On June 14, Bill Gates visited China. According to media reports, this is also the first visit to China after four years since 2019.
gave a public speech in Zhongguancun and praised Yuan Longping; posted intensively on Weibo and talked about charity; The private jet landed in less than 24 hours, and he donated 50 million US dollars to charity...
As a legendary figure who once dominated the list of the world's richest people for 20 years, Bill Gates' every move has attracted widespread attention on the Internet.
Bill Gates|Source: Network
Bill Gates has visited China at least 20 times since he first set foot in 1994, and he was one of the first tech moguls to realize the importance of the Chinese market.
Over the past 30 years, he has set foot in China several times, witnessed Microsoft's development in China, made his own contributions, and people affectionately call him "old friend".
After four years, Bill Gates visited China with a high profile
"I just landed in Beijing, this is my first visit since 2019." At 21:49 on the evening of June 14, Bill Gates posted through Twitter that he had landed in Beijing.
Source: Bill Gates Weibo The next day, Bill Gates wore a rare dark suit and red tie and gave his first public speech in Zhongguancun, Beijing.
Source: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
In his speech, he talked about philanthropy, praising Yuan Longping, the father of hybrid rice, "His research has not only changed China's agriculture and economy, but also fed the world." ”
On the same day, the official Weibo of the Gates Foundation announced that it will donate $50 million in the next five years for drug research and development at the Global Health Drug Research and Development Center.
Source: Gates Foundation Weibo
On June 16, Bill Gates also replied to Huang Xiaoming's question - how to make everyone equally access the fruits of scientific progress?
To this, Bill Gates replied that this is a global challenge. Not only do we need new tools, we must also work together to ensure that they are used around the world.
Source: Gates Foundation Weibo
Visiting for the first time after 4 years, Bill Gates' every move naturally attracted a lot of attention. In addition to philanthropy, there is also a considerable amount of speculation that his purpose in China is related to Microsoft's investment in OpenAI.
This year, OpenAI's ChatGPT launched a global AIGC frenzy. Among them, Microsoft founded by Bill Gates is known as the "biggest winner", not only holding the exclusive license of the OpenAI model, but also a new market value.
Source: Network
For the new wave of technology, in March this year, Bill Gates published a blog post about his views.
He talked about the concerns and debates about AI (artificial intelligence), and also believed that innovation in AI will change the way people work, study, travel, care and communicate, and even reduce inequality.
Bill Gates' view of AI
As a result, governments and philanthropic organizations will need to play an important role in ensuring that the world needs to ensure that everyone, not just the rich, benefits from AI.
In this speech, Bill Gates mentioned the role of AI technology in advancing drug discovery. Therefore, some analysts believe that artificial intelligence topics such as ChatGPT will also be one of the topics he seeks to promote during his visit to China.
Came to China 20 times
The story of China of the legendary former richest man
Bill Gates has deep ties with China and was one of the first tech moguls to realize the importance of the Chinese market.
According to incomplete media statistics, he has visited China at least 20 times since 1994, and the focus of each stage is also different.
In the early stage, Bill Gates' visit to China was mainly to promote Microsoft's products and pave the way for Microsoft's development in the Chinese market. From 1994 to 2007, he set foot in China dozens of times and witnessed the history of Microsoft's development in China.
Source: Network
In 1994, at the age of 39, Bill Gates had become the richest man in the world. In order to promote the upcoming release of Windows 95, he came to Beijing for the first time and was warmly received in China.
Source: Network
The following year, Windows 95 was a huge success, breaking the all-time sales record of previous operating systems.
Bill Gates and his ex-wife Melinda in China in 1995|Source: Internet
In the autumn of that year, Bill Gates took a long break and came to China with his then wife Melinda for their honeymoon, leisurely traveling to the Terracotta Army, Dunhuang and the Three Gorges in central and western China, which was the most relaxing sightseeing tour in history. There is also a "light bulb" - Buffett.
Less than half a year later, Bill Gates came to China again.
At that time, the tide of informatization in the 90s swept the country, and this time he went to Guangdong and established Microsoft's marketing and sales channels.
Source: Network
It was this visit to China that officially opened Microsoft's channel layout in China, and in the following decades of development, Microsoft's market share in China once reached more than 90%.
