妮可·饒

Word in China is out1 about blockchain technology， as the government made clear in the Informatization Strategy published in December of 2016. The strategy states， “The internet of things， cloud computing， large data， artificial intelligence， machine learning， blockchain … will drive the evolution of everything—digital， network and intelligent services will be everywhere.”2

It was an official endorsement3 for the new digital age and a big boost for blockchain technology. The Standardization Administration of China （SAC）， an organization authorized by the State Council of China， announced on November 20， 2019 that it was planning to establish a national standards committee for blockchain technology—a move expected to boost the countrys high-tech innovation.

China on its way to dominate blockchain innovations

China is quickly outpacing4 its peers including the US， Japan， and South Korea in blockchain-related patent filings， Japanese research firm Astamuse said in a recent report. Chinese firms and government organizations filed a combined 7，600 blockchain-related patent applications from 2009 to 2018.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba， Ping Ans fintech5 arm OneConnect， and state-owned telecom operator China Unicom are the top three blockchain patent holders in China， according to a report published by Chinese blockchain analytics firm Block Data. Other notable companies in the top 10 include tech giants Baidu and Tencent， Chinese insurer Ping An Group， and mining rig maker Bitmain.

In November 2019， Cointelegraph reported that Chinas blockchain development will see a compound annual growth rate of 65.7% from 2018 to 2023， and that the technology will exceed $2 billion by the end of 2023.

With China president Xi Jinpings recent call to embrace blockchain technology， the country is well on its way to take the number one spot in dominating blockchain innovations and overshadow6 the U.S.， which is apparently lagging behind quickly.

Xi identified dozens of practical use cases that should be promoted： loans， health care， anti-counterfeiting7， charity and food security， while he emphasized that blockchain development could help China to “gain an edge in the theoretical， innovative and industrial aspects of this emerging field.”8

Survival of the fittest

“Blockchain” is now a buzzword9 among the titans of industry. And in the race to participate， Chinese banks， builders， suppliers and retailers are pumping out blockchain solutions. With Bitcoin， Ethereum and Hyperledger vying for10 dominance， there are big names within China making moves into the space. A few of the big names include：

The Peoples Bank of China （PBOC）—The PBOC is reportedly close to the release of a government-backed digital RMB currency， which would put China at the frontier of digital currency adoption. And there are whispers within China that Shenzhen will be ground zero for the new digital economy.

This would pave the way for blockchain startups in China to move forward in digital banking， finance， record-keeping， supply chains， IoT， AI and more.

Wanxiang Blockchain Labs—Working with Ethereum， Wanxiang is the largest blockchain development backer in China. After purchasing 500，000 ETH tokens in 2016， it pledged $30 billion for the development of a smart city in Hangzhou. It offers open-source platforms for anyone to build upon， and launched an accelerator fund for developers， intending to put money into promising projects and integrate digital apps into Chinas 21st-century cities.

Wanda Group—Wanda Group is the worlds largest private property developer， with its own hotels， theme parks， shopping malls， AMC11 theaters， media companies and department stores.

In 2016 Wanda joined Hyperledger， intending to build smart apps for its businesses. Five months later， Wanda announced its blockchain platform Polaris for smart supply chains， pharmaceutical management， finance and invoicing.

Alibaba—Alibaba took a small step onto the blockchain in March 2017， when it teamed up with PwC to build a pilot platform to prevent counterfeit foods.

Alibabas financial arm， Ant Financial， has launched its enterprise-centred “Ant Blockchain Open Alliance” platform in February 2020. It is the first open alliance chain to share platform use rights that will allow small-scale and micro-enterprises and developers to foray the blockchain industry at lower cost to develop and launch their own applications.

Green Hand， meanwhile， is part of the Alibaba Group and specializes in generating e-passports for physical goods. By scanning a QR code， it enables identity verification， recording the process of logistics， origin and destination by sending the tracking data to a “block” that provides a unique identifier that enables customers to visit. This not only enhances the transparency of a supply chain， but also makes it impossible for counterfeit goods to enter circulation.

ICBC—The largest and most valuable bank in the world， ICBC is adapting quickly to the fintech revolution. The bank has established seven innovation labs in its head office for artificial intelligence， cloud computing， blockchain， bioidentification， big data and internet finance.

According to its 2018 Interim Report， smart banking application scenario construction has continuously made new breakthroughs， marked by the launch of API open platform. At present， the bank has created more than 900 various types of scenarios， covering the main aspects of peoples lives， namely， lifestyle， consumption， travel， financial investment， and public services， among others.

Other Chinese companies making moves onto the blockchain include：

Foxconn—The producer of Apples iPhones （for supply chain finance）.

JD.com—A leading online retailer （for consumer finance applications）.

Juzhen Financials—Banking and finance （to bring distributed technology to financial markets）.

Zhongnan Construction—A property conglomerate12 （for trading agricultural products）.

CreditEase—Microfinance and wealth advisors （as a supply chain tool for businesses）.

Shanghai Insurance Exchange—An insurance trading platform （for securing trades）.

Qtum—To bring decentralized applications to China.

