Academician Hu Qiheng reviewed China's 30 years of access to the Internet: This is something to be thankful for
2024-08-07
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"These two great things (China's reform and opening up and full access to the international Internet) happened in the same era, and we happened to catch up with this era. This is what I am most grateful for."
30 years ago, Hu Qiheng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, foreign academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and former vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, had the honor of witnessing and experiencing the entire process of China's access to the Internet. Not only that, she also led the establishment of the Computer Network Information Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CNIC), which mainly provides Internet services, and founded the Internet Society of China, speaking on behalf of China to the international Internet community.
In recognition of Hu Qiheng's contribution to the world's Internet, the Internet Society named her the first Chinese inductee into the "Internet Hall of Fame" in 2013.
From leading the construction of the domestic backbone network to leading China's full-function access to the Internet
“The Internet did not come into China on a grand sedan chair, but rather walked out through a narrow path.” As one of the pioneers of China's Internet industry, Hu Qiheng has a deep understanding of this statement.
In the 1980s, the Internet had already been developed in some countries, and computer networking became a technical goal that the international community was striving to achieve. Many domestic universities and research institutes hoped to catch up with the dividends of high-speed computers, so the State Planning Commission decided to build a computer network in Zhongguancun to share high-speed computing power. In 1989, the World Bank loan project NCFC (National Computing and Networking Facility of China, Zhongguancun Education and Research Demonstration Network) came into being.
The NCFC project was hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The first task was to establish three local area networks at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, and Tsinghua University, and then connect them into a backbone network. Hu Qiheng, then vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was selected as the director of the NCFC project management committee to lead the project.
At the beginning, the NCFC project did not include the task of connecting to the international Internet. In order to facilitate scientific research cooperation at home and abroad and to connect the already built Zhongguancun computer network with the international standards, the NCFC Management Committee made the decision to connect to the international Internet, reported to the State Council for instructions and obtained approval.
After the international networking funds and infrastructure leasing issues were solved, China had one last hurdle to access the international Internet. In early April 1994, Hu Qiheng took the opportunity of a meeting in the United States to visit the head of the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the United States, which was in charge of the Internet. She expressed NCFC's access demands and goals to the other party, and the two sides finally reached a consensus.
On April 20, 1994, the NCFC project was connected to the Internet through the 64K international dedicated line of Sprint Corporation in the United States, achieving full-function connection with the Internet. China became the 77th member of the international Internet family. This day was also officially recognized as the anniversary of China's access to the international Internet. In the same year, Hu Qiheng was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the following year he was elected as a foreign academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
The first Chinese person to be inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame
After bringing the Internet into China, Hu Qiheng remained committed to the early development of China's Internet industry.
In 1995, she led the reorganization of a research institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and established the Computer Network Information Center with Internet services as its main function. In 1997, the Chinese Academy of Sciences was authorized to establish and manage the China Internet Network Information Center to provide registration services for the national top-level domain name ".CN". China's Internet address industry developed from scratch.
In 1995, after China Telecom provided commercial broadband backbone network (ChinaNET) services, domestic Internet applications began to spread from academia to society. In Hu Qiheng's view, the Internet is a social technology, and an organization needs to be established to connect the Internet industry, academia, the scientific and technological community, and the general public to represent China in the international Internet community. In 2001, the Internet Society of China was established at the initiative of Hu Qiheng, and she was elected as the chairman of the association.
That year, the Internet Society of China also held the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) conference, demonstrating a completely barrier-free high-speed broadband export connection. "At that time, China was just a follower in the Internet industry, and its technological development could not keep up with the international level. Holding such a conference was a good opportunity to learn from foreign advanced development experience and to show the world China's determination to develop the Internet," said Hu Qiheng in an interview with Internet World magazine.
In addition, Hu Qiheng also actively pays attention to and participates in global Internet affairs. She has served as a member of the United Nations Internet Governance Working Group, a member of the United Nations World Alliance for Information and Communication Technology for Development Strategic Council, and a member of the ICANN Multilingual Domain Name Committee. She has also worked hard to promote exchanges and dialogues between the Chinese Internet community and the world, as well as international exchanges and cooperation in relevant fields.
In 2013, Hu Qiheng became the first Chinese to be inducted into the Internet Society's "Internet Hall of Fame". Regarding China's Internet industry, she once said in the "Oral History" interview series of the Chinese Automation Society in 2021 that "what she has done is limited."
"What has truly allowed the Internet to enter society and people's lives is credited to the country's communications industry infrastructure construction, to the three operators, China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile, as well as the courage to innovate and the vigorous development of my country's private Internet companies, especially the efforts made by the government in promoting the healthy development and governance of the Internet and the various rules and regulations it has formulated," she said.
Today, China's Internet has changed from a follower to a leader. According to the 53rd Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet, by December 2023, the number of Internet users in my country will reach 1.092 billion, and the Internet penetration rate will reach 77.5%. A total of 3.377 million 5G base stations have been built, covering all prefecture-level cities and county towns. In addition, my country has been the world's largest online retail market for 11 consecutive years.
As Hu Qiheng said at the high-end dialogue event marking the 30th anniversary of China's full access to the international Internet: China's reform and opening up and the development of China's Internet have promoted each other. Reform and opening up have enabled China to quickly enter the era of information revolution, and its rapid development has also been accompanied by the light of the international Internet. China's reform and opening up has changed the world, and China's joining the international Internet has also had a huge impact on the international Internet.
This event is funded by the China Internet Development Foundation's China Positive Energy Internet Communication Special Fund.
Wei Yingzi, financial reporter of Beijing News Shell
Editor Duan Wenping
Proofread by Liu Jun
