明快, mingkuai, literally “clear and fast”) was the first
typewriter that allowed the retrieval of 8352 Chinese characters
from the input of a compact keyboard (Mullaney 2017).
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THEGLOBALRACETOWARDSINNOVATIONIntheglobaltechnologicalrace,therushtowards“innovation”seemstohavereplaced
thepreviousquest for “progress”. Today, the concept of
innovationacts as a catalyst for the political ambition of
outperforming the neighbors.1Vast public andprivate
investmentprogramsaimat buildingorganizations
tocapturemarketsdefinedbyscientificandbusinessstrategies,wherenewnessandinventionarepursuedastechnologicalachievements,oftenattheexpenseofsocialimprovements.
Digitaltechnology,framedasamajorengineofinnovation,isusuallyreceivedbytwoopposingandcomplementaryviews:theutopianandthedystopian,claimingeitherredemptionordamnationbymeansoftechnology.Thistensionisomni-presentinmostdiscoursearounddigitaltechnologyinChinawiththecanonicalexample
ofAlipay being alternatively introduced as a futuristic
anddesirablemobilepaymentsystemoranOrwellian“socialcreditscore”systemenablingmasssurveillance.
Morethandebunkingoneortheother,toconsiderdigitaltechnologyinChinarequiresframingitasapartofthecountry’sexperienceoverthe
lastseveraldecades.Thelivesofhundredsofmillionsofpeoplehavebeenradicallytrans-formedoverthisperiod,partlybymassiverelocationmovementsfromthecoun-trysidetomegacities.Theincrediblediversityoftheseexperiencesprovidesthehistorical,politicalanddailycontextofwheredigitaltechnologyoccursinChina,simultaneouslylocallyandwithnumerousconsequencesacrossourplanet.
To say it another way, technology exists—in China and
elsewhere—not asa standalone set of tools but as an integral part
of our daily lives and as adirect product of political and societal
settings (Feenberg 1991). The historyof technology is not a
succession of innovations or inventions, but the
longunfoldingofevolvingusesandsolutionsthatsocietiescreate(Edgerton1999).Theinheritanceofcenturiesofpractices,technologyexistsasacomplexformofhumanmemory
(Leroi-Gourhan 1964)and thereforeshouldbeunderstoodoutside of any
possible national boundaries.More than anything,
technologyanditsartifactsemergedfromtheentanglementsandencountersofexistence,aprocesssometimesdescribedas“creolisation”(Nova&Vacheron2015).
ISINTERNETINCHINAREALLYDIFFERENT?Arguably, the most important
learning from China is that digital technologyshould not simply be
considered as a communication tool (the “media”), noras an
infrastructure, but more as a new writing and control capacity.
Thiscontrolcapacityexistsnotasamonolithic,top-downandunifiedforce,butasanegotiationbetweennumerousactors(governmentalbodies,
investors,privatecompanies,manufacturers, end users, etc.) to
distribute and delegate
poweracrossavastnetwork.Inotherwords,writingatscaleallowsthecreationofa
1
ThistrendculminatesinglobalrankingssuchastheGlobalInnovationIndexpublishedbytheWIPOandusedtoevaluatethroughputsandoutcomesofnationalpolicies.
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SEAGATE HARD DISK IN WUXI, JIANGSU.Workers at Seagate’s Wuxi
Factory perform final testing and quality assurance on its 2.5-inch
notebook drives before sending them off to customers.
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deepandpreviouslyunknownadministrativestructurethathastheparticularityin
China of explicitly matching part of the existing political
organigram. Forinstance, the Cyberspace Administration of China—the
country’s
centralInternetregulatoryagency—answersdirectlytotheCentralCyberspaceAffairsCommission,whichisheadedbytheCCP’sGeneralSecretaryandPresidentofChina,assistedinthistaskbyhisPremier.
Beyondthisformaladministrativestructure,theInternetinChina—andelsewhere—evolvedfromthedailyproximityandcontradictionsbetweenstateadminis-trators,companies,technicians,users,etc.Sadly,thelackofacomprehensiveapproachacrossdisciplines
inEnglish-speakingscientific
literature(Herold&deSeta2015)hasproducedmostlycaricaturalnarrativesabouttheInternetinChina,itbeingaforceforeitherdemocratizationortotalitariancontrol—aswellasasplendidmarketingtool.
