This nation is so big, we need ten figures to just about figure out the population. The capital is so crowded, 20% of all cars have to sit out on any given workday.
There’s no secret: China has redefined the word “big”.
There are 17 million in Beijing. 21+ million in Shanghai. These are just two of the many million-folk megalopolises in China. The world-famous 30-minute high speed train from Beijing takes you to another 10+ million metropolis in just half an hour’s time. Shanghai’s Maglev brings you closer to China’s most populous city in less than 10 minutes’ time.
Did we let the cat out of the bag? China is the next big thing. In way more ways than one.
Here’s the killer: China is no longer “just” the most populous nation offline; its online netizenry, too, has reached that coveted “number one” spot in terms of just sheer size.
Yet there’s just about nobody doing shows featuring on the tech startups in this one-heck-of-a-big-nation. Entrepreneurs wander around the home of a billion plus souls, lost. Our “international friends”, so to put it, can’t find their way in.
Enter CHINICT. Enter innovation in China. Enter a conference that restores yin-yang to the tech sphere. There’s the TechCrunch 50 State-side. There’s Loic and Le Web in Europe. And then there’s us on the far side of the planet.
A far side that is increasingly becoming nearer to one and all with every passing day.
Ni hao, CHINICT. Ni hao, China. Stay tuned to our blog as we not only clue you in on more about CHINICT this year (taking place May 27-28, 2010 at the Crowne Plaza Wuzhou Hotel in Beijing), but more importantly, on the Chinese startup world and the entire entrepreneurship ecosystem.
It’s time to look beyond the “knock-off Facebooks” we’re “notorious” for and to look at real stuff…
What we’d like you to do is really, really easy. Just come for yourselves and experience China as-is.
The days of “dressing up because there is a foreigner in town” is just so 1970s. It’s high time to see a fully changed Beijing — and for that, a fully changed China.
1. Guidelines on our web 2.0 strategy + detailled
2. Draft for our blog design
3. Act as big editorial of a TV channel – like that – before 12 noon – about 25 items – clear item list – CHINICT is a bit like TechCrunch
