Read the history of the world in 3 minutes to help you gain knowledge!

For a long time, the Silk Road has been simply regarded as a trade channel connecting East and West. However, Peter Franco Pan, a professor at Oxford University, put forward a subversive view in his new book, The Silk Road: A Brand-new World History:

The importance of the Silk Road goes far beyond the trade channel. In fact, the Silk Road has shaped the past of mankind and will certainly affect the future of the world.

From four ancient civilizations, three religions and wars in human history to today’s the belt and road initiative, Franco Pan described the intricate relationship between the Silk Road and world civilization from ancient times to the present. The following excerpts from the Silk Road will give you three minutes to understand world history.

Silk Road and Four Ancient Civilizations

Ancient Babylon

Since the beginning of civilization, the Silk Road has been the cradle of empire. The Mesopotamian alluvial plain bred by the Tigris River and the Euphrates River provided soil for the emergence of human civilization, and it was here that the world’s earliest towns and cities were born. Almost 4000 years ago, King Hammurabi of Babylon promulgated the earliest written law in the world here.

Ancient Egypt

Ptolemy, the guard officer who accompanied Alexander the Great in his expedition, brought wealth from the Silk Road to Egypt and established a capital named Alexandria. According to a contemporary scholar, Alexandria has developed into the largest city in the world at that time, with a population of 300,000 in the 1st century BC.

Ancient India

Mohenjodaro, nearly 5,000 years ago on the Silk Road, is a miracle of the ancient world, with tens of thousands of urban population, criss-crossing streets and sophisticated sewage system, which cannot be compared with Europe thousands of years later. The Silk Road also linked India and Rome. A large number of coins found on the west coast of India can be traced back to the period of Augustus.

Ancient China

In the Han Dynasty, after many campaigns, China people drove the Xiongnu back to the grassland and seized the Hexi Corridor, which opened the door for a transcontinental communication channel-the "Silk Road" was born. The expansion of the territory aroused China people’s interest in the outside world, and the high-priced silk trade made China people get rich returns.

The Silk Road and Three Major Religions

Buddhism

The scenery of cultural exchange on the Silk Road is amazing. In India, it was not until the worship of Apollo was established that the statue of Buddha began to appear: the statue seems to be based on the image of Apollo, which shows the deep influence of Greek culture. Before that, Buddhists were never willing to show their faces and make public, but now religious competition forces them to reform and innovate.

Christianity

Christianity spread rapidly eastward along the Silk Road, overwhelmed Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Buddhism, and marched straight into Asia, and soon spread all over the Persian Gulf and as far away as the area ruled by Guishuang-that is, it has reached today’s Afghanistan.

Islamism

After conquering the Silk Road, Muslims gathered a lot of wealth and set off the most unforgettable academic research upsurge in history.

Many scholars were summoned to the Palace in Baghdad or attracted to the top academic centers all over Central Asia, engaged in mathematics, philosophy, physics, geography and other research. At that time, the radicals were not Muslims, but Christians; At that time, those wise men who were open-minded, curious and generous were all on the Silk Road, not Europe and America.

Silk Road and Global Economy

economic globalization

Along the Silk Road more than 2,000 years ago, in Carthage and other cities around the Mediterranean, the rich and powerful can wear silk handmade in China; Pottery produced in southern France can be found in England and the Persian Gulf. In kitchens in Xinjiang and Rome, condiments from India can be used; Greek characters can be carved on buildings in northern Afghanistan; In the east, you can see galloping horses in Central Asia.

We usually regard globalization as a unique phenomenon in contemporary society, but as early as two thousand years ago, globalization was already a fact, which provided opportunities, brought problems and promoted technological progress.

Great discovery of America

After the 16th century, with Columbus discovery of america, Europe got a lot of silver from America. The Silver Road encircles the world like a ribbon, but in the end it all flows to the same place through the Silk Road: China.

At the same time, Chinese porcelain and silk are very popular in Europe. With the influx of silver, the culture of the Ming Empire was unprecedentedly prosperous, with novels, operas, paintings and philosophy shining brilliantly. However, due to its inability to control inflation, the Ming Empire eventually collapsed.

The British Empire dominates.

In the 16th century, the success of Spain and Portugal frustrated the British. In order to gain a place on the Silk Road, Britain established some new trading companies, such as the Turkish company and the East India company. These companies all obtained royal charters, plundered the wealth on the Silk Road by their monopoly position, and finally created the glory of the empire that never sets.

Silk Road and Human War

Roman Persian war

For the Romans, if the empire wants to grow, it must have a large number of cities, thus collecting enough taxes; If the empire wants to be brilliant, it must have artists and craftsmen. These did not exist in the barren European continent at that time. In order to build a powerful empire, the Romans must control the heart of the world-the Silk Road. In order to achieve this goal, Rome and Persia fought for 400 years.

The crusades

Although the 200-year-long Crusade is regarded as a religious war, there is a more important secular power behind it-the infinite wealth on the Silk Road. Relying on the opportunity of the crusade, cities such as Venice rose to become upstarts on the Silk Road, and the west also re-entered the core area of the world.

The Mongols are coming.

The Mongolian iron hoof conquered almost the whole Eurasia along the Silk Road. As well known as the horrible massacre, it is the wisdom of Mongols to rule the world.

They encouraged trade across Europe and Asia on the Silk Road with low tax rates, eliminated ethnic barriers on the Silk Road with military rule, promoted the integration of eastern and western civilizations, and created freedom and prosperity of religious belief on the Silk Road with tolerant policies.

Nazi road

On August 23, 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed the Soviet-German Non-aggression Treaty, although the alliance between the two countries was incredible. But in fact, Stalin compromised with Germany in order to gain time, and he needed time to restore the turbulent country.

The other ally, Hitler, was for wheat and oil located in the south of the Soviet Union, two crops located at the western end of the Silk Road, which were extremely scarce in Germany.

Hitler’s original wishful thinking was to form an alliance with the Soviet Union, which provided supplies. Unexpectedly, after the war began, Stalin did not fully support Germany, but fell to the allies. In the end, Hitler was forced on an adventurous road to invade the Soviet Union, which doomed the collapse of the Third Reich.

Today, despite frequent wars and constant frictions, the Silk Road passes through Islam and other places, but in Peter Franco Pan’s view, its important role in natural resources, geographical location, history and culture still exists, and the Silk Road is reviving.

Ouyang Zhongshi: What is culture? What is the core of culture?

What is culture? There are many experts who have defined it. There are hundreds of kinds in ancient and modern times, at home and abroad. Everyone always talks about a certain aspect of "culture", but it has not been fully summarized, so it is more troublesome to define it. Modern Chinese Dictionary explains culture as the sum of material wealth and spiritual wealth created by human beings in the process of social and historical development. If we understand it according to this definition, there is probably nothing that is not cultural, good or bad, and almost everything we can see can be classified into the category of culture. As for how culture came into being, why it came into being and why it came into being, there is no answer. Now, let’s analyze and study the word "culture".

Culture is the pursuit of beauty by human beings.

To make all kinds of things in society have a good meaning is called "taking culture as its foundation"; Let it become beautiful and make it "beautiful". This is called "culture". Starting from good wishes and pursuing practical actions, we finally get a good result, which must be the crystallization of "culture".