DebatingtheInternetinChinahaslongprovidedasafeframeworkforcritics,scientistsandeditorialiststodemonstratehowtheInternetcould“gobad,”whilepreservingenthusiasmabouttheirowntechnologicalcondition—andtheirownsalesplans.Recentlythough,thedystopiantonesolelyusedtodescribedigitaltechnology
inChinahasgainedmomentumacrossotherareasofdiscussion,bringing new
perspectives on the Chinese example. To make things
easier,wecoulddatethisshiftinperceptiontoJune6,2013,whenEdwardSnowdenpublishedhisrevelationsonthesurveillancepracticesofseveralUSgovernmentoffices.OccurringinHongKong,the“Snowdenmoment”shedlightonunknownadministrative
mechanisms and structures of digital networks, revealing
theextentofcontrolwieldedbytheUSgovernmentoverthem.Asadirectconse-quence,itprovidedagreatopportunityforeditorialistsinChinatoreasserttheirnationalclaimsovertheInternet.2
The governability of digital systems has been a longstanding
concern
ofnation-states,andremainsatopprioritytoday—especiallyintherecentwakeof
claims around election manipulation. Upon its inception, the
Internet
wasconsideredathreattosovereigntyasstateswereunfittoregulate“borderless”networks(Wu1997).Evenitsmostferventdefendersintroducedcyberspaceasa“competingsovereign”(Lessig1998),culminatinginthepublicationofBarlow’sDeclarationofIndependenceofCyberspacein1996tocountertheUSNationalTelecommunicationsAct.Whileregulatoryframeworksweregraduallybecomingclearer,
agrowingnumberoffigures emerging from the “hackergeneration”rose to
importantpoliticalpositions, exacerbating the importance
fornationsandgovernmentstotransitionintoplatforms(O’Reilly2011).
These slowly spreading considerations were accelerated by the
“Snowdenmoment,”leadingtoaworldwideshiftinmanygovernments’tones.TheWuzhenDeclarationandthespeechbyChina’spresidentXiJinpingonDecember6,2015,
2
ThePeople’sDailypublishedonJune23,2014,aneditorialentitledCyberSovereignty,AQuestionDifficulttoAvoid(网络主权,一个不容回避的议题)
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TOP: Cangjie (Chinese: 倉頡) is a legendary figure in ancient
China (c. 2650 BCE), who claimed to be an official historian of the
Yellow Emperor and the inventor of Chinese characters. Legend has
it he had four eyes, and when he invented the characters the
deities and ghosts cried and the sky rained millet.
BOTTOM: The Cangjie Input method was invented in 1976 for
inputting Chinese characters on a standard keyboard.
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urging countries to reassert their “cyber sovereignty”made a few
converts,withthisChineseconceptfindingitswayuptotheEUcommission.3Whiletheexistenceofpiratesasacommonenemywas
instrumental in thecreationofpeace inWestphalia,4 the consolidation
of digital technology around nationaldefensesalso required the
threatofpiratesandhackers—suchasSnowden.Here,Chinadoesnotappearasanoutlying,insulatedplayerinitscountry-widenetwork,butasaseductivemodelfornation-statesfeelingthreatened.
RECONSIDERDIGITALTECHNOLOGYBeforegoinganyfurther,weneedtoaddressthequestionofwhatwemeanbydigitaltechnology.Morethanjustanotherhumantool,weenvisiondigitaltech-nologyasadirectcontinuationofthehistoryofwriting.Technically,processessuch
as photolithography on semiconducting materials inherits directly
fromsuccessive generations of writing machines (lithography,
micro-photographyandotherprintingprocesses).Sociallyandeconomically,practicesandorgani-zationsinhumansocietieshaveundergonetremendoustransformationsincetheapparitionofdigitalwriting,withradicalchangesinkeysectorssuchasscientificresearchoraccounting.Politically,itappearsthatmanyofthepowerstructuresobservableinthedigitalworldpresentsimilaritieswithpasttraditionsofwriting(Guichard2017).
