Four Great Inventions of China： Past, Present and Future

　　□ Xin Xiangyang

　　In ancient China, there were four inventions that promoted the process of world civilization: gunpowder, compass, printing and papermaking; The four new inventions of contemporary China: high-speed rail, online shopping, Alipay and bike-sharing, are attracting more and more attention in the world. In the future, China’s quantum communication, flying trains, face-brushing payment and 5G technology may have a more profound impact on the world.
　　At present, China is striding towards the goal of being an innovative power. "The innovation-driven development strategy has been vigorously implemented, and the construction of an innovative country has achieved fruitful results. Major scientific and technological achievements such as Tiangong, Xiaolong, Tianyan, Wukong, Mozi and Big Aircraft have come out one after another." In the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Supreme Leader General Secretary commented on China’s scientific and technological development in recent years. In fact, China has never lacked the spirit of innovation. The four great inventions of ancient China have greatly promoted the progress of human civilization. The four great inventions of contemporary China are attracting the attention of the world, and the four great inventions of China in the future will also have a profound impact on the development of the world.
　　Let’s look at the four great inventions of ancient China: gunpowder, compass, printing and papermaking. These are the four great contributions made by ancient Chinese to the world, which strongly promoted the progress of human civilization.
　　As early as 400 years ago, in 1620, the British thinker Bacon pointed out in his book "New Tools": "Printing, gunpowder and compass have changed the whole world so much that no empire, sect or famous figure can have greater power and influence in the cause of mankind than these three inventions."
　　More than 240 years later, Marx pointed out more clearly in the Economic Manuscripts of 1861-1863: "Gunpowder, compass and printing are the three great inventions that foreshadowed the arrival of bourgeois society. Gunpowder smashed the knight class, compass opened the market, and established a colony, while printing became a tool of Protestantism. Generally speaking, it became a means of scientific revival and a necessary prerequisite for spiritual development. In 1215, 800 years ago, Magna Carta was written on a sheepskin sheet. In 1517, 500 years ago, the declaration of the Reformation-Martin Luther’s "Ninety-five Theses" was written on paper and could be spread all over the streets.
　　The emergence of these four great inventions is largely due to the diligence and wisdom of the people in ancient China, who were able to create and innovate in a period of relative political clarity.
　　With the Chinese nation re-embarking on the journey of great rejuvenation, the four new inventions of contemporary China-high-speed rail, online shopping, Alipay and bike-sharing-are attracting more and more attention from the world.
　　In May 2017, Beijing Foreign Studies University launched a private survey of international students. Young people from 20 countries on the Belt and Road Initiative voted for the "four new inventions of China": high-speed rail, online shopping, Alipay and bike-sharing, which are also the lifestyles they want to bring back to the motherland most. This voting result was recognized by Peter: "These four things have changed people’s lives." He said that what surprised him most was the high-speed train: "My home is in the easternmost part of Europe. If I want to go to Paris in the west, the distance is equivalent to that from Beijing to Shanghai, which takes about one day, but it only takes half a day from Beijing to Shanghai. I very much hope that Europe can also have such a line. " He recalled that the first time he took the high-speed train was from Beijing to Tianjin. "I felt that I had arrived at the station before I sat still, which surprised me." Peter prefers this fast-paced life to Europe.
　　What is the current situation of China’s four new inventions? By the beginning of 2017, the number of high-speed rail lines in China has exceeded 20,000 kilometers, and it will reach 30,000 kilometers by 2020. Major large and medium-sized cities will be integrated into the high-speed rail network. In 2016, the transaction volume of e-commerce in China was 26.1 trillion yuan, up 19.8% year-on-year, among which the market size of e-commerce service industry achieved a new breakthrough, reaching 2.45 trillion yuan, up 23.7% year-on-year. At the same time, the scale of the mobile network market continues to maintain rapid growth, and mobile shopping is becoming the main way of online consumption. According to the latest statistics, in 2016, the utilization rate of mobile payment in China was as high as 70%, the most conspicuous of which was the Alipay bill, and the proportion of mobile payment by the post-90s generation reached an astonishing 91%. By the end of 2016, the total number of users in bike-sharing market in China has reached 18.86 million. It is predicted that the number of users in bike-sharing market will continue to grow substantially in 2017, reaching 50 million by the end of the year. According to mobike’s promotion plan, by the end of 2017, Mozambique will visit 200 cities around the world.
