# China & the metaverse. By [Zhango Unchained](https://paragraph.com/@zhango-unchained) · 2022-05-20 --- ### TL;DR * Highly centralized and governed structures for NFTs “digital collectibles”. * The usual suspects of tech giants: Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent embracing metaverse concepts and technological innovation. * Immersive experiences, gamification and avatars virtual icons in focus. China and the metaverse - a galaxy with its own planets far, far away … with different traits and new (old) players. The holy trinity of tech giants and others are already embracing the metaverse with focus on immersive experiences with avatars and gamification. ### Our definition of metaverse: a galaxy with different planets. First things first: before we continue with a broad overview of the “Chinaverse”, let’s set the framing first. For us, the metaverse can be best described as a galaxy with different planets, each of them resembling an own metaverse with varying functions - including the physical world that we’re in. Some planets such as Fortnite and Roblox are more developed, others are still in its infancy – especially those based on public blockchain technology such as Sandbox or Decentraland; not forget to mention Otherside, the latest metaverse venture of Yuga Labs, founders of BAYC. Following this logic, the metaverse in China would be a different galaxy far, far away with different traits and new (old) players. In China, NFTs are referred to as “digital collectibles” (数字藏品), first and foremost to differentiate clearly from crypto, since its trading and mining is banned by the government in September 2021. But the metaverse wave has already reached China and show huge potential: By 2025 over **37 million** users will have **virtual identies**, predicted by IDC; **estimated** **$8 trillion market value** of the metaverse industry in China of by Morgan Stanley; over **500 companies** were named after or include “metaverse” and 93% registered in 2021, according to Chinese company registration data. ### The usual suspects: the holy trinity of Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent (BAT) is providing the technological backend. **Baidu**, China’s leading search engine, launched a metaverse concept “Xirang” (希壤) end of last year and held their annual AI “Baidu Create" event with supposedly 100k users participating simultaneously. Impressive numbers, but actually, T-6 years ready for general usage, according to Ma Jie, Vice President of Baidu. iQiyi, the largest video streaming platform which is majority-owned by Baidu, developed a whole VR ecosystem with industry firsts innovation. ![Baidu's Metaverse Concept "Xirang" (Baidu) ](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/b2c866d1d1ece3d2cdbafb5dcfc429145cd817d45cd55a3638a6c7d64c382bce.png) Baidu's Metaverse Concept "Xirang" (Baidu) **Alibaba**, China’s leading ecommerce company, launched their platform “Jingtan” (鲸探) on private blockchain AntChain end of last year. Other efforts saw Alibaba pushing the boundaries of e-commerce and shopping experience: “Meta human” Ayayi was introduced exactly one year ago when TMall announced Ayayi as the Super Brand Manager. ![Meta Human & Virtual Idol Ayayi (Weibo) ](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/a7ddff1592ee465e4585369ffd0e091fc9dee5d1055a68f55fdf39ae1cafdbb9.jpg) Meta Human & Virtual Idol Ayayi (Weibo) Whereas **Tencent**, in the West most famous for omnipotent super app WeChat, but actually China’s – and the world’s – biggest gaming company, is running their digital collectible platform “Huanhe” (幻核) on consortium blockchain Zxchain since August 2021. Tencent on its way becoming the world’s biggest gaming company, also acquired 40% of stakes in Epic Games in 2012, the proprietor of Unreal Engine which is a 3D creation tool and the leading gaming engine. Both primary platforms for digital collectibles “Jingtan” and “Huanhe” are defined by the following similarities: real-name verification and authentication needed; no trading/reselling of digital collectibles allowed, but a 180 days hold and transfer lock usually implemented; and FIAT pricing plus payment in RMB. Highly centralized and governed structures - nothing new in the East ... **Bytedance,** the company behind Douyin and TikTok, invested into the technological backend: After entering the gaming market in 2019, ByteDance aggressively invested more in the catch-up race against BAT to create their metaverse. 
 Besides acquiring Pico, the leading domestic VR manufacturer for $1.4 billion, they also invested over $53 million into the Chinese Roblox competitor “Reworld”. Worth to mention: Bilibili’s global approach. **Bilibili**, video sharing platform with focus on gaming & anime, most famous for their live “bullet comments” and closest to Western equivalent of Youtube, recently launched a NFT project with focus solely outside of China. They partnered up with CryptoNatty to launch Cheers UP, a NFT collection which was minted last week and created by Base Labs. Trading volume of close to 900 ETH and 0.7 ETH FP, at the time of writing. [https://opensea.io/collection/cheers-up-period](https://opensea.io/collection/cheers-up-period) ### Another new player has entered the blockchain game: State-backed **Blockchain Service Network** (BSN) launched in 2020 and officially released in China beginning of this year, provides blockchain infrastructure to companies to build platforms complying with regulations and integrated public, but permissioned (read: governed) blockchains. BSN expanded end of last year to Korea as well to provide blockchain services as an one-stop-shop and exclusive BSN-portal in partnership with MetaverseSociety Corp. ### “Chinaverse” with focus on gamification and immersive experiences. All this proving China is very keen to leverage blockchain technology and is focusing on the gamification and immersive experience part of metaverse per today. With gaming social apps, such as True.ly (啫喱) – now blocked due to violating user privacy issues- or Zepeto by Naver rose to huge popularity within days after release following a simple users could create their 3D avatars and interact with their social network in a virtual world. Could you see “Centralized Autonomous Organizations” (I literally made that up; analogous to DAOs) become a thing? But the big question to answer for the (China-centric) metaverse: how to offer an experience with full interoperability and integration between not only metaverse planets, but in a broader sense even between different metaverse galaxies? How can a seamless connection between real and virtual experiences be established like communities are used to from online to offline experiences? It’s only the beginning of the beginning and the race for the golden Easter Egg has just begun … --- *Originally published on [Zhango Unchained](https://paragraph.com/@zhango-unchained/china-the-metaverse)*