Writing is more thanmerely a tool for territorial and
resourcemanagement.Goody(1977)hasshownhowalphabetizationwasatransformativeexperienceof
the mind—creating a new framework with which to visually and
logicallyorder thoughts. Inmany regards,newwriting technologies
transformthewaywethink—andthewaythinkingisregulated.DuringsuccessiveChineseempires,characters,measurementsystems,mapsandvirtuallyallwritingsystemswereusedtostandardizepracticesandunifytheChineseterritory.Thecurrentoffi-cialhistory
inthePRCdatesthebirthofChinatotheinceptionoftheYellowEmperor,whosefirstactionafterseizingpowerwas
toaska
famousscholartocreateanewwritingsystemtounifytheterritory.IntheAnalects,Confuciusexplainstohisdisciplethatthefirstthinganewrulercomingintopowershoulddoisto“rectifywords”.5
TheearlyuseoftheChineseprintingpressalsogreatlyfacilitatedthecompi-lationofstudyingmaterialsforImperialexaminations.Thecirculationofthesetextswasan
importantpoliticalconcern,andasteppingstonefor
theemer-genceofagiganticbureaucracyundertheruleoftheMandarins.MaoZedonghimselfunderstoodthisverywell,makinghisLittleRedBookoneofthemostcirculated
books in the world with an estimated billion copies in
circulation.
3 See, for instance, the report Towards a European Digital
Sovereignty Policy published in
2019bytheSectionforEuropeanandInternationalAffairs(ESEC).4 For more
about pirates as hostis humani generis, see the excellent
Mercenaries, Pirates,and Sovereigns: State-Building and
Extraterritorial Violence in Early Modern Europe
byJaniceE.Thomson(1994)5 “必也正名乎”—“Tsze-lu said, ‘The ruler of Wei
has been waiting for you, in order for you
toadministerthegovernment.Whatwillyouconsiderthefirstthingtobedone?’—TheMasterreplied,‘Whatisnecessaryistorectifynames.’”inConfuciusAnalects—13.3(JamesLegged,trans.)
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CONSOLE OF THE 109C AT THE PEKING INSTITUTE OF COMPUTING
TECHNOLOGY.The Chinese inscription is a quotation from Chairman Mao
(Science 1973).
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Inmany regards,digital technology
incontemporaryChinaemergedfromtheneed to
rebuildanewformofbureaucracy.Like in Imperial times,
thedigitalwritingsystemregulatesdifferentspheresofpublicandprivatelifebyprovidinganinfrastructureforterritorialadministration.
For theChineseCommunistParty (CCP)who seizedpowerafter
theSecondWorldWar,rebuildingthecountrywasnotonlyaneconomicendeavorbutalsoa
grandstanding mission to reinvent China. Therefore, a new set of
writingtoolswere needed. TheChinese languagewas reformed and
simplified,withvast literacy campaigns conducted across the
population. The goal was notonly to teach the people to read but
also to increase the political outreachof official statements,which
gradually evolved to claima continuation of
theancientChinesecivilization(wenming).6Itwasnosurprisethen,thattheformi-dablewritingcapacityunleashedbydigitaltechnologywastobecomeamajorvectorofthecountry’spoliticalandsocietaltransformations—aswellaspartiallyreproducingImperialpowerandknowledgestructures.
THENEWLITERATI:THEDREAMOFTHEREDENGINEERSAttheendofthe1970s,theCulturalRevolutionhadleftthecountrybenighted.Researchcentersanduniversitieshadbeenclosedforadecade,andtheChineseAcademyofSciences(CAS),theheritageoftheSovietAcademyofSciences,was
a small and powerless institution. On March 18, 1978, Deng
Xiaoping,leading the vast Reform & Opening plan, announced in
front of more than6,000 scientists freshly returned from the
countryside, that science andtechnology were now considered at the
forefront of China’s reconstruc-tion. Deng’s new doctrine of
“socialism with Chinese characteristics” wasbased on an
interpretation of Proudhon’s “scientific socialism.”
Therefore,Chinese governance should rely on comprehensive
scientific—instead ofideological—reasoning.
WhileMaoorDeng’s experiencewasmostlywith themilitary in
thePeople’sLiberation Army, rebuilding the country required
different skills. Hundreds ofthousands of engineers would have to
build roads, bridges, ports and
citiesforthewholecountryoverthefollowingdecades.Calledthe“RedEngineers”(Andreas2009)—incontrasttotheexpertsandpoliticalagitatorsoftheCulturalRevolution—this
new generation pursued higher education in science
andtechnology.