Antshares—For decentralized registration and issuing， transactions， settlements and blockchain-based digital payments.

Things are moving fast and a lot of energy is being devoted to the technology. More Chinese blockchains are expected to enter the fray13 until we see leaders emerge and then consolidation14.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ■

2016年12月，中國(guó)政府印發(fā)了《“十三五”國(guó)家信息化規(guī)劃》，其中明確提到了區(qū)塊鏈技術(shù)。有關(guān)這一技術(shù)的各種信息在中國(guó)傳播開(kāi)來(lái)。該規(guī)劃指出：“物聯(lián)網(wǎng)、云計(jì)算、大數(shù)據(jù)、人工智能、機(jī)器學(xué)習(xí)、區(qū)塊鏈……將推動(dòng)所有事物的發(fā)展——數(shù)字化、網(wǎng)絡(luò)化和智能化服務(wù)將無(wú)處不在?！?/p>

這是對(duì)新數(shù)字時(shí)代的官方認(rèn)可，也有力地推動(dòng)了區(qū)塊鏈技術(shù)。2019年11月20日，由中國(guó)國(guó)務(wù)院授權(quán)的國(guó)家標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化管理委員會(huì)發(fā)布公告，啟動(dòng)區(qū)塊鏈技術(shù)全國(guó)專業(yè)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化技術(shù)委員會(huì)的籌建工作，此舉有望推動(dòng)中國(guó)的高科技創(chuàng)新。

中國(guó)正逐步主導(dǎo)區(qū)塊鏈創(chuàng)新

日本調(diào)研公司阿斯塔繆斯在最近的一份報(bào)告中表示，在與區(qū)塊鏈相關(guān)的專利申請(qǐng)上，中國(guó)正在快速超越美國(guó)、日本和韓國(guó)等國(guó)。2009年至2018年，中國(guó)企業(yè)和政府組織一共提交了7600份區(qū)塊鏈相關(guān)的專利申請(qǐng)。

中國(guó)區(qū)塊鏈分析公司鏈塔發(fā)布的一份報(bào)告顯示，中國(guó)電子商務(wù)巨頭阿里巴巴、平安金融科技子公司金融壹賬通和國(guó)有電信運(yùn)營(yíng)商中國(guó)聯(lián)通是中國(guó)區(qū)塊鏈專利持有者中的前三名。排名前十的知名企業(yè)還包括科技巨頭百度和騰訊、中國(guó)保險(xiǎn)商平安集團(tuán)和加密貨幣挖礦機(jī)制造商比特大陸。

2019年11月，據(jù)Coin-telegraph網(wǎng)站報(bào)道，從2018年到2023年，中國(guó)區(qū)塊鏈發(fā)展的年復(fù)合增長(zhǎng)率將達(dá)到65.7%，到2023年年底，該技術(shù)產(chǎn)出將超過(guò)20億美元。

隨著中國(guó)國(guó)家主席習(xí)近平近日呼吁擁抱區(qū)塊鏈技術(shù)，中國(guó)將在主導(dǎo)區(qū)塊鏈創(chuàng)新方面占據(jù)首位，美國(guó)明顯很快就落到了后面。

在習(xí)近平主席強(qiáng)調(diào)區(qū)塊鏈發(fā)展可以幫助中國(guó)“在這一新興領(lǐng)域的理論、創(chuàng)新、產(chǎn)業(yè)各方面取得優(yōu)勢(shì)”的同時(shí)，他還指出要積極推動(dòng)區(qū)塊鏈技術(shù)在貸款、醫(yī)療健康、商品防偽、公益和食品安全領(lǐng)域的應(yīng)用。

適者生存

“區(qū)塊鏈”已然是各行業(yè)巨頭之間的流行語(yǔ)。中國(guó)的銀行、建筑商、供應(yīng)商和零售商爭(zhēng)相參與，推出了各種區(qū)塊鏈解決方案。在比特幣、以太坊和超級(jí)賬本爭(zhēng)奪主導(dǎo)地位的同時(shí)，中國(guó)境內(nèi)的一些巨頭也正向這個(gè)領(lǐng)域進(jìn)軍。這些巨頭包括：

中國(guó)人民銀行 （PBOC）——據(jù)報(bào)道，央行即將發(fā)行政府支持的數(shù)字人民幣，這將使中國(guó)處于數(shù)字貨幣運(yùn)用的前沿。此外，中國(guó)境內(nèi)有傳聞稱，深圳將成為新數(shù)字經(jīng)濟(jì)的首個(gè)試驗(yàn)點(diǎn)。

這將為中國(guó)的區(qū)塊鏈初創(chuàng)企業(yè)在數(shù)字銀行、金融、記錄保存、供應(yīng)鏈、物聯(lián)網(wǎng)、人工智能等領(lǐng)域向前發(fā)展鋪平道路。

