{"id":10988,"date":"2022-09-26T07:30:45","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T07:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=10988"},"modified":"2025-04-23T09:37:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:37:22","slug":"what-does-chinas-first-digital-human-action-plan-mean-for-web3-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/what-does-chinas-first-digital-human-action-plan-mean-for-web3-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"What does China\u2019s first digital human action plan mean for Web3?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Will Beijing\u2019s new digital human action plan drive the growth of a more decentralised internet ecosystem or will it be used to further rein in the tech sector? Qing Na<\/strong> from Dao Insights<\/strong> investigates<\/h2>\n

The introduction of the Beijing Action Plan for Promoting the Innovation and Development of the Digital Human Industry back in August means China now has its first action plan setting out special policies designed to support the development of digital humans (also known as meta humans). It lays out Beijing\u2019s ambition to become a national vanguard in a burgeoning new field, which is set to hit a market scale of RMB 50 billion (\u00a36.21 billion) by 2025.<\/p>\n

The domestic Web3 race is already on, with Shanghai revealing its own blueprint for the metaverse and development of relevant technologies in January, envisioning revenue of RMB 350 billion (\u00a343.48 billion) from the sector by 2025. Beijing\u2019s acknowledgement of this sector and its impact on the development of the wider digital economy has furthered its significance, and more importantly, signalled China\u2019s intention to set standards in the emerging sector.<\/p>\n

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As a front-end application in the commercialisation of Web3, which is a new iteration of the Internet \u2013 think buzzwords such as decentralisation, metaverse and blockchain technologies \u2013 digital humans are viewed as a \u201ccertainty amongst Web3\u2019s uncertainties\u201d. As a result, the segment has naturally become the focal point at this preliminary stage of China\u2019s wider building of a Web3 economy.<\/p>\n

Although an outright definition of digital humans is not provided in the plan, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology (the authority that issued the plan) describes the technology as \u201ca digital anthropomorphic application,\u201d which is a \u201ccore technology\u201d in the Web3 ecosystem. To date, applications of this concept in China includes virtual influencers such as Ayayi, Liu Yixi, and Ling, covering practices ranging from brand marketing campaigns to live streaming and AI sign language presenting.<\/p>\n