From the beginning of existence, human beings always hope that the present will be better than the past, and tomorrow will be better than today. It can be seen that the pursuit of beauty is the desire of human beings and the goal that human beings will always pursue. It is human nature to pursue a beautiful desire. This desire for beauty is not only human, but also common animals, such as monkeys, cats, rabbits and dogs. Therefore, we say that this is a kind of nature of species, that is to say, this is an inevitable pursuit of the survival of a "living thing". However, this desire is limited by nature and bound by heaven and earth. From the nature, everything between heaven and earth exists objectively, regardless of human will, and they have their own operating rules. Living in nature, human beings should also obey some laws in nature, and form some laws and rules that everyone abides by in social life. In the Book of Changes, it is said that "the sky is strong and the terrain is Kun". This has summed up everything in nature. Kun means Shun. Heaven and earth are constantly running. The sky should be strong and the earth should be smooth. Everything on the earth, including human beings, requires "smoothness". Heaven and earth require "harmony", and if human beings want to be beautiful, they must also "harmony". Find a word to describe "beauty" and "harmony", and we in China will find the word "Wen". Literature is the meaning of beauty and harmony.

What is the word Wen? The Book of Changes says: "The phases are mixed, so it is called Wen." "Za" was originally written as "Fu" (we simplified it as "Za"), with the word "Yi" on the left and the word "Ji" on the right. In terms of word-making, it means that there are many birds flying on a tree and wearing all kinds of clothes, which are very beautiful, that is, "味味". In other words, a variety of appearances and things are gathered together and colorful, which is called "Wen". In addition, there is another explanation, which says in the Book of Rites: "Five colors are written." All colors are gathered together, which is "Wen". All kinds of colors are gathered together, but they are not randomly piled up, but have their own rules, so we also say "articles". All kinds of things get together, and they are not chaotic and organized. This is called "Wen", which is a beautiful symbol.

To make all kinds of things in society have a good meaning is called "taking culture as its foundation"; Let it become beautiful and make it "beautiful". This is called "culture". All material wealth is created by people, and our spiritual wealth also appears for beauty, so we use a word "Wen" to describe it. Can we understand that all the beautiful things (whether material or spiritual) created by human beings, as well as all the efforts made to achieve beauty and all the ideas for development towards beauty, are all cultures? Therefore, a good wish is culture; Pursuing beautiful practical actions is also culture; Starting from good wishes and pursuing practical actions, we finally get a good result, which must be the crystallization of "culture".

In this way, all the wishes, actions and results of people’s lives, which are getting better day by day, can be covered in culture. Therefore, the meaning mentioned in the dictionary can be interpreted as: in the historical process of human society, all material wealth and spiritual wealth belong to culture, or culture can be said to be the sum of material wealth and spiritual wealth. I think my understanding may depend on a little spectrum, or at least touch a little edge.

Having said that, I also want to make an important explanation: after "beauty", the word "harmony" must be added. Since culture is the pursuit of beauty. You also pursue, I also pursue, he also pursues, it should be said that this is a common pursuit of all mankind. Since it is the common pursuit of all mankind, it is inevitable that they will collide with each other. In order for everyone to get "beauty", we should make a code of conduct to ensure that everyone can get "beauty". This norm must ensure that everyone is "beautiful", which requires everyone to live in harmony, and everyone should be humble, tolerant, tolerant and respectful.

Chinese culture is developed.

Chinese culture is increasingly rich, novel, thick and huge. But the general direction that runs through the center will never change, which is the core of Chinese culture-beauty and harmony, eliminating evil. I hope that all mankind will move towards the most ideal and beautiful harmony together.

The world, from the beginning of human beings, is pursuing beauty. What is created and formed in the process of pursuit, whether material or spiritual, is the crystallization of the pursuit of beauty. So, how to understand Chinese culture? Analysis, in Chinese culture, some of them are native to China, or are inherent, such as our "classics" and "transmission". There is also a part that comes with the historical development of society. For example, we didn’t have a fire, we didn’t know how to use it, and we didn’t eat cooked food. Later, we gradually found that food tastes better when cooked, and the use of fire is wide, so we can keep warm and cook. We have also built many houses and planted crops, which are our material wealth. In the ideological and spiritual field, there are many books, music and paintings, which are our wealth. These are all created and developed by our Chinese nation. Everyone knows that Chinese culture is profound and profound, because we have a long history and a large population. On the land of China, our wisdom has naturally condensed into a set of cultural characteristics suitable for ourselves in the continuous progress. To put it bluntly, we Chinese sons and daughters have enough ability to pursue beauty and harmony step by step! Our long history has proved this. In the long historical process, our ability has gradually accumulated with the development of society. Since the pre-Qin period, the growth of new content has never stopped. No matter the Han, Wei, Six Dynasties, Sui, Tang, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, or even modern and contemporary times, every era has its unique contribution and a little fresh knowledge has grown up.That is to say: in addition to the original inherent culture, with the progress of the times, a large part of the cultural accumulation has increased.

Part of our culture is absorbed from the outside, or introduced from the outside. Even if it came from the outside, we absorbed it, transformed it and developed it. Especially after the Ming Dynasty, foreign cultures from other regions poured in, which added new contents to our long-term self-developed culture. China people are not afraid of wealth, and China people do not refuse foreign wealth. They first introduce it, then combine it, and then "transform" it, and finally it is no longer easy to distinguish it clearly. For example, after Buddhism in India and Zen in Indian Buddhism spread to China, China people conducted research and development, resulting in the formation of Chinese Buddhism. China’s Zen is a fusion and has become a part of Chinese culture. It is precisely because our Chinese culture has such tolerance, absorption and digestion, and it is precisely because we have such a trilogy of "introduction, combination and melting" with foreign cultures that our Chinese culture has formed a life force with its own characteristics, which is developing at any time and is good at integration. Therefore, Chinese culture is becoming more and more huge, all-encompassing, all-inclusive, profound and profound. Inherent, developed and integrated, these three aspects make our Chinese culture more comprehensive. Of course, the status and emphasis of these three aspects in Chinese culture are not exactly the same in different times, but in the final analysis, these integrated cultures are still harmonious, which constitutes our Chinese culture.

Some people say that our cultural development is not fast enough or advanced enough, is that right? I think the progress of Chinese culture is by no means slow! Gunpowder was invented by China people, and it was also the most advanced at that time, but we didn’t develop it later. Is it because China people are not smart? I don’t think so, because we in China simply don’t want to make a weapon with powerful lethality. The pursuit of Chinese culture is to avoid war and misfortune. The pursuit is to move forward more steadily. Therefore, I feel that Chinese culture is firmly grasping the "beauty" and "harmony" and moving forward. I would rather take one step slowly and take one step less than those inappropriate paths.

Therefore, the Chinese nation has formed its own inherent culture, which is a very complete system. With the development of history, it is constantly developing and expanding, and it is also constantly absorbing and melting with the development of the world. Chinese culture is increasingly rich, novel, thick and huge. But the general direction that runs through the center will never change, which is the core of Chinese culture-beauty and harmony, eliminating evil. I hope that all mankind will move towards the most ideal and beautiful harmony together.

What is the core of Chinese culture?

The words "benevolence, virtue, courtesy, law, culture and harmony" summarize the core content and basic characteristics of our Chinese culture, and the common pursuit of all nationalities and people in the world is nothing more than this. Knowing this, we will understand the vitality of Chinese culture.

Chinese culture pursues beauty, and all its development is towards "better and more harmonious day by day". Therefore, I think beauty and harmony are the core requirements of culture and Chinese culture. It is difficult to get along fairly and harmoniously like this, and to achieve the beautiful harmony of all mankind without a common agreement and a common norm. Our sages have long known this problem, and they put forward some requirements and norms. We can analyze it through a few Chinese characters.

The first is "benevolence". "Benevolence" occupies an unshakable core position in Chinese traditional culture. If you take the word "benevolence" apart, it is two people. People should love each other, and this "benevolence" is love.

