World Internet Conference: Annual event to open in eastern China's Zhejiang Province

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In a quarter of a century of internet usage, the buzzwords and breakthroughs have changed a lot. From broadband to wifi, 5G to cloud-based artificial intelligence, the web continues to change the world. The World Internet Conference in east China brings in more than 1,500 attendees to talk about what's next. CGTN's Zheng Yibing gives us as a preview.

In a world where the internet is everywhere, one of its strongest signals beams from Wuzhen.

For a fifth straight year, the eastern Chinese river town is home to the World Internet Conference.

And the synergy generated by the conference builds a spirit of innovation and development...

MA RUITAO ENGINEER, CHINA UNICOM "Our means of transportation, health-care, education, entertainment and more have substantially changed. We have almost no need for our wallets anymore. It was really hard to imagine just four years ago."

XIANG QIANWEN DEVELOPER, TONGDUN TECH "In the past, many concepts like artificial intelligence were displayed here. But now, these things have practical applications, like voiceprint recognition technology."

The annual event is in its fifth year.

More forums will be held, and state-of-the-art technologies and creations will be unveiled.

Two reports on internet development, in China and the world at large, are also slated for release.

Expectations are high.

MILAD NOURI CEO, YOOSOURCING "Build more trust and transparency between all the stakeholders of the international trade."

CARSTEN RASNER E-LEARNING PROMOTER, STEINBEIS UNIVERSITY "The main expectation is to learn something about innovation in China."

SERGEY PALTOV SOLUTION ARCHITECTURE GROUP MANAGER, KASPERSKY "Getting better knowledge, better understanding of each other of what trends we have."

The conference shows the trend in how the internet has changed people's lives.

Take Wuzhen for example. In just four years, over 560 digital economy projects were introduced here, with a total investment of over 40 billion yuan, that's about 5.8 billion US dollars.

Organizers say such changes can also happen elsewhere and benefit more people.

ZHENG YIBING WUZHEN, ZHEJIANG PROVINCE "The conference this year aims to advocate exchanges and sharing in digital fields, and push for peace and development of global cyberspace. Zheng Yibing, CGTN, Wuzhen, in Zhejiang Province."