Chineseengineersrapidlygraspedtheimportanceofcomputers.Fromthenewpossibilities
of information storage and computation to nationwide distribu-tion
networks, the potential of the computer was virtually unlimited. In
1989,JiangZeminwasnamedGeneralSecretaryoftheCCPandwouldsoonbecomeChina’spresident,andthefirstengineertoeverholdthisposition.Havingstudiedelectrical
engineering during the Japanese occupation, he understood the
6
InChinese,wen(文)meanswritingsandliteracy.Civilizationisoftentranslatedaswenming(文明),awordthatcanbeunderstoodaslightofwritingsortobeenlightenedbyliteracy.
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INFORMATION HIGHWAYS AND GOLDEN PROJECTS.In parallel to the US,
another main communication megastructure was developing— in
China.
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importanceoftelecommunicationnetworksforthecountry.7Earlyon,hevisitedUSfacilitiesinSiliconValleyanddecidedtosendhisownsonJiangMianheng,whowouldbecomeoneoftheleadingfiguresoftheearlyInternetinChina,tothemythicalXeroxPARC.
THEFARMERANDTHEENGINEER:TOBUILDANDCONNECTACHINESECOMPUTEREven
during the Cultural Revolution, computers were already part of
thecountry’sdevelopmenteffort.AgroupofAmericancomputerscientistsvisitingChinainthe70sweresurprisedtofindaproductionchainofcomputers:
“The factory that previously produced handles for doors and
windows, withhousewives as workers, was reorganized in cooperation
with the ShanghaiComputingResearch Institute inorder toproducean
integratedcircuitdigitalcomputer. In all of our discussions, the
Chinese referred to the factory as“the window handle factory”, and
it was pointed out that most of
the90employeesinitselectronicworkshopswerethesamehousewiveswhohadbeenthereduringthehandledays.”(Cheathametal.1973)
OnSeptember20,1987,ChineseandGermanteamsmanagedtoestablishanX.25connectioninordertosendthefirstemailfromChina.Themessagewasentitled
“First Electronic Mail from China to Germany” and had for
content“AcrosstheGreatWallwecanreacheverycornerintheworld.”Afewmonthslater,theTaiwanesecontractmanufacturerHonHaiPrecisionIndustryCompanyLtdopeneditsfirstplant
intheShenzhenSpecialEconomicZonetoproducejoysticksforAtarivideogameconsoles.Thecompany(laterknownasFoxconnElectronics)wouldbecomeoneofthelargestemployersintheworld—employingonemillionworkersin2015—andtheplantoneofthelargestaswell—housingmorethan200,000workers.MeanwhilethecityofShenzhen,firstdesignedasapilotforChina’searlyexperimentswithcapitalism,wouldtransformfromasmallbordertownintoaglobaltechnologicalcenter.
In 1991, just a few years after that first email, the Clinton
administrationlaunched its Information Highways program. The
Chinese
administrationquicklyfollowedin1992,withthelaunchofadozenmajorinitiativesknownasGolden
Projects to build communication infrastructures across the
country(Lovelock et al. 1996). While the most famous is the Golden
Shield—nicknamed theGreatFirewallofChinabyCalifornianeditorialists
(Ye&Sang1997), theGolden Projects coveredmultiple aspects of
the country’s admin-istration: customs,banking, taxes,
reportingofpublic spending, etc. Like
theInformationHighwaysfortheUS,thiscomprehensive investmentplan
laidouttheblueprintsforChina’sdigitalworldaswenowknowit.
7 “The electronics industry plays an extremely significant role
in modernization, and we
shouldplacegreatemphasisonitsdevelopmentandprogressivelyuseelectronictechnologyinallsectorsof
thenationaleconomy.”(September11,1983;p.73)—inZemin,Jiang.2010.OntheDevelopmentofChina’sInformationTechnologyIndustry.Singapore:AcademicPress.
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TENCENT QQ.In 2014, Tencent QQ had more than 800 million active
accounts. More than just a messaging tool, the application includes
games, blogs, online avatars and many services that became a
central part of daily life on the Internet in China.
