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

杰玛·A.威廉姆斯 肖爽

Is the metaverse Chinese techs 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.

The digital hyperconnectedness3 in China means that the lines between physical and virtual realities are already blurred. And， where Chinas 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; Beijings augmented reality technology company Nreal just completed a Series C funding round of over $100 million.

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.

Tencent

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.

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 companys 23rd anniversary， Tencent gifted a digital penguin NFT collection to more than 70，000 employees.

Baidu

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 companys products collide.

NetEase

William Ding Lei， founder and chief executive of NetEase， Chinas second largest video gaming company said it will lead China into the metaverse. On an earnings call4 he said： “When the metaverse eventually arrives … well probably be the fastest runner around.” Apparently the Hangzhou-based company has already prepared the technol-ogies and strategies required to build it.81F69770-B60C-445C-A6A6-EA191ECEF075

Alibaba

The Chinas e-commerce group stepped into the metaverse in the run-up to5 Singles Day via Tmalls 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 Tmalls virtual influencer， AYAYI. Even its C2C6 platform is tapping the trend. For “520，” which is another Valentines 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.

Bytedance

For Bytedance， its 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 Chinas biggest domestic headset provider. Chinas AR market is expected to grow 68 percent over the next five years.

And the others…

Chinas 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 Chinas 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.

JD Technology， the tech arm of JD.com， announced it will offer free non-fungible token （NFT） badges to users registered for the companys annual tech summit. This is the first time JD.com is launching NFTs， which are based on the companys blockchain engine， JD Chain.

Virtual idols

China already has a list of virtual figures on social platforms which are grabbing Gen-Z9s attention; Luo Tianyi has over 5 million fans， while virtual beauty blogger Liu Yexis and related topics on Douyin have exceeded 160 million views. Moreover， Shanghai-based Ranmai Tech is a leading player in this sector and has developed many realistic digital people such as AYAYI， whose first post had nearly 3 million views and 40，000 followers overnight on Xiaohongshu. AYAYI has become a hot topic on Weibo as the first super photoreal10 quality virtual human in China.

The Beijing media Company Cishi Culture has also been active in the virtual avatar world. It co-created Ling with Chinese artificial intelligence （AI） start-up Shanghai Xmov Information Technology. Cishi Culture has also created Florasis， the virtual persona for the C-beauty11 disruptor of the same name， and has collaborated with jewelry brand iDO. Bilibilis original virtual artist group VirtuaReal member “Azi” appeared at Shanghai Fashion Week， dressed in a tailor-made design for the virtual artist by the designer brand ZI II CI IEN.81F69770-B60C-445C-A6A6-EA191ECEF075

Community

CryptoC Labs is an NFT community that was developed to explore economic relationships between content creators and fans. It is now one of the most influential NFT communities in China， and in June it launched the crypto art gallery， WaveC. Chinese marketplace Treasureland auctioned a CNY sneaker from global digital fashion brand RTFKT for $28，000 earlier this year. Chinese social media and e-commerce network Xiaohongshu has launched its own NFT platform; it steers away from12 issuing tokens and allows users to directly purchase digital art using WeChat or Alipay.

SuperELLE is Chinas first media platform to enter the metaverse， announcing a partnership with BCA Technology and Art to create the SuperELLE Metaverse Space. Meanwhile young local talents are acting as a conduit for luxury names too. Hong Kong-based independent 3D artist Ruby Chan created Ruby Gloom， while London-based Stephy Fung has brought the qipao to life digitally—her designs can be bought from the virtual retailer site， DressX.

元宇宙會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。

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。

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。

腾讯

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。

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。

百度

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。

网易

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。

阿里巴巴

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。

字节跳动

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%。

其他企业

中国几家大的电信运营商也在布局元宇宙：中国移动、中国联通和中国电信均与多家科技公司展开合作，成立了国内首家元宇宙行业协会。在“元宇宙产业委员会”揭牌之日，这几家电信运营商的领导表示，要充分发挥他们在5G网络基础设施、云游戏和虚拟现实技术方面的优势。

京东集团旗下的技术业务子集团京东科技宣布，凡报名参加该公司年度技术峰会的用户都可以免费获得NFT徽章。此徽章是京东首次发布的NFT产品，基于京东区块链引擎智臻链而创设。81F69770-B60C-445C-A6A6-EA191ECEF075

虚拟偶像

中国的社交平台已经涌现出一系列圈粉Z世代的虚拟人物：洛天依坐拥500多万粉丝，虚拟美妆博主柳叶熙和相关话题在抖音的浏览量超过了1.6亿。此外，行业领头羊上海燃麦科技打造了包括AYAYI在内的多个超写实数字人。AYAYI亮相小红书的首发帖阅读量近300万，一夜之间涨粉近4万。作为中国第一个超逼真的照片级虚拟人，她已经成了微博的热搜话题。

北京次世文化传媒有限公司也一直活跃于虚拟人领域。该公司与人工智能创业公司上海魔珐信息科技有限公司共同研发了虚拟形象“翎”，为中国美妆破局者花西子打造了同名虚拟代言人，并与珠宝品牌iDO携手合作。哔哩哔哩原创虚拟艺人团体VirtuaReal成员“阿梓”空降上海时装周，身着由支晨设计师品牌为虚拟艺人量身定制的服装。

社群

C社是一个致力于探索内容创作者和粉丝之间经济关系的NFT社区，现已成为中国最具影响力的NFT社区之一，并在2021年6月孵化了加密艺术画廊“风潮”。2021年早些时候，中国NFT交易平台“金银岛”拍卖了国际数字潮牌RTFKT出品的中国新年款球鞋，成交价高达28000美元。中国社交媒体和电商平台小红书上线了自己的NFT平台，但没有发行代币，而是允许用户使用微信或支付宝直接购买数字艺术品。

作为中国首个进入元宇宙的媒体平台，《欣漾SuperELLE》宣布携手BCA科技艺术打造SuperELLE元宇宙空间项目。同时，本土新秀也助力奢侈品牌通往虚拟世界。香港独立3D艺术家陈嘉渝创造了虚拟人物Ruby Gloom。而伦敦的Stephy Fung在数字世界里让旗袍得以重生——她设计的服装可在虚拟零售网站DressX订购。

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者）

1 shore up支撑;加固;提振。  2 warm up to對……更有兴趣。  3 digital hypercon-nectedness数字超链接，指依托数字技术链接交通、司法、政务服务等领域，从而推动一体化发展。

4 earnings call财报电话会议，是上市公司管理层、分析师、投资者和媒体之间的电话会议，讨论公司在特定报告期（如一个季度或一个财年）的财务业绩。  5 in the run-up to在……前夕。  6 = Consumer to Consumer消费者对消费者的电子商务模式。

7 foreground将……置于最显著的位置。  8 leverage利用。

9 Gen-Z Z世代，指1995年至2009年出生的人群。  10 photoreal逼真的。  11 = Chinese Beauty中国美妆。

12 steer away from远离;避开。81F69770-B60C-445C-A6A6-EA191ECEF075