During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), China’s digital economy has flourished, registering 35.8 trillion yuan (US$5.4t) in 2019, accounting for 36.2 percent of the country’s GDP. This is an increase of 1.4 percentage points year-on-year, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. At a time when the Covid-19 pandemic remains rampant, the digital economy plays a crucial role in China’s efforts to control the virus, resume work and production, and reinvigorate a slumping economy. Meanwhile, the digital economy, driven by the mobile internet, big data, 5G and AI technologies, has become the new engine to boost innovative development and high-quality growth, making the goal of constructing a digital China increasingly accessible. By the end of 2020, over 200 million people in China are expected to be employed in the digital economy, which will upgrade and transform China’s manufacturing sector.
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