Four new inventions (Chinese: 新四大发明; pinyin: xīn sì dà fāmíng) is a slogan that is propagandized by the Chinese state media, named after the Four Great Inventions in ancient China. In the year 2017, Chinese state media started to claim that mainland China invented high-speed rail, mobile payment, e-commerce, and bike-sharing.[1][2][3] However, none of those "four new inventions" were actually invented in mainland China.[4]

High-speed rail

High-speed rail is a type of rail transport that operates significantly faster than traditional rail traffic, using an integrated system of specialized rolling stock and dedicated tracks. "High-speed" is defined by the European Union as at least 250 km/h on new tracks, and 200 km/h on older tracks.[4] The first high-speed train in the world was the Tōkaidō Shinkansen in Japan, whose service started in 1964, with the maximum speed 210 km/h.[4][5][6]

In mainland China, "high-speed" is defined as at least 250 km/h by design, with the minimum speed 200 km/h during initial service.[7] In the year 2008, the first Chinese high-speed railway, known as the Beijing–Tianjin intercity railway, started its service.[8] China claimed to have the largest high-speed rail system in the world in the year 2016.[9]

E-commerce

E-commerce was invented in 1979 by Michael Aldrich.[10] The first internet shop was the NetMarket in 1994.[11][12]

In mainland China, the e-commerce began in the year 1999, such as Dangdang and Joyo.com (now Amazon China). After that, Taobao was founded by Jack Ma in 2003, and then 360buy (now JD.com) was founded in 2004.

Mobile payment

Mobile payment generally refer to payment services operated under financial regulation and performed from or via a mobile device. It was originated in Finland in the year 1997.[13]

In mainland China, mobile payments started from the beginning of the 21st century, famous for Alipay and WeChat Pay.[14][15][16] According to the statistics, market penetration of mobile payments is 77% in mainland China, and 48% in the US, and 27% in Japan.[17][18]

Bike-sharing

A bike-sharing system is a service in which bicycles are made available for shared use to individuals on a very short-term basis for a price. The first bike-sharing system, known as the "white bicycle plan", was introduced in Amsterdam in the year 1965.[19]

In mainland China, the bike-sharing system started from ofo in the year 2014,[20] and then there came the Mobike in the year 2015.[21]

References

  1. ""新四大发明"亮个相!". Xinhuanet (in Simplified Chinese). 27 October 2017. Archived from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  2. Yang Yi, ed. (19 December 2017). "Pic story: China's "four great new inventions" in modern times". Xinhuanet. Archived from the original on 3 May 2018.
  3. An, ed. (8 August 2017). "Spotlight: China's "four great new inventions" in modern times". Xinhuanet. Archived from the original on 3 May 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 Pratik Jakhar (3 April 2018). "Who really came up with China's 'four new inventions'?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  5. "Tokaido Shinkansen (1964)". Landmarks. ASME. Archived from the original on 23 June 2017.
  6. "Milestones:Tokaido Shinkansen (Bullet Train), 1964". IEEE Global History Network. IEEE. Archived from the original on 4 April 2018.
  7. "铁路主要技术政策(铁道部令第34号)". The Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China (in Simplified Chinese). 20 February 2013. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  8. "科技部、铁道部联合签署《中国高速列车自主创新联合行动计划合作协议》". Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China (in Simplified Chinese). 27 February 2008. Archived from the original on 27 October 2017.
  9. 于京一, ed. (26 October 2017). "中国建成世界最大高铁网 变身高铁技术引领者". 中国网 (in Simplified Chinese). Archived from the original on 23 May 2018.
  10. Denise Winterman; Jon Kelly (16 September 2013). "Online shopping: The pensioner who pioneered a home shopping revolution". BBC News. Archived from the original on 3 December 2017.
  11. "E-commerce turns 10". CNET. 11 August 2004. Archived from the original on 15 February 2017.
  12. "Shop Direct celebrates 20 years of online shopping". Shopdirect.com. 11 August 2014. Archived from the original on 7 February 2018.
  13. "Osta ja maksa kännykällä". Verkkouutiset (in Finnish). 14 November 1997. Archived from the original on 3 April 2018.
  14. "支付宝和微信支付,有什么不同?". 普惠家 (in Simplified Chinese). 11 September 2017. Archived from the original on 23 May 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  15. "支付宝和微信支付的海外战争". QQ.com (in Simplified Chinese). 27 April 2018. Archived from the original on 23 May 2018.
  16. "在香港,支付宝和微信支付多了一个对手". 虎嗅网 (in Simplified Chinese). 19 March 2018. Archived from the original on 19 March 2018.
  17. "9月6日科技早间新闻:我国移动支付普及率77%全球第一". 中国科技 (in Simplified Chinese). 6 September 2017. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017.
  18. "我国移动支付普及率77%全球第一 美国仅48%日本27%". QQ.com (in Simplified Chinese). 5 September 2017. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017.
  19. "Provo". The British Library. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017.
  20. Lulu Yilun Chen (1 March 2017). "One Startup Builds $1 Billion Business Out of 15-Cent Bike Rides". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017.
  21. "摩拜创始人:未来百车大战如果只剩一家,是我们". 界面新闻 (in Simplified Chinese). 29 November 2016. Archived from the original on 1 September 2017.
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