This morning I read a feed from a Wechat connection, which is titled “Wechat has suddenly 7 new functionalities, which only Shanghainese can use … and 99% of people don’t know about it”. I screen the feed, which seems to be done quite professionally; thus more than 1% of Shanghainese might know about it. My wechat connection, James Ding, is a Chinese born Canadian citizen who has moved back to China, because of business opportunities. He is prolific in understanding both cultures, the North American and the Chinese. He is an opportunist. He picks out of both economies what suits him best. He is one of the many thousand Chinese who have lived many years in diaspora and recently benefit from the global economy and the rise of China like few others. It’s both awkward and significant that he posts about a Chinese innovation, not an American.
The new functionalities are entirely hidden under the button “钱包 ｜electronic wallet”, where a new button has been added, which is called “城市服务 ｜ city services”. Shanghainese, it seems can use their wechat accounts from now on to manage even more traditional government services without ever having to enter a government building or talk to a government official. Sadly these functions are mostly not open to Shanghai residents without Shanghai hukou, like myself.
Shanghainese can apply with their wechat account for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan visa; they can pay their real estate taxes and traffic fines; they can check, if their traffic violations have resulted in a point deduction (if you use up all 12 of them, your license will be revoked); they can buy bus tickets and they can check for stampede threats. In particular the last functionality will be widely welcomed by Shanghai residents after the 2015 CNY tragedy at the Bund. Wechat. What a fancy gadget!
The new functionalities are entirely hidden under the button “钱包 ｜electronic wallet”, where a new button has been added, which is called “城市服务 ｜ city services”. Shanghainese, it seems can use their wechat accounts from now on to manage even more traditional government services without ever having to enter a government building or talk to a government official. Sadly these functions are mostly not open to Shanghai residents without Shanghai hukou, like myself.
Shanghainese can apply with their wechat account for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan visa; they can pay their real estate taxes and traffic fines; they can check, if their traffic violations have resulted in a point deduction (if you use up all 12 of them, your license will be revoked); they can buy bus tickets and they can check for stampede threats. In particular the last functionality will be widely welcomed by Shanghai residents after the 2015 CNY tragedy at the Bund. Wechat. What a fancy gadget!
Already more than a year ago, I was told that Chinese tourists could use their mobile phones to reimburse VAT for third country purchases in Europe or the US. No more lining up at the airport, no more tedious filling in of application forms. Everything can be snugly done on your own smart phone and the tax reimbursement is transferred to your alipay account. How Mr. Ma stroke that deal with the Western governments, I have no idea, but sure it was an act of genius to match his commercial platform with an aspect of governance – and behold: foreign governance.
Western good governance think tanks like govlab have been asking for and recommending such services since years. Visionary US author Steven Johnson wrote in two of his books about the huge potential of networked innovation in governance. I have never heard that Chinese did, but here you go. Thanks to Tencent. Or should I rather say: thanks to the massive competition between Tencent, Taobao and Baidu and a cyberleninistic government.
The German think tank merics recently published an article about the battle between these online giants and also organized a workshop about digital mobility. But what do we have in Europe or anywhere else that is comparable? We talk about it, we observe, but there are no or only minimal measures to merge the advantages of the internet revolution with traditional governance in our native economies. Although it must be obvious to the nerdiest government official that it is governance where competition really takes place in the years to come.
Businesses in knowledge economies will to a certain extent have access to all the latest innovations, no matter where they are incorporated. But it is increasingly the dynamics between markets and their governments that will make the difference whether those businesses thrive or fail in global competition. The Chinese internet is still a giant cage like Gady Epstein wrote for The Economist in 2013, but it is a cage it seems that in spite of its limitations makes life easier for those within.
Western good governance think tanks like govlab have been asking for and recommending such services since years. Visionary US author Steven Johnson wrote in two of his books about the huge potential of networked innovation in governance. I have never heard that Chinese did, but here you go. Thanks to Tencent. Or should I rather say: thanks to the massive competition between Tencent, Taobao and Baidu and a cyberleninistic government.
The German think tank merics recently published an article about the battle between these online giants and also organized a workshop about digital mobility. But what do we have in Europe or anywhere else that is comparable? We talk about it, we observe, but there are no or only minimal measures to merge the advantages of the internet revolution with traditional governance in our native economies. Although it must be obvious to the nerdiest government official that it is governance where competition really takes place in the years to come.
Businesses in knowledge economies will to a certain extent have access to all the latest innovations, no matter where they are incorporated. But it is increasingly the dynamics between markets and their governments that will make the difference whether those businesses thrive or fail in global competition. The Chinese internet is still a giant cage like Gady Epstein wrote for The Economist in 2013, but it is a cage it seems that in spite of its limitations makes life easier for those within.
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