As China Warms Up to the Metaverse, Who’s Building It?中国元宇宙升温，谁是弄潮儿？

Is the metaverse Chinese tech’s next battlefield？ An outpouring of companies looking to control virtual worlds means it could well be. From Tencent to Tmall and CryptoC Labs to Cishi Culture， businesses are shoring up1 their digital offerings as consumers on the mainland warm up to2 the metaverse， or virtual worlds.

元宇宙会是中国科技的下一个战场吗？角逐虚拟世界的公司相继涌现，想必答案是肯定的。元宇宙（即虚拟世界）日益受到中国大陆消费者的青睐，腾讯、天猫、C社、次世文化等企业也随即纷纷提振其数字化产品。

The digital hyperconnectedness3 in China means that the lines between physical and virtual realities are already blurred. And， where China’s biggest tech companies go， the market follows： Over 400 companies， including Tencent and Alibaba， have trademarked several terms related to the buzzword （such as “Ali Metaverse”）. Investment is flooding into the metaverse sector too; Beijing’s augmented reality technology company Nreal just completed a Series C funding round of over $100 million.

在中国，“数字超链接”意味着物理现实与虚拟现实的界限已经模糊。而且，中国的科技巨头走到哪里，市场就跟到哪里：腾讯、阿里巴巴等400多家公司纷纷抢注带这个热词的商标名（如“阿里元宇宙”）。投资也大量涌入元宇宙领域：北京增强现实科技公司优奈柯恩刚刚完成C轮融资，金额超过1亿美元。

As interest in the metaverse as a term starts to ignite among citizens， the hashtag has 340 million views on Weibo. The Global Times reported that a six-episode online course about the metaverse costing a mere $4.69 has been signed up for by 40，000 people.

随着公众开始对元宇宙一词感兴趣，该话题在微博的浏览量达到了3.4亿。据《环球时报》报道，已经有4万人报名参加一门6节课的元宇宙在线课程，课程售价仅为4.69美元。

Tencent

腾讯

Gaming giant Tencent owns 40 percent of Epic and has invested into Wave， a US virtual concert organiser， setting its ambitions clear. It has invested in the global gaming platform Roblox （where Gucci unveiled digital fashion）， while it also reported that its gaming studio， TiMi Studio Group， is assembling an international team to develop games for the metaverse.

游戏巨头腾讯雄心可鉴，不仅拥有英佩游戏40%的股份，还投资了美国虚拟音乐会初创公司Wave。同时，腾讯也参投了全球游戏平台罗布乐思（古驰曾在该平台发布过数字时装秀），有报道称其旗下游戏研发工作室天美工作室群正在组建一支国际团队，致力于元宇宙游戏的开发。

Its NFT collector trading app “Magic Core” has attracted widespread attention from collectors. QQ Music， also a Tencent Group， plans to enter the NFT field and become the first music platform in China to issue digital collectibles NFT. Recently， to mark the company’s 23rd anniversary， Tencent gifted a digital penguin NFT collection to more than 70，000 employees.

腾讯的NFT（非同质化代币）藏品交易软件“幻核”吸引了藏家的广泛关注。旗下的QQ音乐也计划进军NFT领域，打造国内首个发行数字藏品NFT的音乐平台。近期，为庆祝公司成立23周年，腾讯给7万多名员工赠送了企鹅形象的NFT数字藏品。

Baidu

百度

Internet titan Baidu launched a metaverse app， called Xirang （“Land of Hope”）， which allows users to create avatar and chat with other participants. Xirang will incorporate additional features like online education and elements of digital marketing in the future. While efforts are fairly limited， visitors are already exploring three scenarios where art and the company’s products collide.

互联网大鳄百度上线了元宇宙应用“希壤”（意为“希望之地”），用户可以创造虚拟形象并与其他玩家对话。未来，“希壤”还将融入更多元素，如在线教育和数字营销。虽然功能还很有限，但在“希壤”开放的三个场景里，艺术与公司产品交融相遇，访客已经踏上了探索之旅。

NetEase

网易

William Ding Lei， founder and chief executive of NetEase， China’s second largest video gaming company said it will lead China into the metaverse. On an earnings call4 he said： “When the metaverse eventually arrives … we’ll probably be the fastest runner around.” Apparently the Hangzhou-based company has already prepared the technol-ogies and strategies required to build it.

中国第二大游戏公司网易的创始人兼首席执行官丁磊表示，网易将引领中国进入元宇宙。在一次财报电话会议上，他说：“当元宇宙最终到来时……我们可能跑得比谁都快。”看来这家杭州的公司已经在元宇宙的技术和规划上做好了准备。

Alibaba

阿里巴巴

The China’s e-commerce group stepped into the metaverse in the run-up to5 Singles’ Day via Tmall’s first-ever digital art gallery as part of the Luxury Pavilion. High-end brands like Balmain， Longines， Coach， La Perla， Burberry， and Emporio Armani were curated by Tmall’s virtual influencer， AYAYI. Even its C2C6 platform is tapping the trend. For “520，” which is another Valentine’s Day celebration in China， Taobao offered consumers the opportunity to virtually dress their own Taobao Life avatars in designs from the likes of Prada， Hugo Boss， Alexander McQueen， and Net-a-Porter.

随着天猫奢品频道上线天猫首届数字艺术展，这家中国电商在双十一光棍节前夕也入局了元宇宙。天猫开发的虚拟偶像、超写实数字人AYAYI为一系列高端品牌进行策展，包括巴尔曼、浪琴、蔻驰、拉佩拉、博柏利和阿玛尼等。天猫的C2C平台也紧跟元宇宙浪潮。在中国的另一个情人节“520”（5月20日）这一天，淘宝用户有机会给自己的“淘宝人生”虚拟形象穿上普拉达、雨果博斯、亚历山大麦昆和颇特女士等品牌的高档服装。

Bytedance

字节跳动

For Bytedance， it’s about foregrounding7 a focus on Virtual Reality which has broad application prospects in gaming， online social networking， and fitness. It acquired VR headset maker Pico in August， and at the time， a spokesperson said the company will focus on developing consumer-facing VR devices for the Chinese market after the acquisition. Pico， located in Beijing， is China’s biggest domestic headset provider. China’s AR market is expected to grow 68 percent over the next five years.

字节跳动意欲把发展虚拟现实摆在更突出的位置，因为虚拟现实在游戏、在线社交和健身方面有着广泛的应用前景。2021年8月，字节跳动收购了VR头显制造商小鸟看看，当时一位发言人透露，收购之后公司将致力于为中国市场研发面向消费者的VR设备。北京小鸟看看科技有限公司是中国国内最大的VR头显供应商，而中国的AR市场预计在未来五年内增长68%。

And the others…

其他企业

China’s big telecoms carriers are also laying out plans to feature the metaverse： China Mobile， China Unicom， and China Telecom all partnered with several tech companies to form China’s first industry group dedicated to the metaverse. At the founding of the “Metaverse Industry Committee，” the telecoms leaders announced plans to leverage8 their advantages in 5G network infrastructure， cloud gaming， and virtual reality （VR） technologies.