Followed by "virtue"; The word "virtue" should be written straight on the right side except the heart, so the ancients often said that "straight heart is virtue" "Straight" is integrity, and upright is "virtue". "Virtue" requires a lot. Adding the word "heart" is to explain thoughts, and adding "worry" is to explain actions. That is to say, integrity is required in both thoughts and actions. This is the meaning of "virtue". "Virtue" has been mentioned in Zhuangzi, which means "virtue". Things are born, which is called virtue. Morality is a special power. Although it is not a thing, it is a very unusual internal energy force. This kind of power will make things grow and make things successful. Visible is a power that can enhance life and promote success. How can we explain this power? I realize that it is a kind of "strength", and it seems easier to understand that it is an "opportunity". In the language of ordinary people, especially in Beijing dialect, there is a saying: "Come on!" Sometimes it is reduced to one word: "Yes!" Just saying: ok! It’s done! Everything was successful and reached a very "suitable" situation. This statement is exactly the true meaning of "de". It must also be explained that this "gain" refers not only to one aspect, but to all aspects. It is the requirement of "getting" that is suitable in any way. In order to ensure a comprehensive "win", all aspects must follow certain principles, which falls on this "virtue".

On the winter solstice, it was also called "Germany and Japan" in ancient times. From this day on, the days became longer, which is the law of celestial bodies. "Yin declines and Yang rises", and everything began to grow. This day is also called "prosperous day", that is, it begins to grow. Therefore, "things can be born"-if things have "virtue", they begin to grow; "Things can be done"-things can be successful. "Virtue" is a good word to help people and things grow vigorously.

How can a beautiful "text" achieve a comprehensive "culture"? We must rely on "virtue". Chinese culture can have such vitality and cohesion, which is inseparable from the word "virtue". It can also be said that virtue is an essential core in Chinese culture.

We pay attention to "benevolence" in order to ensure a comprehensive "beautiful and harmonious" requirement. It can be said that "benevolence" is the core of Chinese culture. In order to ensure the normal development of "benevolence" and "morality", we need to do standardized activities and then make it a system, which leads to "ceremony" and "law"

How can people achieve "benevolence" and "virtue" and move into a standardized system? There is a way-that is "transformation". The word "Hua" is amazing. No matter how you look at it, there are two people, one is upside down and the other is red-handed. In this way, the word can’t be inverted, and everything is correct. This "transformation" can be both negative and positive, that is to say, it can be reconciled and dissolved, and it can be established in all cases. This should be a channel to a better state. There are many things that can be solved as long as they are "transformed".

We have been using and following the law of "transformation", or this principle. Why is Chinese culture more and more extensive, more and more profound, with a long history and enduring prosperity? First of all, because it is the pursuit of all mankind, it represents the common and beautiful aspirations of all mankind; Secondly, it is the strong inclusiveness and integration, culture and power of Chinese culture. Because in the process of cultural development, it is impossible without collision. The fear of collision lies in coordination and how to solve it. It boils down to two kinds, one is to let and the other is to rob. Rob no good results, today’s winner, tomorrow may be a loser, today’s loser may be a winner tomorrow. Fighting and looting is not a good way to solve the problem, and it is not as good as a word "Hua". Through a word "Hua", we can resolve, harmonize and transform and move forward in harmony. We have "transformed" many things, and by "transforming", we have formed a big multi-ethnic family.

All this comes down to one word-"harmony", which is the highest realm that people pursue. This "harmony" is not that "combination" Harmony is two things, or many different things are very harmonious and harmonious, such as various musical instruments, which play and sing to form a beautiful melody, but it is not that two different things have lost themselves. For example, people’s wishes and demands are varied, but it is indeed possible to achieve unity. Unity here does not mean synthesizing "one", but achieving agreement, that is, achieving harmony. Combination is to add two different things together, dissolve them and lose yourself. "Harmony" is the fusion of two different things, each with its own characteristics and living in peace. Everything in the world is different, and everyone is different, so we should advocate harmony. Only harmony can last.

In our thoughts and actions, we should respect morality, etiquette and law, and finally reach the realm of "harmony" through "culture". Therefore, I believe that the words "benevolence, morality, courtesy, law, culture and harmony" summarize the core content and basic characteristics of our Chinese culture, and the common pursuit of all nationalities and people in the world is nothing more than this. Knowing this, we will understand the vitality of Chinese culture.

Transferred from Ouyang Zhongshi’s "Culture Man Tan"

What is the future of domestic beauty products after taking stock of the double 11 list for 7 years?

The contest between domestic brands and international brands has always been a hot topic in the beauty industry.

In the past double 11, domestic brands finally won a staged victory: Polaiya won the first place in the beauty industry of Tmall and Tik Tok, and the first place in the beauty industry of JD.COM, which is the first time that domestic brands have topped the beauty list of Tmall double 11 since 2018. Earlier in October, Polaiya released the third quarter financial report, and the company’s revenue in the first three quarters reached 5.249 billion yuan, ranking first among cosmetics listed companies in China. From these perspectives, the industry pays attention to and studies Polaiya not only to find an answer for its success, but also to find the direction of the evolution of domestic beauty products.

At the same time, international brands are still aggressive. L ‘Oré al China’s double 11 Battle Report shows that it is the beauty group with the largest number of short-listed brands in the TOP list of Tmall, Tik Tok and JD.COM, and maintains a leading position in high-end beauty, high-end dermatological skin care, make-up, hair care and so on. During the 6th China International Import Expo(CIIE), many beauty giants announced the launch of new products and new skin care technologies, showing their attention to the China market.

As important industry weathervanes, double 11 Dapromotion and China International Import Expo(CIIE) represent the "offensive and defensive" strategy and evolution direction of beauty enterprises. It is difficult for us to draw any conclusions from the short-term ranking changes and new trends in enterprises, and we need to lengthen the cycle to look at it, but perhaps we can find the frontier trends of the beauty industry and the development opportunities of domestic beauty.

On the ups and downs of domestic beauty cosmetics from double 11

The performance of domestic brands is not a new topic in double 11 this year. Taking stock of previous double 11, there are many domestic brands in the beauty industry, but compared with international brands, the ranking of domestic brands is unstable, and there are many "one-round tourists". Taking the Tmall platform as an example, the domestic beauty products shortlisted in the TOP10 list have experienced the iteration of Amoy brand, local big brands and a new generation of domestic brands. Taking 2020 as the boundary, the domestic brands in the head have been greatly replaced, and only Winona has been shortlisted in the TOP10, ranking steadily and rising; Polaiya has made great efforts since last year and has become one of the representatives of new domestic products.

This year, the beauty category was affected by multiple factors, and there were not many surprises in the overall transaction performance. The domestic beauty products rose obviously and became one of the highlights. Among them, Tmall’s head beauty brand pattern has undergone a major renovation. SK-II and Shiseido fell out of the TOP10 due to the Japanese nuclear pollution incident, and Polaiya pushed a number of foreign brands to the top. From the perspective of brand types, comprehensive beauty brands occupy the mainstream, and functional skin care brands represented by Polaiya, Winona and Xiulike gradually rise.

In Tik Tok, another important position of beauty cosmetics, the brand pattern is different. Before that, some international brands didn’t enter Tik Tok, but domestic brands took advantage of the traffic bonus to win some opportunities. In the face of international big-name competition this year, domestic brands still have comparative advantages, achieving breakthroughs with high cost performance and refined channel operation. It is worth noting that the beauty instrument brand is outstanding in the beauty category in Tik Tok, which may be due to the live e-commerce gene of the platform, and the anchor can convey the complex principle, function and use experience of the beauty instrument to consumers.

The change of brand pattern is only the appearance, and behind the replacement of domestic brands, there are some phenomena worthy of attention.

