Zhang Qian

zhqcindy@163.com

WHILE the opening ceremony of the 19th CPC National Congress was held in Beijing yesterday morning, people from all walks of life in Shenzhen paid close attention to the ceremony as Xi Jinping delivered a heartening report.

Matt Scott is an American entrepreneur who owns an artificial intelligence (AI) startup in Yantian District in Shenzhen. The AI innovator said he had been following the news of the national congress.

“It is a huge event and super important to China and to some degree, the entire world. I am actually broadly interested in all major aspects, but in particular I’m interested in the impact for the technology sector and housing prices,” Scott told the Shenzhen Daily yesterday.

Scott came to China several years ago and said that he has witnessed the spectacular growth in many ways, from infrastructure, to technology innovation, to the positive impact on the international scientific communities.

When asked for advice regarding China’s development in the next few years, Scott held a positive perspective. “From my view, China is on the right track. Besides continuing to advance all the major initiatives, I recommend keeping investing and promoting advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and the startup community,” said Scott.

In fact, Xi did shed light on easing market access in his report. Xi said that China will significantly ease market access, further open service sectors, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors, which particularly caught Scott’s attention as his company is registered in China.

Another expat living in Shenzhen, Ronny Verdoot, also showed great interest in the national event.

“In my view, living here under one united government that controls a huge country gives me a feeling of security and at the same time the freedom of doing things I like and enjoying life,” said Verdoot, who has been living in China for more than a decade and runs a charity group in Shenzhen.

Verdoot said that over the past five years, he has seen great changes taking place, such as safer food at restaurants, stronger police checkpoints in crowded areas, a cleaner urban environment, the emergence of e-bikes and independent taxi services like Didi, more Metro lines, enforcement of stronger laws regarding the employment of foreigners and a more international communication platform for expats.

As an expat married to a Chinese wife, Verdoot does hope the procedures he has to go through to apply for visas in China will be streamlined.

Shenzhen residents gathered to watch the live broadcast of the national congress. Municipal, district and grass-roots government institutions gathered to hear Xi’s report.

Universities like Shenzhen University and the Southern University of Science and Technology also prepared dozens of screens on their campuses so the teaching faculties and students could watch the opening ceremony.

A current student at Peking University HSBC Business School, Li Ang, said he had been following the 19th CPC National Congress and felt uplifted to hear Xi’s speech.

As a member of the CPC, Li said he was excited to learn that the principal contradiction faced by China had shifted to the one between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people’s ever-increasing needs for a better life.

“The shift has shown that China is confident of following its own path, yet bears in mind the problems we still have. To me, the shift has posed higher expectations for China and as Chinese people, we all need to keep going,” Li told the Shenzhen Daily.

Apart from the shift of the principal contradiction, Li said he sensed that China is more confident in terms of diplomacy as the country is taking more responsibilities and is ready to solve more common problems faced by all of mankind.

“It is really inspiring that the central committee raised the notion of fulfilling human beings’ common mission to create a better world together,” said Li.