Wu Jianping, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering: China has changed from a user of the Internet to a contributor

Beijing News

2024-08-07 15:06Posted on the official account of Beijing Beijing News

In 2024, we will usher in the important moment of the 30th anniversary of China's full-featured access to the Internet.

Over the past 30 years, the Internet has been like a powerful torrent, profoundly changing people's production and lifestyle, and promoting great changes in society.

Looking back, the advent of the Internet has undoubtedly opened a whole new door for us. It breaks down geographical boundaries and gives us access to information from all over the world; It accelerates the dissemination of information and makes it easier to share knowledge and experience than ever before; It has given birth to countless new business models and industrial forms, injecting a steady stream of vitality into the society.

In the past 30 years, the Internet has permeated every aspect of our lives. From the first email, web browsing, to today's social media, online education, e-commerce, mobile payments, etc., the Internet has become an indispensable part of our lives. It makes our lives more colorful and makes our work more efficient and convenient.

Wu Jianping, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, director of Zhongguancun Laboratory, and dean of the Network Research Institute of Tsinghua University, participated in the technical reserves of the Internet in the 15 years before it entered China, and in the 30 years after China achieved full-featured access to the Internet, as one of the builders and pioneers, he has participated in the construction of the mainland's first national Internet China education and scientific research computer network CERNET, as well as the world's largest pure IPv6 next-generation Internet backbone CERNET2. In recent years, FITI (CERNET3), the national future Internet test infrastructure, has been basically completed.

Looking back on the history of the Internet's entry into China, Academician Wu Jianping sighed a lot, "The Internet and China's reform and opening up are closely linked."

He said that China's accession to the Internet is the first step, and after China's accession to the Internet, it gradually understands the technology of the Internet, and continues to track, from tracking to in-depth overcoming, and then to leading Internet technology. I am also very pleased with this process, we have changed from users of the Internet to contributors to the Internet, and have more say in the development of the Internet.

Wu Jianping's 50 years of study and work have been closely "tied" with the Internet, and he has participated in and witnessed the development of China's Internet from scratch.

In 1979, Wu Jianping was admitted to Tsinghua University for a master's degree in computer system architecture, and started his research career in computer networks.

"In the early 80s of the 20th century, due to the embargo imposed by foreign countries on high-tech products, including computer network technology, we could only see sporadic technical data. My team of students and I used these materials to learn, explore, and try to design and build a network based on the international standards in these materials. "In 1984, Tsinghua independently developed and built a computer network that conformed to the OSI architecture. The "prototype of a computer network" consisting of three node machines and six or seven microcomputers using the X.25 protocol (the ITU-T network protocol that uses telephones or integrated services network equipment as hardware devices to build a wide area network) soon came to great use. The achievements of computer network technology based on this rudimentary network have been successively applied in an important national project, the campus network of Tsinghua University, and the 1990 Asian Games.

"We were fortunate to have fully functional access to the Internet on the eve of the commercialization of the Internet in 1995, basically keeping up with the international pace." Wu Jianping said.

Wu Jianping believes that the mainland's decision to access the Internet with full functions is undoubtedly very wise and absolutely correct. It is precisely because we did not lose at the starting line that the development of the Internet in the mainland has always maintained a strong momentum and is firmly at the forefront of the international competition pattern.

In the early 90s of the 20th century, the Internet spread rapidly to the world through academic networks, and the computer networks represented by the Internet achieved great success in the world. However, some technical shortcomings in the early stages of Internet design have gradually emerged, the most typical of which is the serious shortage of IP addresses.

In 2001, with the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, CERNET led the participation of China's first next-generation Internet regional test network, "China High-speed Interconnection Research and Experimental Network NSFCNET", which passed the acceptance. This is the first next-generation interconnection test network in the mainland, and the IPv6 interconnection with the international next-generation Internet network Internet2 has been realized for the first time, marking an important breakthrough in the research and construction of the next-generation Internet in the mainland.

The Internet has driven change in society. It breaks down traditional hierarchies and gives more people the opportunity to speak out and participate in decision-making; It promotes the process of globalization and brings countries around the world closer together; It has also triggered people's in-depth thinking about privacy, security, ethics and other issues, and promoted the continuous progress and improvement of society.

Looking to the future, the development prospects of the Internet are still broad. With the continuous progress of artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing and other technologies, we will usher in a more intelligent and personalized Internet era. Wu Jianping said that the innovation and development of the next-generation Internet architecture faces many challenges, such as technical challenges such as scalability, security, real-time, mobility and high performance. In such an innovative background, how to develop a new generation of Internet is a problem that the global Internet community is seriously considering.

"I wish China a better development of the Internet and the international Internet, and I also wish China more voice and autonomy in the future development of the international Internet, and make greater contributions to the development of a community with a shared future for mankind." Wu Jianping said.

This event is funded and supported by the China Positive Energy Network Communication Special Fund of the China Internet Development Foundation.

Beijing News Shell Financial Reporter Cheng Zijiao

Edited by Duan Wenping

Proofread by Yang Li

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