On the whole, in addition to the cost-effective advantage, the rise of domestic brands is largely due to the accurate understanding of the needs of local consumers and the targeted launch of large single products. This feature is particularly evident in the category of skin care products. Domestic brands focus on consumers’ anti-aging anxiety and popular skin care concepts such as formula skin care, morning C and evening A, and barrier repair, and launch large single products that focus on maintaining stability, anti-aging and anti-wrinkle, contributing an important sales share to the brand. Winona Soothing and Repairing Freeze-dried Mask, Quaddy Essence, Kanshuhong Waist Suit, and Polaiya Early C Late A Suit have all appeared on the list of explosive items in double 11 on the e-commerce platform. Guoji Feigua’s 2022 double 11 Yuehaowu Power Saver Data Report shows that Polaiya’s early C late A combination contributed about 35% of its sales in double 11, Tik Tok in 2022 (from October 15th to November 11th, 2022).

Hot topics related to skin care on social platforms, image source: Fruit Collection "Insights into Accurate Skin Care Crowds on Social Media Platforms in 2023"

Large single products help domestic brands occupy a place in the list, but whether the brand stands stably enough and rushes high enough depends on whether the product iteration and category expansion can be carried out around the core efficacy to extend the product life cycle. Take Polaiya as an example, its core product series has been iterated for 2-3 generations, and many categories such as essence, water emulsion, cream and eye cream have been introduced. This helps the brand to enrich the sku portfolio, continuously create a "freshness" and increase the customer unit price. Before double 11, Polaiya released Ruby Cream 3.0 series, which contains three textures of lightness, moisture and lightness to meet the needs of different skin types. This product is also the best-selling product of brand Tmall flagship store in the past year. According to the official list of Tik Tok, Polaiya’s Early C Late A Essence Cream Set was shortlisted in double 11’s beauty explosion list. The price of this group member is close to 700 yuan, which greatly improves the price range of the product.

Compared with the field of skin care, the overall competitiveness of domestic brands in makeup is still not as good as that of international brands, especially in the high-end price band. The reason is that domestic cosmetics are mostly designed innovatively around "Chinese aesthetics", and the advantage lies in color-related categories, but the fashion trend of cosmetics changes rapidly, which is difficult to bring high consumer loyalty to brands. Domestic brands still need to make breakthroughs in skin feeling and makeup effect in order to break the situation dominated by international big brands and explore the high-end price. Perfect Diary, which was criticized for focusing on marketing, gradually paid more attention to the functional attributes and technical barriers of products. Before double 11, the brand released its "bionic membrane" essence lipstick, which is the research result of "integration of makeup and nourishing", focusing on the combination of red makeup effect, lip essence effect and lip membrane, to show the brand’s breakthrough in scientific research and innovation.

Another obvious feature of the great promotion is that the pattern of domestic beauty cosmetics is moving towards differentiation. Judging from the performance of domestic brands in different stages of Tmall double 11, many brands have become "dark horses" with the help of the initial promotion atmosphere, super-anchor delivery and other factors, but they often have bright short-term performance and insufficient stamina, and few of them can continue to lead in the whole cycle. Under the trend that Japanese and Korean brands are cold and consumers are disenchanted with international brands as a whole, the development of domestic brands is welcoming, but it is still necessary to continue to precipitate the normal operation ability and cultivate brand endurance on the basis of explosive power.

Generally speaking, domestic beauty cosmetics have ushered in a "reversal" moment during this double 11 by accurately understanding the needs of local consumers, constantly expanding the matrix of large items, high cost performance and refined channel operation.

More than "big items"

Relying on the explosive strategy to meet the current hot demand, domestic beauty brands have the opportunity to "go to the table" and gradually narrow the gap with international brands. However, from the results, it is difficult for domestic beauty products to obtain long-term growth momentum by relying on explosive products. Only by creating a "big single product" and developing a "big brand" can a brand resist a round of shuffling and sit at the poker table for a longer time.

It is not without trace that domestic brands represented by Polaiya and Winona have won great victories. They benefited from the rise of the component party and the efficacy party, and implemented the strategy of "big single product", but they did not rely on this strategy. As mentioned above, the three series of Polaiya Double Antibody, Ruby and Yuanli have been extended from essence to different categories. This year, Polaiya launched a new energy series for the anti-aging needs of mature muscles, and its three-piece energy set, which cost more than 1000 yuan, entered the live broadcast room in Li Jiaqi during its stay in double 11, which shows the brand’s intention to push this series. Winona, Kerfumei and other brands are also constantly expanding their category matrix and reducing their dependence on a single big item. After verifying the heat of recombinant collagen components with collagen rods, Kefumei accelerated the pace of promoting new products, supplemented the categories of emulsion and mask, and its water supply line and oil control line also launched different types of products one after another.

The richness of brand category structure, on the one hand, represents the life cycle and anti-risk ability of brand products, on the other hand, represents its coverage of different levels of consumer demand and different scenarios. The application of patented ingredients to the technical threshold such as essence and cream with higher premium ability also helps domestic brands to gradually get rid of the image of relying on low prices and explore high-end prices. According to Polaiya’s financial report, the average selling price of the company’s skin care products increased by 57.05% year-on-year, mainly due to the year-on-year sales increase of essence and cream products with higher unit price.

From the above results, we can see that domestic beauty cosmetics are taking enhancing product research and development capabilities as a strategic goal and tearing off the label of "emphasizing marketing and neglecting research and development". Local beauty companies have increased the proportion of R&D investment, and focused on components, raw materials and other links that can help enterprises build barriers. In recent two years, synthetic biology, molecular biology and other technologies have been accelerated to be applied to skin care products, and "skin care+biological components" has become a high-growth concept of beauty track, which requires enterprises to carry out collaborative research on basic research, functional raw materials and formula system. According to Zhongxin. com, there are currently 121 research and development projects on raw materials and synthetic organisms in Huaxi Bio. Double 11’s outstanding Fumei brand, its parent company Juzi Bio has four collagen medical beauty products under research, two of which are expected to be approved in 2024, becoming a new source of growth for the enterprise.

Image source: CBNData《2023 Oriental Beauty Valley Blue Book "

Another dimension that domestic brands have been examined for a long time is the ability to operate omni-channel. This batch of new domestic brands have risen online. When the traffic dividend is gradually divided up, on the one hand, brands need to treat online channels in a refined way to improve profit margins. On the other hand, they begin to respect traditional channels, return to offline and near-field e-commerce, and even enter duty-free shops to find new growth opportunities. However, with the new channels, there are new ways of playing and brand logic, as well as powerful opponents. Domestic brands still have a long way to go.

Grouping proposition

From the perspective of single brand, domestic brands initially have the right to speak in the beauty industry with big names. However, from the perspective of the group, there is still a big gap between the comprehensive strength of domestic brands and international beauty cosmetics. As mentioned at the beginning of the article, almost half of the seats in double 11’s e-commerce platform beauty list this year belong to L ‘Oré al’s brands. Although the performance of Estee Lauder Group declined in fiscal year 2023, the main brands of the same name, Estee Lauder and Hailan Mystery, are still relatively strong in the high-end price band.

"L ‘Oré als" have achieved the coverage of different categories, price bands and sub-groups by virtue of top-class, high-end, Volkswagen, cinema and other brands, and better enhanced the Group’s ability to resist risks. No matter how the external environment and consumer demand change, there are corresponding sub-brands in the group to undertake.

