Summary of the Blinkist summary :
(my thoughts are in italic)
The high demand for food and the chaotic supply system means the country often struggles to enforce safety standards. China is using new technologies to make its food supply safe. For example, a chicken farm logs all its data (from hatching to packaging to the table) on the blockchain.
Blockchain deffo provides a solid audit trail. But there’re are fundamental problems that cannot be solved by using new technology alone such as corruption. Local authorities tried to cover up the tainted milk scandal.
Online learning is transforming rural China. But poor internet infrastructure and family obligations kept rural students from really benefiting from the initiative.
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But Is this necessarily a bad thing? While shanzhai (山寨 counterfeit) can be about creating knockoff iPhones, it can also be something more. The idea that anyone can adopt and repurpose existing ideas for their own ends actually opens a whole new field of innovation.
It’s true that a lot of companies are evolving to resemble each other like Twitter rolls out Spaces to try to complete with Clubhouse. Spillover effects → Capitalism Without Capital.
Internet commerce ties remote villages to the global economy. This change is fueled by the e-commerce giant Alibaba and Taobao. In 2013, the company launched a Rural Taobao Strategy. It aimed to transform rural communities into hubs of online commerce. First, the company opened Rural Taobao Service Centers to help villagers buy goods from Taobao. Then, it sent officials to teach local residents how to sell goods on the website.
Rural Taobao pitch deck