China is re-doubling her efforts in going-global. It's not just the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
It's now mobile games, cinemas, film-making and distribution, worldwide. Witness the latest mobile game expansion to the U.S. and Europe of Tencent Holdings (of WeChat fame), China's largest internet media company. Or, notwithstanding recent regulatory clamp-down on "grey rhinos" (large and obvious but often neglected threats), the creation of a film empire by the Wanda Group - constructing a movie metropolis of the east in Qingdao and a global film distribution network at once partnering with and challenging Hollywood.
As the West-dominated world order is rapidly changing, the above symbolizes efforts to realize the China Dream of global renaissance. What appears to be emerging is a new narrative of "Rise, Fall and Re-emergence as a Global Power". China's global influence was at its height from 1100-1800, ending with the emergence of Western imperialism driven by the First Industrial Revolution.
China, learning from history, is embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution with a vengeance. It's early days yet. However, for a start, a Shenzhen company DJI has become the world's largest drove manufacturer and has bigger plans for the future. A battle for global dominance in the battery market for future electric cars is raging. According to the Financial Times, "as carmakers invest more heavily in electric vehicles, the lithium-ion battery will be a key technology for at least the next decade, creating a market Goldman Sachs estimates will be worth $40bn by 2025 and dominated by China". (Electric cars: China’s battle for the battery market, 5 March 2017).
Added to the above is China's so-called "i-can" generation, armed with the wealth of the baby boomers and the tech savvy of the millennials. According to Helen Wong, Chief Executive, Greater China, at HSBC, "they number more than 400 million people, or almost a third of China’s population and more than the working populations of the US and Western Europe combined. This new generation is expected to drive 65% of consumption growth in China until 2020, when they will make up around 53% of total consumption spending, up from 45 % in 2016. ...... In the long term, this new, modern Chinese consumer of the “i-can” generation will transform China into a more digital and consumer-driven economy...... And their massive spending power will not just be the backbone of China’s sustainable growth, but the primary engine of global economic stability." Click here