However, domestic beauty cosmetics have not yet owned their own "L ‘Oreal" and "Estee Lauder". Although Polaiya, Huaxi Bio and Juzi Bio take the multi-brand route, at present, their dependence on a single brand is still relatively high, or the differences between sub-brands are not obvious. Although the ingredients and focus areas of Fumei and Kelijin under Juzi Bio are different, the brand needs to further formulate differentiation strategies in order to make consumers clear about their differences. According to the data of Polaiya’s financial report, in the first three quarters of 2023, the main brand contributed about 80% to the Group’s revenue, and Caitang accounted for about 10% of the total revenue. The sub-brands such as Off&Realx and Yuefushi made little contribution, and it remains to be seen whether they can become the "N-th growth curve". At the brand’s 20th anniversary strategy conference, Polaiya said that she would innovate the strategic planning, from "troika" to "6*N strategy", and broaden the multi-category matrix of skin care, make-up, toiletries and high-efficiency categories.

In addition to self-incubation, some brands refer to L ‘Oré al’s acquisition strategy to build their own brand matrix. Take Yixian Group as an example. Since 2019, it has successively acquired cosmetics brand Odin, French high-end skin care brand Kelanli, British high-end beauty brand EVE LOM, and functional skin care brand DR.WU (business in Chinese mainland). On the one hand, it has improved the layout in the field of skin care, on the other hand, it has told high-end stories. Increasing the proportion of skin care business has indeed improved the financial situation of Yixian e-commerce. The financial report shows that Yixian e-commerce has maintained an upward trend in gross profit margin in the past four quarters, with a gross profit margin of 74.7% in the second quarter, up 11.9% year-on-year, the highest in a single quarter since listing.

In addition to the width of demand, the gap between domestic brands and international brands lies in the depth of brand value. Beauty has always been regarded as a category with great emotional value, and emotional skin care is also a hot topic on social platforms. Polaiya has recently made intensive speeches on gender equality, mental health and emotion to show the social value of the brand. On the basis of brand-level vocalization, domestic beauty cosmetics are also integrating emotional concepts into products. During the 6th China International Import Expo(CIIE), Yixian E-commerce unveiled the Shanghai Global Innovation R&D Center, and "emotional skin care" is one of its four major R&D fields in the future. EVE LOM brand bears the realization of this concept. It launched the fragrance candle of "Manor after Rain" in China International Import Expo(CIIE), and tracked and analyzed the emotional changes of users when they experienced the SPA through the AI brainwave emotional test instrument to show the brand’s emotional skin care technology.

From supplementing research and development, creating large single products, enhancing brand power in multiple dimensions and developing towards collectivization, domestic beauty cosmetics are constantly evolving. However, compared with international brands that have experienced long-term accumulation, there are still many gaps that need to be filled. At present, China consumers’ recognition of domestic products has increased, and Japanese and Korean brands have given up some market share in the cold, so domestic beauty products have ushered in new development opportunities. This year’s double 11 can be said to be the best performance of domestic beauty products. Jumping out of the promotion atmosphere and price advantage, domestic brands need to make more efforts to prove their unique value. As consumers, we may wish to give more opportunities and patience to domestic beauty cosmetics, so as to wait for the brand to hand over better answers.

Cover image source: unsplash

How will technology "recreate" the beauty industry in the post-epidemic period?

When it comes to the beauty industry, few people associate it with the traditional high-tech industry. But behind the beauty industry, it is indeed constantly colliding and merging with high technology. With the continuous deepening and application of high-tech such as big data and AI, the relationship between them has gradually become prominent.

Not long ago, L ‘Oré al held a cloud conference to announce the official launch of the first "BIG BANG Beauty Technology Creation Camp" in China. It is understood that this "Creation Camp" is in the form of a start-up challenge, and "Cloud invites" national technology start-ups to participate in exploring and incubating revolutionary beauty technology solutions. This is the first cross-border collision between the domestic beauty ecosystem and the science and technology ecosystem, but can beauty giants really have fun when they get involved in the field of science and technology? Why does the high-tech circle attach importance to the beauty industry?

First, it is not the "technology factor" added to beauty cosmetics, but the return to "the truth of technology"

In which direction science and technology grow, it depends on demand; How much room to grow depends on the market.

The consumer industry has always been a necessity for people’s lives, and beauty cosmetics is one of the industries with the highest innovation vitality and the most stable demand. In recent years, China’s beauty industry has developed rapidly, and the market scale has been expanding. The internationally renowned brands that settled in China in the early years and the rising local brands in recent years have, to a certain extent, shared the dividends of the overall rapid development of the industry.

As consumers become more and more mature, their preferences in product use, ingredients and brand positioning are also more subdivided. Concepts such as hydrating, moisturizing, whitening, protection, anti-aging, firming and cosmetic feeling will be more and more recognized by consumers, and subdivided products including eyes, lips, cheeks and neck will be closer to the needs of consumers. At the same time, the transformation of consumer core groups, the rise of Z generation consumption power, the awakening of men’s skin care awareness, and healthy living have all injected new strength into the domestic beauty industry market and promoted the development and improvement of the industrial chain.

According to the latest retail data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first quarter of 2019, the total retail sales of social consumer goods was 9,779 billion yuan, an increase of 8.3% year-on-year. Judging from the retail sales of cosmetics, the national retail sales of cosmetics in the first quarter of 2019 was 75.3 billion yuan, an increase of 10.9% compared with the same period last year. It can be said that the current domestic beauty market has a very broad development space. Both the consumer’s choice and the new opportunities brought by consumption upgrading have promoted the expansion of the beauty market in China.

In addition, the continuous upgrading of beauty consumption affects not only the beauty industry, but also the emerging industries associated with it when the consumer demand of users is infinitely diversified, personalized and rapidly changing and the market activity is high. You know, the vast majority of consumers are not beauty experts. They need to know more about their skin condition and product information quickly, so as to choose the products that suit them, and they should wait for them. Therefore, the future beauty industry will not only provide a single beauty product, but also provide an overall solution of product+service+experience. For example, AI skin care programs help consumers analyze skin needs and formulate skin management programs; Beauty brands regulate the balance of skin micro-ecology through biotechnology to enhance the efficacy of skin care products; Technology companies develop hand-held beauty equipment with electromagnetic pulse to help skin care products penetrate the skin better.

The beauty industry is constantly moving towards technology, digitalization and convenience, which can drive the development of new technologies such as biotechnology, agricultural technology and entertainment technology around it and broaden the industry. In recent years, the beauty market share of international brands is rising sharply, and the domestic beauty market is gradually becoming high-end. It can be seen that it will be the core trend of the beauty industry in the future to help people with professional skin care, health and beauty with scientific and technological means and concepts.

Moreover, in a sense, beauty care itself is based on scientific practice, but in the era of underdeveloped technology, it is more like "experience talk." Nowadays, after thousands of years of development, mature technical means have not only solved many "skin care mysteries", but also greatly helped more people, especially those who don’t know much about beauty care, how to conveniently put on makeup and healthy skin care. Therefore, to be more precise, it is not the "technology factor" that is added to the beauty industry, but the return of the beauty industry to the "technology truth".

It can be predicted that the beauty industry will bring broad market space and application scenarios for innovative technology, and the deep integration of technology start-ups and beauty will "explode" unlimited potential for its own development, the development of the beauty industry and the lives of consumers.

Although we know that innovative technology is promising in the beauty market, how to integrate these two "different styles" elements and open up a road of sustainable development is still very challenging for beauty companies.

Since last year, beauty KOL live broadcast has become increasingly popular. Whether it’s Li Jiaqi, the "first lipstick brother", Viya, the "one product links 80,000 orders", or tens of thousands of cosmetics KOL behind them, they are all guiding consumers’ purchasing orientation greatly. Interestingly, beauty technology seems to have little to do with beauty KOL, but in essence, it helps consumers to judge whether the product is suitable for them by explaining the product in detail and "trying it" in advance, except that beauty KOL is an anchor real person trial, and the increasingly popular virtual color test application allows consumers to match independently through technical means such as AR and AI.

