Ne Zha is a well-known boy in ancient Chinese mythology, with an attractive character of both uprightness and rebelliousness. The recently released “Nezha 2: The Demon Child Unleashed”, a Chinese animation sequel, has shattered box office records worldwide and redefined the standards of storytelling and visual effects in Chinese cinema. Since its release on January 29th, it has made more than 2 billion USD in global box revenue in a month. The film now ranks as the 7th highest-grossing film of all time as well as the No.1 animated film, surpassing Inside Out 2. Ne Zha 2 has become the first Chinese and non-Hollywood movie to enter the top 10 global box office rankings.
The global success of "Black Myth: Wukong" is another testament to China's creative might. Drawing inspiration from the classic Chinese novel "Journey to the West", this action role-playing game transports players into a breathtakingly detailed world of ancient China. The game has captivated gamers worldwide with its stunning visuals, immersive storyline, and deep cultural roots. In the period between August and December of 2024, it sold 28 million copies globally, earning over 1.3 billion USD.
Since January this year, DeepSeek, a cutting-edge AI model developed by a Chinese company, has revolutionized the way we interact with technology. Designed to be versatile, efficient, and user-friendly, DeepSeek is accessible to a wide range of industries and applications. At the same time, contrary to OpenAI’s closed-source strategy, DeepSeek has opened up its large models for free by clearly indicating all technical routes. This has accelerated the transformation of large technology models from being luxuries to being daily necessities.
The great successes of Ne Zha 2, Wukong and DeepSeek have been made possible due to a couple of factors. The First is innovation. China has designated innovation as the foremost of the Five Major Development Concepts and pursued the strategy of high-quality development, of which innovation is the most distinctive feature. On the technological innovation front, China’s total R&D investment ranks second in the world and has become the global leader in terms of the number of international patent applications, top science and technology clusters, R&D personnel, as the most influential journal papers. In the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2024 ranking of 133 economies, China was in the 11th position and was considered to be among the best performers in the past decade. On the cultural innovation front, China has promoted the fusion of rich cultural heritage and cutting-edge technologies, thus fostering the growth of new industries and new business models such as animation, the gaming industry, digital art and virtual reality.
The second factor is industrialization. China has established a comprehensive industrial system, with a complete supply chain and a vast reserve of talents, engineers, programmers, technicians, designers. For instance, the production of Ne Zha 2 brought together 138 animation companies and over 4000 professionals from all corners of China, encompassing every link of the animation industrial chain. Game Science, the producer of “Black Myth: Wukong”, was able to find quality animation companies to partner with just 300 meters away from its office building in Hangzhou. In order to expand and optimize the distribution of computing power, China has implemented the National East-West Computing Resource Allocation Project. This has resulted in an increase in China’s computing power by 18.5% between 2013 and 2024. It is worth mentioning that China’s universities churn out nearly 500,000 computer science graduates annually, with over 100,000 of these specializing in AI.
Last but not least is the market. China’s huge market is instrumental in incubating growth and innovation. With a population of 1.4 billion, China’s domestic market presents companies with unparalleled opportunities to thrive. Kenyan avocado farmers are familiar with this aspect. Since the first shipment in August 2022, the export of Kenyan avocados to China in 2023 reached 3674 tons, valued at 7 billion KS. This has made China the fourth largest export market for Kenyan avocados. As China kept promoting high standard opening-up, we are confident that the huge potential of the Chinese market will inject new dynamics to African countries and benefit people both in China and Africa.
There is a popular line in Ne Zha 2 which has become a catchphrase among Chinese youth: “I am the master of my own destiny.” It is inspirational, especially in today’s world. History has repeatedly proved that those who let others control their destiny will eventually suffer the consequences. The success of Nezha 2, Wukong, and DeepSeek broke the dominant monopoly of Hollywood, Wall Street and Silicon Valley. As a member of the Global South, China’s development in the past 75 years has proved that, by adhering to a path befitting their own national conditions and working together with partners for mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation, nations can find the right way towards peace, prosperity and modernization.
Guo Haiyan is the Chinese Ambassador to Kenya
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