From producing copycat products to launching its own world-leading services, a new documentary reveals how China boosted its technology sector.
Chinese tech services such as TikTok and Alipay have seen China’s technology sector explode in recent years in both size and impact, according to a new documentary.
China’s Iron Fist, available to stream on Flash, has revealed how previously the Asian superpower produced copycat products from other countries, but now more and more Chinese companies are launching their own goods.
Services such as TikTok, Didi (China’s version of Uber), and digital payment system Alipay have given a boost to the industry, which has quickly outpaced the US tech industry.
Stream more on this story and all the latest news with Flash, Australia’s biggest news streaming service. New to Flash? Try 14 days free now
“No one out there thought that China today would be at parity with the United States in major technologies,” Eurasia Group president Ian Bremmer said.
“They thought these guys would steal stuff but they couldn’t really innovate.”
Hosted by CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, the documentary explores Chinese President Xi Jinping’s rise to becoming leader as well as his increasingly authoritarian policy stances.
It also details the growth of the country’s tech industry over the years and how Xi inherited the world’s second largest economy when he came to power in 2012.
A major step for China’s technology industry was Alibaba which was set up in 1999.
The online company sold items ranging from cars to high-end fashion, as well as offering food delivery and financial services.
What started as an online marketplace for small Chinese businesses quickly became an internet giant.
“Tech companies like Alibaba showcase China’s rise to the leading edge of economic and technological power,” Zakaria said in the documentary.
Meanwhile ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of online video-sharing network TikTok, reportedly more than doubled its revenue in 2020 to a whopping $US34.3 billion ($A45 billion), according to a report.