萬(wàn)向區(qū)塊鏈實(shí)驗(yàn)室——萬(wàn)向一直與以太坊合作，是中國(guó)最大的區(qū)塊鏈開(kāi)發(fā)支持者。繼2016年購(gòu)買50萬(wàn)個(gè)以太幣后，萬(wàn)向承諾將投資300億美元，用于杭州智慧城市的開(kāi)發(fā)。萬(wàn)向?yàn)槿魏稳颂峁╅_(kāi)源平臺(tái)用于開(kāi)發(fā)，并為開(kāi)發(fā)者設(shè)立加速器基金，意欲將資金投入有前景的項(xiàng)目，將數(shù)字應(yīng)用集成到21世紀(jì)的中國(guó)城市中。

萬(wàn)達(dá)集團(tuán)——萬(wàn)達(dá)集團(tuán)是全球最大的私人地產(chǎn)開(kāi)發(fā)商，擁有自己的酒店、主題公園、購(gòu)物中心、AMC電影院 、媒體公司和百貨公司。

2016年，萬(wàn)達(dá)加入超級(jí)賬本，計(jì)劃為自身業(yè)務(wù)開(kāi)發(fā)智能應(yīng)用。五個(gè)月后，萬(wàn)達(dá)宣布其區(qū)塊鏈平臺(tái)北極星上線，可應(yīng)用于智慧供應(yīng)鏈、藥品管理、金融和發(fā)票領(lǐng)域。

阿里巴巴——2017年3月，阿里巴巴與普華永道合作，建立了一個(gè)防范假冒食品的試點(diǎn)平臺(tái)，向區(qū)塊鏈邁出了一小步。

阿里巴巴的金融部門螞蟻金服于2020年2月上線“區(qū)塊鏈開(kāi)放聯(lián)盟”平臺(tái)，這是業(yè)界第一次推出開(kāi)放聯(lián)盟鏈，開(kāi)放平臺(tái)使用權(quán)，使小微企業(yè)和開(kāi)發(fā)商以低成本進(jìn)入?yún)^(qū)塊鏈產(chǎn)業(yè)，開(kāi)發(fā)和推出自有應(yīng)用。

與此同時(shí)，阿里巴巴集團(tuán)下另一子公司菜鳥(niǎo)物流則專注于為實(shí)體貨物生成電子護(hù)照。通過(guò)掃描二維碼，菜鳥(niǎo)可以實(shí)現(xiàn)身份驗(yàn)證，并通過(guò)將跟蹤數(shù)據(jù)傳輸?shù)揭粋€(gè)“區(qū)塊”，記錄始發(fā)地、目的地和整個(gè)物流過(guò)程?？蛻艨赏ㄟ^(guò)系統(tǒng)提供的唯一識(shí)別碼對(duì)該“區(qū)塊”進(jìn)行訪問(wèn)。這不僅提高了供應(yīng)鏈的透明度，而且使假冒商品無(wú)法進(jìn)入流通渠道。

中國(guó)工商銀行——作為全球規(guī)模最大、價(jià)值最高的銀行，中國(guó)工商銀行正在迅速適應(yīng)金融科技革命。工行已在總行為人工智能、云計(jì)算、區(qū)塊鏈、生物識(shí)別、大數(shù)據(jù)和互聯(lián)網(wǎng)金融設(shè)立了7個(gè)創(chuàng)新實(shí)驗(yàn)室。

工行2018年中期財(cái)報(bào)稱，智慧銀行應(yīng)用情景構(gòu)建技術(shù)不斷實(shí)現(xiàn)新的突破，由此推出了API開(kāi)放平臺(tái)。目前，工行已經(jīng)創(chuàng)建了900多個(gè)不同的應(yīng)用情景，涵蓋生活方式、消費(fèi)、旅游、金融投資和公共服務(wù)等人們?nèi)粘Ｉ畹闹饕矫妗?/p>

其他在區(qū)塊鏈領(lǐng)域有所行動(dòng)的中國(guó)公司還包括：

富士康——蘋果手機(jī)生產(chǎn)商（用于供應(yīng)鏈金融）。

京東——領(lǐng)先的在線零售商（用于消費(fèi)金融應(yīng)用）。

矩陣金融——銀行和金融服務(wù)企業(yè)（將分布式技術(shù)引入金融市場(chǎng)）。

中南建設(shè)——地產(chǎn)集團(tuán)公司（用于農(nóng)產(chǎn)品貿(mào)易）。

宜信——微金融和財(cái)富顧問(wèn)（作為企業(yè)的供應(yīng)鏈工具）。

上海保險(xiǎn)交易所——保險(xiǎn)交易平臺(tái)（用于交易擔(dān)保）。

量子鏈——將去中心化應(yīng)用引入中國(guó)。

小蟻——用于去中心化的注冊(cè)發(fā)行、交易、結(jié)算和基于區(qū)塊鏈的數(shù)字支付。

區(qū)塊鏈發(fā)展很快，大量的精力正在被投入這項(xiàng)技術(shù)中。我們可以預(yù)見(jiàn)，將有更多的中國(guó)區(qū)塊鏈涌入這場(chǎng)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，直到出現(xiàn)優(yōu)勝者，之后是行業(yè)整合。 □

（譯者為“《英語(yǔ)世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎(jiǎng)?wù)撸?/p>