Digital Technology Makes Life Easier

Over the past decade, growing digital technologies have made people’s lives easier and more convenient. From 2012 to 2021, China’s Internet penetration rate has increased from 42.1 percent to 73 percent, with fiber-optic networks covering all prefecture-level cities. Moreover, all administrative villages and poverty-stricken villages in the country have access to broadband. By the end of July, China had 475 million 5G mobile phone users, and China has the world’s largest 5G network. New technologies and new business models, such as the sharing economy, online retail and mobile payments, have been emerging thanks to the leapfrog development of digital infrastructure. The fruits of China’s digital development benefit every aspect of society. Today, people order food by scanning a QR code and pay their bills through facial recognition, and parking services and garbage sorting are also made smart through digital technology. In rural areas, where farmers sell agricultural products on live-streaming platforms, digital technology is making traditional agriculture smarter, and more and more farmers are increasing their incomes.

Over the past decade, digital technology has helped improve service capacity even more. Today, online and remote services are very popular in China. In China’s Hainan province, 18 urban hospitals, 340 rural medical centers and 2,700 rural clinics are all equipped with 5G telemedicine equipment. These devices can reduce the average length of patient visits by three to five hours and increase hospital efficiency by 30%. China has established the world’s largest online education platform and a national medical insurance information platform. Telemedicine is available in more than 90% of counties and districts in China. During this decade, digital technology has made an important contribution to narrowing the gap in social service resources between urban and rural areas and between regions. Over the past decade, China has made great progress in digital government services. Digital government is an important part of China’s digital construction. The application of digital technology in government services will help to improve the government’s governance capacity, and it will also help to meet the Chinese public’s growing demand for government services.

 Alibaba’s virtual fitting mirror fitting at the China International Big Data Industry Expo

 Navigation apps that display real-time traffic information and projected travel times, virtual fitting rooms that help customers buy the best-fitting outfits online, and virtual museums that can get “in close contact” with precious artifacts at home… The above unimaginable scenes a decade ago have become part of everyday Chinese life. As China accelerates the building of a digital country, digital technology is being widely used in many fields, bringing digital dividends to more and more Chinese people. Over the past decade, China has further consolidated the foundation of digital industrialization and accelerated the development process of digital industrialization. The total market for China’s digital economy grew from 11 trillion yuan in 2012 to 45.5 trillion yuan last year. Today, digital technology is infiltrating every corner of China, and is bringing profound changes to the lives of Chinese people.

At present, mobile government service platforms can be seen almost everywhere in the country, and people can handle a lot of things related to their own food, clothing, housing and transportation through a website. Nearly 90 percent of provincial administrative licenses can be applied for online, with applicants only having to go to their office at most once to get them, reducing their processing time by more than half. China ranks ninth in the world in its e-government development index.