Shared future in cyberspace preferable to a virtual Cold War

For China, a latecomer to development, the information age represents a chance for it to catch up with developed countries. And the nation has wholeheartedly embraced the internet since it was first connected in 1994.

The internet's penetration into every nook and cranny of life in China has helped create its magic. For instance, the 854 million internet users in China spend four hours online each day on average throughout a year, which makes it the activity second only to sleeping in terms of the amount of time people spend doing it.

That perhaps explains why internet tycoons, apart from being seen as industry leaders, technology geeks and billionaires, are also viewed as seers who can read the future in the runes written on byte-sized bones, and why their annual gatherings, under the banner of the World Internet Conference, in Wuzhen, East China's Zhejiang province, always grab attention.