Boosting computing power has become a major focal point of China's strategic initiatives, serving as a critical engine for economic transformation and is rapidly reshaping industries and fueling innovation.
A computing power revolution is reshaping China during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025). The country has built a nationwide computing network, with its total scale now ranked second in the world.
The key strategy is "East Data, West Computing," a megaproject that aims to coordinate the computing capabilities of the country's eastern regions with inland western regions.
Supported by powerful computing capacity, artificial intelligence is comprehensively empowering traditional manufacturing industry in central China’s Hunan Province.
"We have developed dozens of humanoid robots for industrial scenario demands. Pilot operations are being conducted in four areas: machining, logistics, assembly and quality inspection. By connecting robots to the embodied toolchain platform, we continuously collect data for model optimization," said Tong Xing, head of Algorithm Research Institute at Robotics R and D Center under Zhongke Yungu Technology.
The transformative impact of the shift on local economies is evident in Qingyang, northwest China's Gansu Province, a pivotal hub for the project.
Dong Zongmou, deputy director of administrative commission at east-data-west-computing project industrial park reported that there are 257 enterprises registered and operating in the park.
"It's not just about investment promotion and building computing power; more crucially, we are building an ecological industrial chain. This means that while constructing, we are also planning to attract downstream customers through investment promotion, so everything resonates at the same frequency," he further explained.
Meanwhile, Guizhou Province is fortifying its computing infrastructure to serve as the foundation for expanding, strengthening and upgrading its digital economy.
"We are actively building a national agglomeration zone for the digital economy, rooted in computing power and data, to promote the digital transformation of governance, life and industry, and to develop Guizhou's digital economy with high quality," said Jiang Yang, deputy director of Big Data Development Administration of Guizhou Province.
China upgrades computing power as new economic catalyst
Eric Foster, nephew of U.S. journalist Edgar Snow, said he has spent more than 12 years writing a book to present the real China to the world, following in the footsteps of his uncle who chronicled China's revolutionary in the 1930s and 1940s.
This November, Foster traveled to Yan'an City in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, where Edgar Snow ventured deep into China's revolutionary heartland. Yan'an hosted the headquarters of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and was the center of the Communist revolution from 1935 to 1948.
In 1936, at a time when China was embroiled in internal conflict and external aggression, Snow made his way to the remote headquarters of the CPC in Yan'an. As the first Western journalist to enter the area, he conducted extensive interviews and careful documentation there.
Snow's reporting culminated in "Red Star Over China," in which he painted a picture of a resilient, promising country that the world rarely saw, and challenged the world's misunderstandings and prejudices about China.
Foster visited a former residence of Mao Zedong, where Snow met Mao for the first time.
"My uncle and Mao actually sat down here, and this is where Mao Zedong told my uncle about the Long March, and lots of other very important information," said Foster, who then introduced in detail how Snow took Mao's "public relation picture for the West."
"Mao was standing, he was standing right here. My uncle was getting ready to take a picture of Mao. And it's a very important picture, his public relations picture for the West. And he was going to take a picture, but Mao's hair was quite long. So, my uncle said, 'Hey, does somebody have a pair of scissors?’ And so they got a pair of scissors and they cut Mao's hair. And then he brushed it back, and so he's going to take the picture again. But something still was not right, and then he had the idea. I know, they took his hat off, put it on Mao, and that's the story behind that hat on Mao. It's actually my uncle's hat," said Foster.
"So it is quite remarkable how simple life was, and when you can imagine what came out of this simple room, the percussions that affected history, not only history of China, but the whole world, what came out of this room here," Foster said.
Foster was presented a replica of the octagonal cap given by Snow to Mao Zedong.
"As I put on this cap, I can almost feel the weight it carried in those days. It feels not merely like nostalgia, but more like a form of inheritance. What they (my uncle and my aunt) tried to do with their life, is to try to build a bridge between the two countries. As my aunt said that, the people-to-people between China and America is so important. Because the politics is like the weather, it changes all the time, so the people-to-people is what's really important. We need to build that bridge between the people-to- people. So I want to try to do what my aunt and uncle did, to promote China to the world. And then I thought, oh I need to write a book, that's what I need to do. This is what I've been doing for last 12 years or 13 years. My book tries to tell the true history about China, to help whoever reads it in America or other Western countries to see the real China," said Foster.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Snow paid three further visits to the country. He remained interested in China following his visits, and firmly supported the just cause of the Chinese people. He has therefore come to be regarded as a lifelong friend of the Chinese people.
With a notebook in his hand and moral clarity in his heart, Snow constructed an unprecedented bridge of mutual respect and understanding between China and the rest of the world that still stands today.
Edgar Snow's nephew aims to present real China to world
