The Future of the Metaverse in China

The Metaverse, which is known for its decentralization is designed as a virtual world where everyone can access to interact and work together. It has been becoming more and more popular in many countries, including China. However, because of some strict rules of the Chinese government, the experience of people in China is a little different from those in the rest of the world.

China in the race to the Metaverse

China is a well-developed country in terms of technology; therefore, taking part in the race to the Metaverse quite early. In 2019, Tencent in cooperation with Roblox, one of the famous video platforms in the world, created their Metaverse. Lately, Alibaba has launched their “Metaverse Art Exhibition” at the Double 11 shopping festival. Baidu started its Metaverse named Xi Rang meaning “The Land of Hope” which is a virtual city with games, entertainment services, education, etc.

The development of the Metaverse in China was planned to have two phases: first, engage real-life activities in the virtual world and allow people to have trial experiences and then develop AR and VR technology for users to enjoy deeply immersive services in the Metaverse.

Lately, Chinese tech companies have focused on developing underlying technology such as Internet Connection (5G, Wi-Fi), AI, etc.

Some Metaverses in China

1. Xi Rang - The Metaverse of Baidu

Xi Rang’s first conference was held from the 27th to the 29th of December 2021, and only users with special invitations can join by using a variety of devices such as VR headsets, phones or computers.

Many buildings in real life have been transferred into Xi Rang like the Shaolin Temple. The experience in Xi Rang may be closer to real life when they offer users no fast travel. You can only walk, use private vehicles or use public transport, while in Decentraland and CryptoVoxels, you can travel easily and fast to many locations on the map.

Baidu wants to develop Xi Rang as a non-commercial platform and will not support cryptocurrencies complying with the rules of the Chinese government.

2. Party Island and Pixsoul- The two Metaverses of Byte Dance

Byte Dance is known as the parent of TikTok and now Party Island, the Metaverse app for the Chinese market and Pixsuol, the Metaverse app for Southeast Asia. These two applications allow users to create their own avatars and interact with each other.

3. Tencent

Tencent, a Chinese giant firm in gaming, although has not launched its Metaverse, has a broad vision and an orientation toward the Metaverse. Particularly, it has announced the establishment of a research unit for Extended Reality (XR) as a bet on the Metaverse. Pony Ma, CEO of Tencent, claimed: “Anything that makes the virtual world more real and the real world richer with virtual experiences can become part of the metaverse”.

Chinese government’s attitude toward the Metaverse

The Chinese government’s attitude toward the Metaverse is both positive and negative. From 2021, all crypto transactions are illegal and have no protection from the government in China, while cryptocurrencies are one of the important parts of the Metaverse. Those who traded cryptos will even be considered criminals and be prosecuted. Besides, the Chinese government's mistrust of blockchain has also led to some difficulties in the development of the Metaverse.

On the other hand, the Chinese government also see the need to develop the Metaverse. Therefore, the authorities legislated some regulations on activities in the Metaverse. They encourage the use of the Metaverse in some particular fields such as gaming, entertainment, business office, service, industrial manufacturing and industrial safety, but the developers have to comply with the government’s rules.

The Chinese government also enforced some laws against monopolies such as banning Metaverse developers from using their own crypto in the Metaverse or making money from their projects.

The view of Chinese users

One of the most common use cases of the Metaverse is in gaming and China is one of the greatest gaming marketplaces. As the Newzoo researched, 78% of Chinese consumers shared that they are interested in interacting with each other and with the virtual world in games.

Apart from gaming, entertainment is also an application that has a high potential for the Metaverse in China. With a great and young population, China has long had an idol culture. With the Metaverse, fans can easily access their idols’ shows or concerts and bring about great benefits. Besides, virtual idols have emerged and become successful in China lately.

Conclusion

The Metaverse may take a long time to be completed, but it is anticipated to be worth investing in now. Although the Chinese government’s perspective toward the Metaverse is not really positive, it still provides some support for the Metaverse’s development. One of the main reasons for the authorities’ decision is the increasing need of Chinese people to have a Metaverse and the advantages that it brings about. In general, laws and regulations are legislated largely to guarantee the users’ rights (against monopoly).