After a thorough study, the analysis results detected by the senior scientific research team with the help of big data, AR and other high-tech technologies are, to a great extent, more professional and valuable reference data than many cosmetic KOL trials, but at present, the influence of cosmetic technology on consumer decision-making is not as good as that of cosmetic KOL. This has to make beauty companies think deeply. On the road of beauty technology transformation, in addition to improving the technological attributes of products, whether it is necessary to think more about transformation strategies, user connections and technological depth.

Second, beauty technology needs intensive cultivation and a global vision.

Imagine that if a company defines itself as a "beauty enterprise", its entire corporate image, products and beauty attributes will be greater than the scientific and technological attributes; However, if you define yourself as a "beauty technology enterprise", then the two attributes must be "equally divided". For example, Xiaomi, although it originated from the Internet mobile phone, has always been an innovative technology enterprise, not a mobile phone brand.

Therefore, to improve the scientific and technological content of products, we must first improve the scientific and technological content of enterprises, that is, to achieve a 360-degree comprehensive transformation in the fields of research and development, marketing, operation and management.

On January 5, 2020, at CES in Las Vegas, L ‘Oré al first demonstrated a brand-new beauty technology equipment called Perso. This AI-supported home system developed by L ‘Oré al Technology Incubator can complete the on-site formula of skin care products and make-up products through a concise four-step process, and it can become smarter with the increase of usage times over time, and truly realize the direct delivery of personalized technology to consumers.

Before Perso, L ‘Oré al also introduced the first portable skin environment detector "Small Needle Probe" without batteries, Lancome’s new generation of small black bottles, customized liquid foundation and customized essence formulator, and other high-tech and even cross-border innovative products.

In addition, L ‘Oré al also organized a C2B "Zero Cream" campaign with consumers. This activity, aimed at exploring consumers’ reverse channel innovation, adopted an innovative mode of user demand-led and technology-assisted output. It took 59 days and 1,000 consumers participated, and more than 100,000 products were sold on the same day.

At present, L ‘Oré al China has set up "3S" and "3D" directions in product frontier research and development. "3S" means Green Science, Material Science and Life Science, and "3D" means digitalization, instrumentation and Diagnosis.

It is easier to understand that technology empowers R&D, so how can technology empower production, operation and management?

In recent years, L ‘Oré al has upgraded pillar departments such as information technology, operation, finance and human resources to strategic departments, and started to carry out technological and digital transformation. Develop and apply the most suitable brand-new solutions for each business field, including 3D printing, artificial intelligence, collaborative robots, virtual reality, Internet of Things and so on.

For example, L ‘Oré al applied software robots to financial reconciliation and online shop operation, and completed a lot of repetitive work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Using artificial intelligence technology to assist the retail team in store location; Reduce inventory and shorten the overall supply chain time by 30%; A new networked production line has been developed and a new method combined with the Internet of Things platform has been implemented, which can switch from the production of one product to another in a few minutes. At present, five factories are already using this networked production line technology, and another 20 new production lines will be installed and used in factories all over the world.

L ‘Oré al has naturally put a lot of effort into the most intuitive consumer experience scene of scientific and technological attributes display. Maybelline 360-degree AI intelligent color selection, exclusive "virtual hair dyeing and color testing" by L ‘Oré al Paris Salon, and "multifunctional intelligent detection application of scalp hair quality" by Paris Karsch ….. For girls who love beauty, the advent of these intelligent technology products not only enriches their own shopping experience, but also greatly simplifies the process from selection, makeup trial to purchase, and greatly solves the problem of choosing makeup.

In addition to the digital upgrade in the external business chain, L ‘Oré al has also adopted a new way of working internally, releasing the speed and efficiency of innovation.

L ‘Oré al has previously established a global multipolar organization, namely, three global centers in France+six regional hubs (China, Japan, India, South Africa, Brazil and the United States) +21 R&D centers. Mobile office and digital applications are widely used in the company. During this epidemic, the internal IT system of L ‘Oré al supported the telecommuting of nearly 3,400 users every day, including sending and receiving emails, accessing the company’s intranet resources, and video and audio conferences. The evolution of IT team’s working style is rapid iteration and continuous delivery, and all IT services have not been affected by this special situation. In addition, terminal sales data such as online and offline retail, virtual makeup test, software robot, chat robot and retail location with artificial intelligence are all stored in L ‘Oré al China Hybrid Cloud. This platform can support more than 2200 servers, 1800T of data, and more than 400 application systems, websites and small programs running on it.

Wu Sheng, founder of Scene Lab, said: "L ‘Oré al’s transformation of beauty technology running through the whole value chain inside and outside just represents the practice of’ scientific brand’ driven by data science, process science and value science. When L ‘Oré al is committed to the innovation of beauty technology, it believes in the digital beauty of this era and accelerates the digital life of this era. This essential change requires the evolution of ideas and also calls for a larger-scale co-creation. I look forward to L ‘Oré al becoming a real’ beauty infrastructure’, empowering and achieving each other with innovators. "

The three dimensions of scientific brand mentioned here, data science represents the power of data analysis and application technology such as big data and cloud computing; Process science refers to the transformation of 360-degree full value chain and the establishment of internal and external ecological circle; Value science represents the responsibility of science and technology to be good. For example, since 2007, L ‘Oré al has been working hard to reduce the impact of cosmetics packaging on the environment, and jointly developed the first environmentally-friendly paper tubular packaging with the upstream packaging company Albéa a.

Nowadays, beauty companies are constantly exploring in the direction of science and technology, and many technology companies have also set their research direction in the field of beauty and skin care. But in any case, the benefits of "beauty+technology" can only be the vast number of consumers. At present, the beauty technology of most enterprises is still in the stage of auxiliary tools, so it is necessary to truly regard technological transformation as the "top-ranking project", let more innovative technologies flood in, integrate into the strategic transformation thinking with a more overall view, and more thoroughly open up the internal and external ecological circles, so as to provide solutions that are more in line with the immediate needs of consumers and make "beauty+technology" a road of sustainable development.

Third, the next step: build an ecological circle and make the beauty infrastructure.

As a company with a history of 100 years, L ‘Oreal, a French beauty giant, has always advocated open innovation and strong alliance with many start-up technology companies.

Cooperation as the axis, technology as the wheel.

In 2016, L ‘Oré al invested in five beauty technology companies, which have core technologies in private customization, smart manicure and Internet content marketing. In 2018, L ‘Oré al Group acquired Canadian digital supplier Modify, which integrated AR technology into beauty retail and launched black technologies such as virtual makeup test and hair color test. Then the venture capital fund BOLD was launched. The first investment target was French startup Sillages Paris, an Internet company that mainly used artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to create customized perfume. In addition, at the same time, L ‘Oré al has established open cooperation website prices with start-ups around the world. By 2018, 23 start-ups have been supported under the framework of L ‘Oré al’s cooperation with Founders Factory and Station F.

At the 2019 Paris Viva Technology Exhibition, L ‘Oré al and Alibaba Group jointly released the first mobile artificial intelligence detection application for acne-EFFACLAR SPOTSCAN in la roche-posay. Effica can help consumers who are troubled by acne skin but can’t ask for help, carry out professional skin self-test anytime and anywhere, and get personalized scientific nursing plan. Wu Hanwen, chief digital marketing officer of L ‘Oré al China, once said at the exhibition: "Open innovation will help us effectively explore the application potential of cutting-edge technology in the field of beauty."