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APUBLICINFRASTRUCTUREOFWRITINGAs shown by Ang (2018), local
bureaucracy in China has developed as anadaptive system,where
largemaster plans encounter unplanned events,
andtacticsinheritedfromtherevolutionwereusedtoattractforeigninvestments,reformlands,etc.TheSpecialEconomicZoneofShenzhenisaprimeexampleofthisdynamic.Originallydesignedasamodelcityandazoneforexperiments,itquicklybecameanEldoradoforthosewillingtoreapthebenefitsofChina’srecentopening.MillionsofChineseworkersrelocatedtotheSEZ,whereanewdagonglifestyleemergedaroundfactoriesandspreadacrossChina(Florence2017).Thislifestylewasassociatedwiththehi-techimageoftheelectronicsthecityproduced.Aprototypeofalargersocietalandeconomicproject,Shenzhenwashi-techsinceitsinceptionandwouldcontinuetostandatthecrossroadsofthecountry’surbananddigitaltransformation.
China’surbanpopulationhasgonefromslightlyover100milliontomorethan800millionpeople8atthetimeofwriting.Lookingattheseincrediblenumbers,itcanbearguedthatoneofthemajorfactorsofInternetadoptioninChinawastheneed
forpeoplearriving in newcities to stay in touchwith their
familiesandfriendsathome.Untilrecently,themobilephonewasknownasthe“firsturbanpurchase”forruralmigrantsarrivinginaChinesecity(Wallis2013).Whatbetteropportunityfor
Internetcompaniesthanhundredsofmillionsofpeopleon themovewhoneed
tocommunicate?Fromapps tocable
laying,manyofthecompaniesthatemergedaroundtheInternetinChinahavereliedontasksusuallyassociatedwithinfrastructurebuilding(Plantin&DeSeta2019).
TencentoffersaninterestingcaseoftheinterrelationbetweenurbananddigitaldevelopmentinChina.Atatimewhereintercityphonecallswerestillrelativelyexpensiveonthemainland,thecompanybeganprovidingamessagingservicecalledQQthatallowedfortextandcallchatonline.BasedinShenzhen,itquicklygrewto
reachhundredsofmillionsofusers,expanding to
includeabloggingplatform,onlineavatars,andevenadigitalcurrencyin2005—theyearFacebookofficially
launched.With the arrival ofmobile technologies, a
newapplicationcalledWeChatwascreatedasasideprojectthateventuallybecameacentralpieceinalmosteveryaspectofdigitalpersonalandprofessionallifeinChina,withchat,apps,paymentandbookingsystems,etc.
Alibaba, another famous company, has taken up the task of
facilitatingcommerceacrossChinawithdigitaltechnology.Originallyknownasthefirstdigitalcompany
inChina toattractsubstantial foreign investment,
itarrivedatatimewhenitwasstilldifficulttosource,buyandsellproductsoutsideofafewmajorcitiesinChina.Alibabatookuptheroleofintermediarybetweenfactories,
resellers and consumers, building the spine of China’s logisticsand
distribution network.Moreover, theChinese populationwas
discoveringconsumption after years without private property. Online
marketing and
8EstimationbytheWorldBank,2018.
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CYBER CAFES, CHINA.Before mobile connectivity, cyber cafes
(wangba, 网吧) were the most important venue for Internet access in
China’s urban and rural communities. Reports from the China
Internet Network Information Center estimate more than 400 million
people accessed the Internet from cyber-cafes between 2006 and
2010.
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sales played an important role in training Chinese city
newcomers toconsume in the urban environment by delivering
advertisements and goodsclosertothem.
Interestingly, both companies evolved to provide digital payment
services. InChina, the relatively low penetration of credit and
debit cards allowed
themtoaddresscashmanagementdirectlywiththeirownInternet-basedsolutions.Morethanjustprofitable“start-ups,”theirmissionwasunderstoodaspartofalarger—national—agendaofdevelopment:toprovideaccesstobankingandcash
facilities to themajorityof thepopulation.China’s
regulatorssupportedthesecompanieswithnationalpolicies,andinreturnoutsourcedtaskssuchasdatacollectiontotheircare.9
Tosomeextent,thesecompaniescanbeperceivedaspublicserviceprovidersforthecountry.ComparedtoWesterncounterpartsthathaveoftenfocusedonmiddle-class
urban users, Chinese big tech companies serve a billion
highlydiverse people, from farmers in remotemountains to the
highest spheres ofChina’surbanelite.