Bill Gates and his ex-wife Melinda watch the 2008 Olympics at the Water Cube|Source: Xinhuanet
In 2008, Bill Gates announced his retirement from Microsoft, and in the same year he focused on nuclear technology, another company he founded, "Terra Energy", and then he must talk about nuclear energy technology during his trip to China.
It wasn't until 2018 that Bill Gates' focus shifted to philanthropy.
Source: Network
In the same year, in order to promote virus and disease prevention, he came to Beijing to participate in the toilet technology expo, and humorously quipped in his public account, "I crossed half the world to see the toilet."
Interestingly, during this visit to China, Bill Gates received a new title "Old Friend of the Chinese People."
The world's richest have lined up to come to China this year
Nowadays, there are more and more new friends of Chinese people. This year, it has become a trend for foreign executives to visit China.
The first to come out of the circle was Apple CEO Tim Cook. In March this year, Cook suddenly appeared at the Apple retail store in Sanlitun, Beijing, and took a photo with a large number of "fruit fans" at the scene, and the live video was transmitted and instantly exploded on Weibo.
Source: Cook Weibo
According to the live video, the Apple CEO appeared and was instantly surrounded by enthusiastic fruit fans. It is reported that the Beijing Sanlitun store is Apple's first retail store in China, opened in 2008.
Cook himself also posted on Weibo that evening, saying that he was happy to meet the team and customers.
Netizens used Xiaomi Mi 13 Pro to take a photo with Cook|Source: Network
Interestingly, the scene accidentally mixed in a friendly business user, a netizen holding Xiaomi 13 Pro and Cook took a selfie, creating a classic famous scene, was ridiculed by many netizens, "Xiaomi won numb".
Cook eats Japanese food in Beijing hutong|Source: Internet
In addition to intensive business activities, Cook frequently went out to "check in", and was also photographed by netizens going to a Japanese food store in Beijing's Dongsi Qianliang Hutong to eat, which was envied by many netizens, "all of Beijing is meeting Cook by chance."
As soon as Cook walked on the front foot, Musk came on the back foot.
At the end of May, Musk came to China and began a 44-hour extreme "special forces tour".
During the three-day trip, Musk brought his own hot search physique, and the visit to China has received extensive attention from people from all walks of life at home and abroad, and even "what did Musk eat on the first day in Beijing" was also on the hot search.
Musk reception banquet menu|Source: Network
According to media reports, the dinner on the first day of Musk's visit to China was held at the Washington Club, with a total of 16 dishes, and the main dish was fried sauce noodles. On the menu at Musk's reception banquet, E corresponds to Elon Musk's initials.
Another informed source revealed that after Musk left, there were customers to experience the "Musk same" package the next day.
Musk and CATL Chairman Zeng Yuqun met|Source: Network
In Beijing, Musk met with three ministers and met with Zeng Yuqun, chairman of Chinese battery giant CATL. Immediately afterward, he flew to Shanghai by private jet and arrived at Tesla's Gigafactory in Shanghai.
Musk visits Shanghai Gigafactory|Source: Weibo
In the early morning of June 1, Tesla global vice president Tao Lin Weibo posted two photos of Musk and employees, with the text: Thank you for all your support! A rewarding day!
Capital markets also moved when they heard the news. On the first day of Musk's visit to China, Tesla's stock rose in response, and its market value rose by more than $25 billion (nearly 180 billion yuan) overnight.
Source: Network
44 hours after visiting China, thanks to Tesla's soaring stock price, Musk returned to the throne of the world's richest man, worth more than LV Group CEO Bernard Arnott.
Interestingly, according to foreign media reports, Arnault, who was "forced" to give up the throne of the world's richest man, could not sit still, and also planned to follow Musk's pace to visit China. This will be his first visit to China after the pandemic.
Starbucks new CEO Nasihan visited dozens of stores in Beijing and Shanghai|Source: Internet
In addition to Cook and Musk, many other wealthy people and entrepreneurs have also chosen to visit China.
Source: Network
According to incomplete statistics, this year, executives of many heavyweight foreign companies have visited China one after another, including JPMorgan Chase, General Motors, Pfizer, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Qualcomm, Starbucks and other well-known enterprises, no wonder some foreign media sighed: "The big bosses are walking around in China without stopping."
Going to China to find opportunities has become the consensus of more and more "bigwigs". In the future, I believe that there will be more and more new and old friends in China.
Author: Rei
Responsible editor: Watanabe