Young people in their 20s and 30s are rapidly becoming the backbone of China's widening spending power. Known as millennials, they're more open to new ideas and business models and to helping shape the future of the sharing economy. Our Wang Xiaozhou reports.

The modern Chinese consumer is educated, more savvy and open-minded. These shoppers are in their 20s and 30s and were born when China started to have more access to global markets. They've never experienced economic downturns while growing up unlike their parents who suffered food shortages and endured planned economies. Chinese millennials are more eager to spend on experiences than on possessions. And they're sharing everything from bikes and homes to clothes and power banks.

MAGGIE TAN, VENTURE CAPITALIST FORMER CO-HEAD OF STRATEGY & PLANNING, UBER CHINA "This new generation of consumers looks for information on the Internet rather than in the library, and the information comes to them. The sharing economy meets their needs and it's very easy and very fast."

Fashion rentals target stylish young people with big dreams and small budgets. Siwei is one of those people, she works as an intern in a tech company and needs some "grown-up" outfits for the office.

XIE SIWEI FASHION RENTAL USER "A friend of mine introduced it to me, and I just can't stop using it. I don't need to wash my clothes anymore, and the clothes are selected by professional buyers, very stylish."

DORIS KE, MARKETING DIRECTOR Y-CLOSET "They're actually our core customers. Because these young millennials they don't want to follow the crowd, they want to have their own styles. But they're usually limited with their incomes. So with us, they can actually have more choices, they are set free by us. Today, you can be in white collar style, and the next day you can be in hip-hop style. It's like a closet on the cloud."

Y Closet completed a 50 million dollar fund-raising round last year that was led by Alibaba, Softbank and Sequoia Capital. And now, it's teamed up with Taobao, China's largest e-commerce platform.

WANG XIAOZHOU BEIJING "When a good idea emerges in sharing economy, attention will be gathered and capital will rush in. But many players couldn't even survive their very first year. How to keep a new idea from this curse of a short life span, and is it the only way to wash out the weak players?"

MAGGIE, VENTURE CAPITALIST FORMER CO-HEAD OF STRATEGY & PLANNING, UBER CHINA "Last year, I looked at over 200 sharing economy projects, and to be honest, over 99 percent of them do not exist any more. Two key elements for success: the first, you have to have the technology. Secondly, you have to have the real demand."

Millennials' flexible, minimalist and sustainable living styles are expected to help fuel China's sharing economy in the coming years. At the same time, block chain and the Internet of Things will drive the sector in terms of technology. Analysts say that 2018 will be a crossroad for the sharing economy because the new technologies still need to mature. WXZ, CGTN, BJ.