The Speed of Change
The East
The balance of economic power today is shifting towards the East. It is time to view the world from a different vantage point.
The previous era of globalisation was marked by Western companies creating supply chains that stretched halfway around the world as they were looking for low labour costs. Often these supply chains ran through Asia, Asia was known as the factory of the world. In the coming years, although the Chinese economy is slowing down, we will see the transformation of the current global landscape. The East is transforming itself and the world economy with it.
The speed of developments in China, the size of its population combined with the large scale investments made in technology and sustainable development makes China a strong innovative power. Its clear strategy and focus indicates that the Asian Century has begun.
We are at the beginning of an epochal shift. Innovations and local brands shaped in China will have global influence, and Western companies will look towards the East for innovations and inspiration.
“The Asian Century has begun and China is in many ways already ahead of the rest of the world.”
The Future of the World
A view on tomorrow
China is already living in the future. Other countries and regions will face the same set of problems and opportunities that China is facing today. There is much to learn and also a lot to be questioned. President Xi Jinping identified three tough battles ahead for the coming decade: targeted poverty reduction, effective control of financial risks, and general improvement in the environment. The Made in China 2025 plan, launched in 2015, was designed to accelerate the development of ten high-tech industries. The plan outlines how China aims to become a world leader in telecommunication, electrical power equipment, robotics, high-end automation, and new energy vehicles.
The Belt and Road Initiative is one of China’s most ambitious projects. It involves partnering with dozens of countries around the world through trade and infrastructure projects, such as shipping lanes, railroads, and airports, linking itself with more than 100 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania through trade. The shift of the economic global centre of gravity, is not just a Chinese story; it is about Asia as a whole. Asia now accounts for nearly half of global investment.
For many years China’s human rights record has been criticised. The lack of freedom of speech, control of the Internet and the development of a surveillance society are not just local issues. Mass surveillance is considered a global issue. The government has built a comprehensive surveillance system that combines people’s digital and real-world lives to assign them a social credit score. Human rights organisations, UN officials, and many foreign governments are urging China to stop the suppression of the Uighur people and their culture.
Why this matters
Innovations are being tested in Asia. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t, but there is a belief that the future that lies ahead will be an improvement on the past.
Changsha Meixihu International Culture and Art Centre/ Zaha Hadid
Cities are experiencing rapid development, making it one of the most prolific countries for architecture.
Reflection model/Iwasaki Takahiro
The air-suspended sculptures have their inverted versions attached to them underneath, creating an illusion of a structure being reflected in water.
China’s New Silk Road Project
China’s One Belt and One Road initiative was set up to stimulate economic growth across Asia by investing into building ambitious amounts of infrastructure to connect China with the rest of the world by land and sea connections.
The Speed
Tomorrow’s world today
With a population of 1.4 billion, China is home to 18 percent of the world’s population. The scale and speed of China’s shift to cities is startling, possibly the fastest and largest migration of a human population in history. In just 30 years, nearly 500 million people have moved from rural areas into China’s 622 main cities, and a mainly rural country has become nearly 60% urban. By 2025, over one billion Chinese, that is two in three people, will live in cities. China is leading in the 5G internet race and that will put its pace significantly ahead of the rest of the world.
China’s incredible speed with which architecture is built, products are launched, and technologies are adopted, is impressive. Innovative Chinese do not have to look for international markets because there is so much room to grow within China. China has succeeded in creating an e-commerce and an internet ecosystem that is so large and attractive that it stimulates innovation.
Rapid economic growth has elevated people’s living standards; now China seeks higher-quality developments. Improving mega-city living standards through better design and building standards that are also more sustainable and durable. Yet the speed can lead to ghost cities with houses are rarely being used and structural weakness.
China’s supercities of tomorrow will be vast urban metropolises with green energy sources, smart traffic control and high-speed electric commuter trains. It may sound like science fiction, but it has rapidly become science fact.
Why this matters
The challenge will be to keep up with the new technology and business models which are being implemented at speed.
2065/ Lawrence Lek
Movie set in the year 2065 when eSports is the world’s fastest-growing industry, with all work taken care of by algorithms, people spend all day playing video games against AIs.
Guangzhou/ Liu Xu
The first-tier cities, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, represent the most developed areas of the country. Fifteen cities centers have been recognized as new first-tier cities.
Population density map/ Cooper Thomas
Part of a series of maps exploring the impact of people on the planet.