Supporting versatile life experiences, Chinese Internet
companies
provideinfrastructure,capitalandoccasionallyhigh-profilerolemodels—likeJackMafromAlibabaorPonyMafromTencent.Theirserviceshavebecomenotonlyadailyhabitbutanimportantconstituentofsocialstability.Asbuildersofthekey
infrastructuresofanewChinesesociety, theyoperatenotonlycloser
tothegovernmentbutasan integralpartof
thecountry’sadministration—eventhoughtheymayhavebeenprivatelystructured.TheexclusionofUS
InternetplayerssuchasFacebookorGoogle,oftenpresentedascensorshiporeconomicprotectionism,couldalsobeconsideredasawaytobuildandretainanationalinfrastructureofservices.
THEADMINISTRATIONOFCONTROLTheintegrationofthesediversifiedprivatecompaniesintothecorecompetenciesof
public institutions somehowcontradicts the imageof digital
technology
inChinaasacentralizedgovernment.Companies,asprovidersofadvancedwritingandloggingsystems,havemandates—eithersolicitedorimposed—toperformtasksforpublicservice.Forinstance,Alibabanowoperatesonlinesemi-autono-moustribunalstosettlethenumerousconflictsthatariseduringpaymentlitiga-tionsandfraudulentactivitiesonitsownplatforms.Caseinstructionprocessesareautomated,andhearingsarehandledbyswornjudgesviaremotevideocalls.
In many regards, the build-up of China’s legal and
administrative system ishappening in the digital age. Compared to
centuries of jurisprudence in
theUSorEurope,thePRC’slegalsystemisrelativelynew,withconceptsimportedfrom
traditions as different as Germanic-style civil law, socialist law
and
9
Forinstance,byinstitutingamandatoryclearancebyastateinstitution.SeeWildau,Gabriel.2017.“ChinaTargetsMobilePaymentsOligopolywithClearingMandate.”FinancialTimes,August9,2017.
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BITCOIN MINING FARM PROTOTYPE, BEIJING, CHINA.The first “baby
mining farm” built in a suitcase of 20 stacked FPGAs in an
apartment in Haidian district, Beijing, in 2012.
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Chinese Imperial law. To cope with the lack of extended
jurisprudence,
theadministrationisrelyingmoreandmoreonthevastamountsofdataproducedbythepopulation,via
techcompaniesor theadministration itself.10The inte-gration of data
into a national infrastructure allows the Chinese governmentto
create new bureaucratic solutions to regulate its territory—partly
realizingLessig’sclaimsthatCodeisLaw.
Aninterestingexamplecanbefoundinbankingregulation.Chinesepeoplehavetraditionallyaccessedcreditthoughtheirfamilyandsocialnetworks—throughtontines
and shadow banking. Recently, banking and social networks
havemerged,givingrisetoaP2PlendingsectorwhereindividualslendmoneytoeachotherthroughmobilemessagingappssuchasAlibaba’sAlipay.Tofacethefast-growingissuesofinsolvencyandbankruptcy,thegovernmenttaskedAlibabatocreateascorethatlinkedcredithistorydatawithuseraccountsinordertomakesurepeopleweresolventandinsurable.InspiredbyitsAnglo-Saxonequivalent,Alibaba’s
SesameCredit ismeant to recreate a buyer-seller or
buyer-lendertrustandverificationsystem.Itisbasednotonlyoncredithistory,butalsoonpayments,previous
litigationsand in-appsocial relationships.Poor
ratescanleadtobeing“blacklisted”whichcangoasfarasblockingtheuser’saccesstohisbankaccount,orreportingthemtothepoliceincasesofrecurrentfraud.
Beyond the quest for efficiency via automation stands the larger
project ofbuilding a technological system able to transform not
only society but
eachindividual.Socialappsandwebsitesexistinthisprocessasmajorinstrumentstoredefinenotonlypracticalabilitiesbutalsospacesofrepresentationswherenewpossibilitiesappear.Likethenovelsof19th-centuryEurope,thenewdigitalwritingsystemaimsatmakinghumansmoreprolificandexemplarybyspreadingmoral,behavioralandfinancial
injunctions.While the in-appcreditscore isaprominent example in
China, it echoes the case ofmillions of drivers,
free-lancers,shopownersandworkersworldwidewhoseworkincreasinglydependsonsocialplatformrankings.