At present, China has the most demanding and sophisticated consumer groups in the world, and the most dynamic technology and innovation ecosystem in the world, which together constitute the original intention and foundation of L ‘Oré al’s first "Beauty Technology Creation Camp".

"One battalion creates more" and "one person has thousands of faces"

L ‘Oré al’s "BIG BANG Beauty Technology Creation Camp" has opened three tracks, namely, playing with new beauty experience, leading new operation and foreseeing new production and research, focusing on three key areas of beauty technology innovation, namely, consumer experience, supply chain operation, and future products with new forms, new effects and new experiences.

"We look forward to working together with technology start-ups to achieve common transformation and transformation, create more high-tech and beautiful consumption solutions for consumers, create new growth points for the vigorous development of the beauty industry, and contribute beautiful innovation to the prosperity of the consumer market in China and even the world in the post-epidemic era." Fabry, President and CEO of L ‘Oré al China, said: "The Beauty Technology Creation Camp is also the first step for L ‘Oré al to build a beauty technology ecosystem in China, and it is our co-creation and tolerance in implementing the new strategy of ‘HUGE Good Plan. We are confident that China will surely become a leader in the new round of global beauty technology explosion. "

From the perspective of participating enterprises, the "Creation Camp" horizontally covers the key links of the beauty industry chain, and the short-listed start-up technology enterprises can get different forms of win-win cooperation and support from L ‘Oreal at different stages of development. Such as market insight, product positioning, marketing strategy, media communication, incubation budget and other all-round support. L ‘Oré al, which covers more than 130 countries and has more than 110 years of experience in beauty operation, can provide a strong enough operating platform to accelerate the incubation, commercialization and scale of innovative achievements, and provide promotion opportunities and market landing in other markets around the world based on local applications in China.

Previously, in 2014, L ‘Oré al and Canada’s artificial intelligence augmented reality technology company Modify jointly created a virtual makeup trial technology, and Modify provided professional technology. L ‘Oré al can give more than 100 years of professional experience in beauty to help Modify fine-tune each makeup trial effect, and gradually from small to large, from the initial virtual makeup trial scene, it was successfully extended to virtual hair color and skin detection. At the same time, L ‘Oré al has a local team in each country to customize the planning, so that product technology can quickly land in the local market.

From the perspective of industry and market, in the post-epidemic period in China, technological innovation is an important engine to promote consumption recovery, and then promote market and economic recovery, as well as the beauty industry. Technology start-ups are the birthplace of innovative technology and the backbone of economic recovery in the post-epidemic era. Led by L ‘Oré al, a beauty company of a magnitude, bringing these forces together to achieve common growth and transformation will not only help a new round of "big outbreak" in the beauty industry, but also contribute to the market and economic prosperity after the epidemic.

The broad voice platform and efficient operation platform can provide more commercial guidance and added value for technology start-ups, and also make the overall solution of L ‘Oré al’s products+services+experiences more mature. When more and more technology companies are deeply integrated with beauty, more potential of the beauty industry will be stimulated, and the era of "one person and thousands of faces" may not be far from us.

With 4 gold medals and 4 silver medals, the China Badminton Team achieved gratifying results in the Youth Tournament, but the problem of An Xiying remained unsolved.

On December 3rd, the Youth Badminton International Challenge held in South Korea ended, and the China Badminton Team achieved gratifying results.

This competition is divided into four age groups, namely U19, U17, U15 and U13. Among them, the China Badminton Team only participated in the competition of U19 age group.

Happily, China U19 badminton players joined the finals of men’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles, and won the first and second place in these four events.

In the final, Wang Zijun 2-1 Pan Yinlong won the men’s singles championship; Hu Keyuan/Lin Xiangyi 2-0 Chen Yongrui/Chen Zhehan won the men’s doubles championship; Chen Fanshu/Jiang Peixi 2-0 Liao Lizhen/Liu Yuanyuan won the women’s doubles championship; Hu Keyuan/Liu Jiayue 2-1 Lin Xiangyi/Liu Yuanyuan won the mixed doubles championship. Among them, Hu Keyuan won two championships and Liu Yuanyuan won two runner-ups.

However, U19 is also the epitome of the adult team. An Xiying, the women’s singles player of South Korea’s adult team, dominated the world in 2023. In U19 team, the women’s singles player of South Korea still dominated, and their Kim Min-hyun 2-1 Japanese player Yasukawa Shachuan won the women’s singles championship.

For the China Badminton Team, the problem of how to beat An Xiying has still not been solved. U19 players also lost to South Korean players, which means that it is impossible to defeat An Xiying by promoting young people.

In other age groups, the winners are basically Korean, Japanese and China Taipei players.

Generative AI stands on the cusp: Silicon Valley bets that future technology giants will shuffle?

Generative AI is getting more and more popular. Is this really a good business?

Recently, AI painting is on fire.

By inputting some words, AI can generate an image that matches the words in a few seconds. These images are wild, and some are even bizarre. For example, people have extra fingers on their hands, and their fingers bend unnaturally. Even, AI can generate some meaningless billboards and alphabets that humans have never seen before.

Although AI painting is outrageous, it has set off a wave of science and technology: the spring of generative AI has come.

David Beisel, a venture capitalist at NextView Ventures, said that in the past three months, the word "generative AI" once became a hot word. Moreover, the generative AI technology has developed rapidly and the market enthusiasm is so high that many people even quit their jobs to start a business in this field.

There is no doubt that AI has been in a prosperous stage in the past five years or so, but most of these past advances have to do with understanding the existing data-for example, the AI model has been able to quickly and efficiently identify whether there are only cats in your mobile phone photos. However, the generative AI model generates something completely new that has never been seen before. In other words, generative AI is not just about analyzing existing data, but creating.

Boris Dayma, founder of Craiyon generative AI, believes that "generative AI is not only creating old images, but also creating many new things, which are completely different from what we have seen before."

Sequoia Capital also said in a blog post on its website: "Generative AI has the potential to create trillions of dollars in economic value." Sequoia Capital predicts that generative AI may change all industries that require human beings to create original works, from games to advertising to the legal profession. It is worth mentioning that Sequoia Capital also pointed out in its blog post that this message was partly written by GPT-3 (GPT-3 is a generative AI capable of generating text).

Working principle of generative AI

In the past, deep learning technology was widely used to train the model on large data sets. When the program understands the relationships in these data, the model can be applied to actual scenes, such as identifying whether there is a dog in a picture or translating text, and so on.

The working principle of the image generator is to reverse this process. For example, instead of translating English into French, it translates English phrases into images. Specifically, it usually has two main parts, one is to process initial phrases, and the other is to convert data into images.

At first, generative AI was based on a method called GAN, that is, the generative adversarial network. In essence, this method is to make two artificial intelligence models compete with each other to better create images that meet the target.

At present, generative AI is usually based on Transformer, such as image generator DALL-E and so on. DALL-E was first created by OpenAI in 2021, and in 2022, OpenAI released DALL-E 2.

Christian Cantrell, a developer who focuses on generative AI, said: "With DALL-E 2, we can really cross uncanny valley." (The Valley of Terror theory is a hypothesis about human perception of robots and non-human objects. It was put forward by Japanese robot expert Masahiro Mori in 1970. )

Another commonly used AI-based image generator is Craiyon (formerly known as DALL-E Mini), where users can enter phrases in the browser and see the illustrations it generates within a few minutes.

According to Dayma, since its launch in July 2021, Craiyon has produced about 10 million unprecedented pictures every day, which adds up to 1 billion. Earlier this year, the use of Crayon soared, and Dayma also took Crayon as its full-time job. In addition, Dayma has created a Twitter account to post the weirdest and most creative pictures generated by Craiyon. For example, ketchup comes out of the tap on the Italian sink.

