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Why Western media cannot figure out popularity of TikTok outside China

2018/11/13 11:12:02   source:Global Times

By the end of October, The New York Times questioned: Can TikTok, China's meaningless internet fluff, conquer the world? A week later, reports show that TikTok became the most downloaded app across the globe, surpassing Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube in downloads last month, responding to mainstream US media with a resounding "yes."

Since this summer, many internet users from the younger generation have been talking about TikTok, also known as Douyin in China. Users of TikTok cannot only shoot video clips but also edit them with background music and effects, giving play to their innovative ideas and sharing them with the world. It has spread to more than 150 countries and regions. In June this year, the app boasted 500 million active users per month.

But before the short video app tasted success, no one thought it could succeed. Its soaring popularity outside China makes people scratch their heads. The New York Times is even more confused, asking "How did a company that is further democratizing self-expression come out of sternly undemocratic China in the first place?"

The question itself lays bare the world's misunderstanding about China's technological development. Be it big data or AI, as long as they are being researched and developed in the Middle Kingdom, they are seen as dark technologies that could be manipulated by the government in the eyes of some Westerners. All this stemmed from the West's fundamental prejudice against China, particularly the country's political system. Yet once their judgment standards are wrong, how can anyone expect them to draw the right conclusion about China's ability to innovate?

Some Western people blindly reject any kind of political system that is different from the West and the merits that non-Western governance style has. They either overlook or selectively ignore that good governance should allow sufficient discussion among various forces of society so as to reach consensus and strike a balance of interests. The goal is to efficiently resolve social problems, rather than oppose just for the sake of opposing, like what is happening in Western democracies.

China's large population, a massive educated labor force, government's determination to push society forward through new technology, a well-developed infrastructure and an appetite for risk-taking in the population all contribute to the technological take-off of China.

TikTok is just a microcosm of China's booming internet industry. Four of the world's 10 largest internet companies are from China. The country launched world's first quantum science satellite in 2016. A year later, Jing-Hu or the Beijing-Shanghai Trunk Line was opened as the world's first trunk line for secure quantum telecommunications. The 500-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope and using pig corneas for corneal transplant are the latest major breakthroughs. Not to mention after the International Space Station retires in 2024, China may be the only country with a space station.

Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari once noted, "China is likely to lead this new revolution because it is extremely aware of the dangers of being left behind," and more importantly because "China has a much longer experience in uniting diverse people than any other country in the world". Isn't that a form of democracy?

More Chinese technology elites are coming back home after studying abroad. Reports show that the number of returning Chinese students, as a proportion of outbound students in each year, increased from 55 percent in 2011 to nearly 80 percent in 2016. If they cannot find their future and hope here, if they believe that there is no way to realize their ambition in China, why have they come back?

There are many countries which adopt Western-style political system, but not many of them can boast of being a technology powerhouse. In China, however, people see "the newly wealthy and middle class can now tap into every kind of technological wonder" all over the country, said the New York-based Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

China may not beat the US in high-tech any time soon. But Chinese technological development is surging. If Western media want to make the right prediction in this regard, it might as well be more open-minded first.

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