China to hold int’l digital economy expo

The second China International Digital Economy Expo will be held from Oct 11 to 13 in Shijiazhuang, North China's Hebei province.

The expo, co-sponsored by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Hebei provincial government, is China's only nationallevel exposition dedicated to the digital economy.

Over 500 enterprises will be attracted to five exhibition areas highlighting the digital economy's role in BeijingTianjin-Hebei coordinated development, new-generation information technology, intelligent manufacturing and smart society.

The expo will include a series of forums and provide a platform for signing cooperation projects. Visitors can also experience intelligent selfdriving automobiles at the event. In 2018, China's digital economy reached 31.3 trillion yuan (about $4.4 trillion), accounting for 34.8 percent of the country's GDP and contributing 67.9 percent of GDP growth, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

Meanwhile, Chinese industry has been following the path of technological innovation and opening-up for decades and will undergo even deeper and wider upgrades in the years to come, experts said.

The nation is now spearheading efforts to marry artificial intelligence with 5G for industrial applications, thus injecting new vitality into its sprawling real economy, they said. Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, the country's top industry regulator, said that 70 years ago China could only make basics like tables, teacups and flour. It could not make cars, airplanes, tanks or even tractors.

But now China has emerged as the only country in the world that ticks all the industrial category boxes under the United Nations' International Standard Industrial Classification. Boasting 41 industrial divisions, 207 groups and 666 classes of products and services, it has built up a modern industrial system and evolved into a global manufacturing juggernaut.