China Focus: Chinese companies flex tech muscles at expo

From lip reading to foldable phones and smart electricity networks, Chinese technology companies are showcasing the latest high-tech products at an ongoing expo in southwest China

Liu Jian's electricity network received a "Black Technology" award at a ceremony in the 2017 China International Big Data Expo in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou Province. Black technology refers to the latest products such as hardware, software and materials that are seen as innovative and unbelievable.

"I have been looking for breakthroughs in the electricity industry," said Liu, 42.

The Fengneng (Bee power in English) smart electricity network was a big breakthrough for him. It started in 2014, when he met a group from Tsinghua University at a competition in Guizhou. There, they embarked on a journey towards developing an efficient electricity network, which is now known as Fengneng.

"The network can control the use of electricity smartly. Once you switch it on, a cloud computing system starts to analyze the users' habits of using electricity," Liu said. "It can save electricity by an average 20 percent."

A mobile application allows users to switch on or turn off domestic appliances with a few clicks on a phone display.

"The domestic appliances are just like bees collecting the honey of data for the cloud computing system network," Liu said. "With the statistics collected and analyzed, users save energy."

Another award recipient at the show is Hydata, which has developed lip reading technology that knows what you are talking about without hearing your voice.

According to Liu Qiuwen, who works with Hydata, during speaking there are multiple shapes made by the lips that relate to different sounds and various meanings. The technology works out the most likely connection between the lip shapes and words.

"The company's lip language reading technology currently has an accuracy of 71 percent and 80 percent in Chinese and English, respectively," Liu Qiuwen said.

In addition to the top ten Black Technologies, more than 300 exhibitors at the big data expo displayed a variety of innovative high-tech products.

"Every Black Tech product can reshape an industry, or even become an industry model of tomorrow," said Wang Hongan, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences. "These products will definitely benefit the public."

China is encouraging innovation in science and technology, with a national conference last year laying out a strategic road-map for technological innovation. According to the conference, science and technology should be given a more important position.