The fourth industrial revolution will be an opportunity for China to move towards a new turning point

At present, the world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century. With the rapid development of science and technology, new technologies such as mobile internet, artificial intelligence, and big data have profoundly changed human production organization forms, national governance forms, and people’s lifestyles, with unprecedented impact. Technological progress has pushed human society to the starting point of the fourth industrial revolution.

In fact, human society has experienced three earth-shaking industrial revolutions. Moreover, each industrial revolution is accompanied by a major shift in global industries and a major adjustment in the international structure. Wherever the power of the revolution is everywhere, huge "generation gaps" are formed, which promote economic development, and at the same time quietly change the bargaining chip of the big power game, laying the groundwork for changes in the world structure.

In the first three industrial revolutions, China did not grasp the opportunities well. In the face of the all-round innovation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, opportunities and challenges co-exist today.

Seeing the power of industry in the revolution

History always develops in cycles and presents answers in cycles.

After the mid-18th century, Britain detonated the first industrial revolution and became the first country to industrialize. The first industrial revolution replaced manual manufacturing through the early mechanization of hydraulic and steam power. Not only did the textile industry basically get rid of the shackles of the traditional handicraft industry and realized mechanization, it also realized the substitution of machines for people in many fields such as transportation and metallurgy.

By 1850, Britain’s total industrial output value accounted for 39% of the world’s total industrial output value, and trade accounted for 21% of the world’s total. Britain‘s first industrial revolution realized the technological generation difference to China‘s Qing Dynasty, and China has had a century of humiliation in modern history.

If we say that the first industrial revolution that originated in Britain made an empire that never sets in the sun, and engraved the mark of the British "world factory" on the arena of the modern world economy. Then, the second industrial revolution, which began in the 1870s, was marked by the invention and application of electricity, which had an epoch-making impact on the development of human society and caused a worldwide industrial revolution.

Unlike the first industrial revolution that created Britain’s "empire that the sun never sets," the second industrial revolution injected a strong and sustained impetus into the formation of a global international political system. Driven by the wave of the industrial revolution, emerging powers such as Germany, the United States, Japan, and Russia have stepped onto the international political arena and have become the new protagonists of the international system. To a large extent, the changes in the world structure after the Second World War are precisely due to the technological generation gap between countries in the second industrial revolution.

Half a century ago, the third industrial revolution broke out. The third industrial revolution is also marked by the invention and application of atomic energy, electronic computers, space technology, and bioengineering. It involves information technology, new energy technology, new material technology, biotechnology, space technology, marine technology and other fields. Field information control technology revolution. Unlike the first industrial revolution and the second industrial revolution lagging behind the world, this time China has entered the third industrial revolution represented by the information and communications industries almost simultaneously with Western countries.

The same is that the third industrial revolution has also had a profound impact on international relations. On the one hand, it has exacerbated the imbalance in the development of capitalist countries, and brought about new changes in the international status of capitalist countries, and the strong rise of the United States as the only superpower. On the other hand, it also gives socialist countries a powerful motivation in the struggle against Western capitalist countries.

It is obvious that the first three industrial revolutions have had a huge impact on world politics, economy, science and technology, military, etc., and fundamentally played a key role in reshaping the world structure. While each industrial revolution brings about major changes in the global economy and society, it also causes changes in the national strength and competitive position of countries around the world. Some countries have risen from it and become the dominant players in certain fields and even the world economy and global governance, while some countries have missed development opportunities and turned from prosperity to decline.

Under the long-term accumulation and gestation of the previous three industrial revolutions, the fourth industrial revolution, which is currently characterized by intelligence and represented by cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum communication, biotechnology, and virtual reality, is emerging at an unprecedented speed. The curtain of a new round of science and technology competition in the world is being opened.