　　The emergence of the four new inventions is not accidental. To a great extent, it comes from our development concept and strategy. First of all, the construction of broadband China has been vigorously promoted. In August 2013, the State Council issued the "Broadband China Strategy and Implementation Plan", proposing: "By 2020, the gap between China’s broadband network infrastructure development level and developed countries will be greatly narrowed, and citizens will fully enjoy the economic growth, service convenience and development opportunities brought by broadband." In May 2015, the General Office of the State Council issued "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of High-speed Broadband Network and Promoting the Speed-up and Cost-reduction of Network", which emphasized that the investment in network construction in 2015 exceeded 430 billion yuan, and the accumulated investment in 2016-2017 was not less than 700 billion yuan. Secondly, the implementation of the mass entrepreneurship and innovation policy has mobilized the enthusiasm and initiative of all aspects of entrepreneurial innovation. Online shopping and Alipay provide a good platform for ordinary people to do Wechat business and micro-shops. Third, the requirements of the concept of green development. The emergence of bike-sharing not only meets a large number of short-distance travel needs, but also helps to solve urban ills such as traffic congestion and environmental pollution, which is more in line with the development concepts of "green travel" and "healthy China".
　　In the new era of innovation and development, China is not only capable of leading the present, but also likely to lead the future. Quantum communication, flying trains, face-brushing payment, and 5G technology, four future-oriented inventions, have quietly come to us.
　　In August, 2017, scientists in China used Mozi to distribute quantum keys from satellite to ground and teleportation from ground to satellite, which laid a solid scientific and technical foundation for building a quantum secure communication network covering the whole world, and at the same time took the first step towards the experimental exploration of quantum physics and quantum gravity in space scale. Bai Chunli, president of China Academy of Sciences, said that this marks that China’s quantum communication research has reached a leading position in the world.
　　4G has just shown its talents, and 5G has appeared in BLACKPINK. The fifth generation mobile communication technology is expected to become the "brain" and "nervous system" of the digital economy and even the digital society in the future, helping mankind to realize the user experience of "information is at your fingertips" and bringing a series of industrial innovations and huge economic and strategic benefits. In terms of 5G, the Chinese government, enterprises, scientific research institutions and other parties attach great importance to the frontier layout and strive to master the right to speak in the formulation of global 5G standards. China’s 5G standardization research proposal has been approved at the 6th plenary session of the 2016 World Telecommunication Standardization Plenary Session (WTSA16), and China’s 5G technology research and development has been at the forefront of the world. Telecom operators such as China Mobile are also actively deploying the future 5G industry. For example, China Mobile released the "China Mobile Vision 2020+ White Paper", hoping to realize the vision of "unlimited connectivity" with all parties. Huawei has made great breakthroughs in new air interface technology, networking architecture, virtualization access technology and new radio frequency technology. Recently, Huawei polar code scheme has become the international standard code scheme of 5G.
　　Mobile payment has just been in full swing, and brush face payment has quietly arrived. On August 28, 2017, Suning Sports Biu, the first unmanned store in Suning, opened in Nanjing, and adopted the technology of face-brushing payment. Consumers will have a camera for face recognition when paying, and use intelligent technology to identify the purchased goods. After that, the payment is completed, and the money is directly deducted from the Suning financial account bound by the consumer. On September 1st, Alipay announced that it would pay by brushing its face at KFC KPRO restaurant in Vientiane City, Hangzhou, without using a mobile phone. This opened the official commercialization of face payment. At present, Internet companies and banks, including Alipay, JD.COM, Suning and China Merchants Bank, are trying to pay by brushing their faces, which may become a new fashion in the future.
　　The high-speed train just sped up and the flying train roared. From September 21, 2017, seven pairs of "Fuxing" EMUs will be arranged to run at a speed of 350 kilometers per hour on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway. At the same time, on August 30, 2017, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation announced in Wuhan that it had started the research and development project of "high-speed flying train" with a speed of 1,000 kilometers per hour. It is reported that with the rich practical experience and technical accumulation of aerospace system engineering and the world-class supersonic aircraft design capability, aerospace science and technology will also develop super trains with a maximum running speed of 2,000 km and 4,000 km.
　　The creativity of the people of China is infinite, no matter in the past, present or future. The industriousness and wisdom of the people of China are constantly gestating more inventions and promoting the progress of human civilization. An innovative country full of vitality and creativity is accelerating its rise, and let us look forward to it!
　　(The author is the vice president, researcher and doctoral supervisor of the Institute of Information and Information Science of China Academy of Social Sciences)