AI Superpowers
Deep learning algorithms
China has made AI development a strategic priority; it currently ranks as one of the global leaders in this field. The government has laid out plans aimed at building a 1 trillion yuan ($142.1 billion) AI core industry by 2030. With a population four times the size of the United States, there is no question that China will have the largest domestic market for AI applications. China will play a leading role in setting global standards for 5G and artificial intelligence technology.
Data is the raw material for artificial intelligence. The larger and more extensive the assets, the more effectively companies can train their algorithms. Face recognition is widely used throughout China. The technology is powered to unlock phones, perform security checks at airports and train stations, and even purchase goods with a smile-to-pay feature.
Artificial intelligence is giving surveillance cameras digital brains to match their camera eyes, analysing live video with no humans necessary. The Chinese government has been rolling out one surveillance method after another to monitor its citizens and flag up undesirable elements.
Developing true AI supremacy might create and result in even faster speeds. Advanced AI teaches itself through machine learning. If China creates the world’s best deep learning algorithms, these algorithms will absorb new information and grow faster than any other AI.
Why this matters
AI makes further economic growth possible. AI adoption, beyond commerce and surveillance, for education, health and medical can improve social services.
Data Gate/ Studio Ouchhh
Data gate is an AI-controlled astronomical research data sculpture in Nanjing. The installation transforms the Kepler Space Telescope data from NASA into signals and then converts these into animated visuals that are projected on the surface.
AI brain trackers/ Emotional surveillance system
Electric head rings to monitor the brain activities of the students so that the teachers know if the students are concentrating in classes. Due to data concerns the school has been ordered to stop using the trackers.
The surveillance state/ Gilles Sbarié
Screen capture of a video footage showing Sensetime crowd monitoring system. It allows to measure a crowd density , as well as the identification of “abnormal” behaviours.
Nostalgia for the Future
Connecting to the past
Nostalgia can be a defense mechanism in times of great change. A sense of nostalgia allows us to return to times when our lives felt safe and ordered. Uncertainty and lack of control over our lives is hard, so we have to seek confirmation from the past.
As urban culture becomes further removed from rural life and farming, there’s a retro nostalgia for simpler days, reminiscent of a China that has all but disappeared from metropolitan life. ‘Xiangchou’, is the term for nostalgia for rural lands. Chinese people follow farmers on social media and flee their megacities on the weekend to experience rural life.
The Hanfu movement is a renaissance of the ancient clothing traditionally worn by ethnic-majority Han Chinese before the Qing dynasty. Young people see Hanfu as a way to express national self-esteem and pride in China’s cultural identity.
Young Chinese complain that their time is increasingly being taken up with technology. They see the past slipping away as rapid developments erase the tangible traces of history. They worry about the competitive job and housing markets, the environment and feel the divide with adult society. Their identities are splintered by the Internet. Chinese youth are reaffirming their identities by looking to their childhood for reassurance. Retro streetwear, restaurants with a “home” feeling and vintage fashion will remain popular because of this connects them to simpler times.
Why this matters
Nostalgia is a coping mechanism in fast-changing times. How to make history relevant and at the same time, focus on the future?
Traditional clothing/ Hanfu
Young people are wearing Hanfu, the traditional clothing of the Han ethnic group as an expression of the national spirit and cultural heritage.
Gate of Bright Lights/Space Popular
A video installation, exploring how digital interfaces have replaced physical elements, such as doors and walls, as the portals between us and what we desire.
Kuaishou platform / Gao Yulou
A farmer, who recently became an internet celebrity through livestreaming while fishing for river shrimp, shows his audience an authentic rural lifestyle in the countryside of Yongshun county, Hunan province.
Further reading
How the City Moved to Mr. Sun/ Michiel Hulshof & Daan Roggeveen
Insightful analysis and human stories of modern city life, this book challenges assumptions about the nature of Chinese society, the impact of the growth of megacities and the effect on rural land.
The New Silk Roads/ Peter Frankopan
An insight into China's worldwide infrastructure investments and trade deals. This book makes you put aside your preconceptions and see the world from a new perspective.
Wish Lanterns/ Alec Ash
Portraits of a generation that will define what it means to be Chinese in the modern era. Through individual stories, the book shows the challenges and dreams that will define China's future global impact.
China’s Next Strategic Advance/ George S. Yip and Bruce Mckern
China is moving from a strategy of imitation to one of innovation. Driven both by domestic needs and by global ambition, China is establishing itself at the forefront of technological innovation.