TOWARDSAGLOBALWRITINGSYSTEMThe emergence of a civil society in
China has been supported by
onlinediscussionsandcampaigns(Yang2003),andsodiditscontrolandregulation.Notonlycanregulatorsnowaccessvastamountsofdatafordecisionpurposes,but
they can also rely on digital interfaces to enforce these
decisions. Thisintegrativewriting systemoffers a new level of
control to
theadministrators.Navigatingcitiesreliesextensivelyondigitalapps,fromtaxis,payments,videosurveillanceandevenfacialrecognition,providingdatatorefineandenactnewformsof
statistics-basedpolicies.Beyond smart city narratives,
urbanareasalsoactasa largedatafield that informstherestof
thecountry.WhileverylargecompanieshaveemergedfromChina’sfirstwaveofcoastalurbanization,thecountry’sdevelopmenttowardsinnerandruralcountrysideiscreatingnew
10SeveralexistingandplannedapplicationswerepresentedduringtheWorldArtificialIntelligenceRuleofLawForum(世界人工智能大会法治论坛)organizedbytheShanghaiLawSocietyinSeptember2019.
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CHINESE NEW YEAR’S EVE CHOREOGRAPHY WITH 540 ROBOTS & 29
DRONES.The Chinese New Year Gala is broadcast on Chinese TV every
year. An integral part of the Chinese Spring festival experience,
it is the most watched TV show in the world (eclipsing even the
final of the World Cup). In 2016, 540 robots & 29 drones danced
to the lyrics of a famous singer.
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privateoperators.Firms
likePinduoduohavefocusedonthirdandfourth-tiercities, developing new
links between local production and national resellernetworks.
Alibaba has also reinforced its TaobaoVillages program to
extendexistingsupplychainstoruralareasviadirectonlinesalestowardsthemainlandandabroad.Onceagain,digital
technology isusedasadirectvector for
thecountry’seconomic,industrialandadministrativeintegration.
China’swritinginfrastructurehasexpandedfaroutsidethecountry.ThecityofShenzhenstandsasthestorefront11ofvastinvestmentprogramsfacingtowardstheMiddleEast,EasternAfricaandEurope—suchastheBeltandRoadInitiative.For
policy planners, the Shenzhen SEZwas originally designed as
aworkingprototype of the (post) industrial city. Today, SEZs
following thismodel
haveopenedindifferentplacesaroundAfricaandSoutheastAsia.ThewholePearlRiverDelta
region is being integrated into a single giant urban hub,
bringingtogethertensofmillionsofpeopleandthebiggestindustrialcapacityonEarth,with
heavy investments in sectors like robotics, genomics and energy.
Suchgigantic integrative dynamics rely not only on projections in
time and
space,butalsoontheextensionofdigitaltechnologiestoadministernewdomainsofactivitiesandlifeinaworldoflimitedresources.
CONCLUSIONTechnologiesdevelopedinChinahavenowbecomecentralpiecesofourglobalwritinginfrastructure.Tounderstandtheirsignificancerequiressteppingbackfromnational
contexts and considering themas an expressionof a
commonandplanetaryhistoricalmomentum,wheretheemergenceofanewwritingandcontrolcapacitycoincideswithmajorchangesinnaturalecosystems.TheearlyframingoftheInternetinChinaasaremotemanifestationoftechnocratichubrishascontributedtorecreatingthetraditionalviewofChinaasaself-centeredand
isolated area of theworld. This discourse provided comfortable
supportfordifferenteconomicandpolitical interests
inChinaandworldwidebuthasalsopreventedusfromconsideringtheimportantentanglementsandsimilaritiesbetweenwritingsystemsworldwide.
Withthedwindlingofnaturalreservesandautomationgrowingworldwide,digitalnetworksareincreasinglybeingusedtoregulatebehaviors.Thesenewwrittenformsareredefiningnotonlybordersandboundaries,butgenerallyregulatingourrelationshipswithoursurroundingsandenvironment.Beyondnation-states,ournewconditionsofexistencerequirethebuildingofnewcriticalnarratives,wheretheascentofdigitalwritingstandsasacommonendeavor.
11Shenzhen is home to some of the largest tech companies in
China such as Huawei, Tencent,DJIorBGI.
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CLAP FOR XI JINPING.The application Clap for Xi Jinping (为习近平鼓掌)
was released on October 18, 2017, by Tencent Media for the Chinese
Communist Party’s 19th National Congress. Users could watch the
president’s speech and had 19 seconds to tap the bottom of the
screen as many times as possible to clap along. The game was played
hundreds of millions of times just a few hours after its
release.
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