In addition, Stable Diffusion has also received wide attention. The project was released in August this year and has been open source on GitHub. Developers can run the project on computers, not just in the cloud or through programming interfaces. For example, Stable Diffusion can be integrated into Adobe Photoshop by plug-in, allowing users to generate backgrounds and other parts of images, and use layers and other Photoshop tools to operate in applications.

Cantrell, the developer of the plug-in, said, "I want to meet these creative professionals, so that they can introduce artificial intelligence into their creative work, instead of destroying their work."

It is understood that Cantrell has worked for Adobe for 20 years. After leaving in 2022, Cantrell focused on the direction of generative AI. Cantrell said that Stable Diffusion has been downloaded tens of thousands of times, and artists told him that they used this plug-in in many unexpected places, such as making Godzilla animation or creating pictures of Spider-Man.

Start-up companies get together

Some investors regard generative AI as a potentially transformative change, just like the early development of smart phones or the Internet. This kind of transformation has greatly expanded the potential market of this technology.

"Before that, artificial intelligence was not unprecedented. Before 2007, we were not without mobile devices, "said Beisel, a seed investor." But at this moment, everything came together. The final consumer can experience and see something different from before. "

Cantrell believes that machine learning is similar to a more basic technology: database. "Machine learning is a bit like a database, which opens up a whole new world for network applications. All the applications we have used in our life are built on the database. But no one cares about how the database works. People only know how to use it. "

Michael Dempsey, managing partner of Compound VC, said that in the past, it was "very rare" for laboratory technology to enter the mainstream, but at present, generative AI has attracted wide attention of venture capitalists. Nevertheless, he warned that the current generative AI may be in the "curious stage" near the peak of the hype cycle, and the companies established at this stage may fail because they don’t focus on the specific uses that enterprises or consumers are willing to pay for.

Others in the industry believe that startups that can apply new technologies such as generative AI today may challenge technology giants such as Google, Meta and Microsoft in the future.

At present, many companies applying generative AI technology have already received large amount of financing, and their valuations have also risen. For example, earlier this year, Hugging Face was valued at $2 billion after receiving investments including Lux Capital and Sequoia Capital; OpenAI has also received more than $1 billion from Microsoft and Khosla Ventures.

In addition, according to Forbes, Stability AI, the developer of Stable Diffusion, is negotiating with investment institutions to raise up to $1 billion in venture capital.

Cloud vendors and chip vendors will benefit.

Besides start-ups, cloud service providers such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google can also benefit from it, because generative AI may require a huge amount of computation.

Meta and Google have also taken action and started recruiting talents. In September of this year, Meta released an artificial intelligence application called "Make-A-Video", which can generate videos, which makes the generative AI technology a step further.

"This is a great progress," Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, posted on his Facebook page. "It is much more difficult to generate videos than photos, because besides correctly generating each pixel, the system must also predict how they will change over time."

Recently, Google matched with Meta and released a program code called Phenaki, which can also convert text into video and generate several minutes of footage.

This craze may also boost chip manufacturers such as Nvidia, AMD and Intel, because the advanced graphics processors produced by these companies are ideal for training and deploying artificial intelligence models.

At a recent meeting, Huang Renxun, CEO of Nvidia, emphasized that generative AI is the key use of the company’s latest chip, and he said that this kind of program may "revolutionize communication" soon.

At present, there are not many uses of generative AI that can generate commercial benefits. Many exciting breakthroughs today come from free or low-cost experiments. For example, some writers have tried to use image generator to generate images for articles. An example of Nvidia is to use a model to generate new 3D images, including people, animals, vehicles or furniture, which can be filled into the virtual game world.

Ethical issues can not be ignored.

While generating AI excites the industry, the ethical issues it brings are also worthy of attention.

The first is employment. Compared with professional illustrators, generative AI is obviously cheaper. Therefore, generative AI is likely to rob artists, video producers and other people engaged in creative work of their "rice bowls".

In addition, there are complex problems in originality and ownership of the content created by generative AI.

Generated AI is trained on a large number of images. Therefore, it is still controversial whether the creator of the original image has copyright requirements for the generated new image.

Some time ago, an artist won an art competition in Colorado, and his winning image was created by a generative AI named MidJourney. After winning, the artist said in an interview that he selected one image from hundreds of images generated by himself and post-processed it in Photoshop.

It is worth mentioning that some images generated by Stable Diffusion are watermarked, which indicates that some of the original data sets are copyrighted. Previously, Getty Images (a picture trading company based in Seattle, USA) announced that it was forbidden for users to upload generated AI pictures to its picture library, because the company was worried that there might be some copyright problems in such pictures. .

With the improvement of image generation software, generative AI may also deceive users, make them believe false information, or display images or videos of events that never happened.

In addition, developers must also deal with the possibility that models trained on a large amount of data may have biases related to gender, race or culture contained in the data, which may cause the models to show such biases in their outputs.

Original link:

Source: AI Frontline, author: Kif Leswing. If there is any infringement, please contact to delete it.

Analysis of the shipment volume, market size and market competition pattern of China smart speaker industry in 2022 [Figure]

Analysis of industrial chain, market demand potential and enterprise layout of domestic smart speaker industry in 2022 [Figure]

Smart speaker, the product of a speaker upgrade, is a tool for home consumers to surf the Internet by voice, such as ordering songs, shopping online, or knowing the weather forecast. It can also control smart home devices, such as opening curtains, setting the refrigerator temperature, warming up the water heater in advance, etc.

Basic functions of intelligent speakers

Source: Collation of Common Research Network.

Intelligent speaker industry chain includes traditional acoustic-related OEM/ODM suppliers, chip suppliers, voice technology service providers, content providers and channels.

Intelligent speaker industry chain

Source: Collation of Common Research Network.

In 2019, China’s smart speaker market experienced explosive development, with the shipment of smart speakers reaching 45.89 million units, up by 109.7% year-on-year. In 2020, affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the sales volume of smart speakers reached 36.76 million units, with a cumulative decrease of 8.6%. In 2021, the market shipment of smart speakers contracted by 2.50% year-on-year, dropping slightly to 35.841 million units.

2018-2021 China Smart Speaker Market Shipment Trend

Source: Collation of Common Research Network.

In 2021, China’s smart speaker market was 7.885 billion yuan, up by 14.99% year-on-year. With the continuous integration and improvement of intelligent speaker artificial intelligence technology, the potential of smart speaker consumption market in China will be released in the future, and the industry is expected to usher in rapid growth.

2018-2021 China Smart Speaker Market Scale Trend

Source: Collation of Common Research Network.

At present, the main functions of smart speakers in China are voice interaction, content service and home control. Voice interaction is a voice interaction technology based on voice recognition and semantic understanding, which provides a more natural man-machine interaction mode. Content service and life service are streaming media resources such as high-quality music and audiobooks, and third-party service resources such as take-out and taxi service. Home control is connected to the cloud through networking, becoming a home control center and interconnected with other smart home products. With the development of voice interaction technology, smart speaker products can not only provide content entertainment services and life services, but also connect to smart homes, realize scene intelligent control, and become the control center of smart homes. In the future, the Internet of Things will take voice as its population, resulting in a new business model.

Domestic layout smart speaker manufacturers can be divided into five categories.

Source: Collation of Common Research Network.

What is the market prospect of smart speaker industry? The 2023-2029 China Smart Speaker Market Survey and Investment Strategy Report published by Gongwang has analyzed in detail the relevant definitions of smart speaker industry, the global smart speaker industry market development status, the development environment of smart speaker industry in China, the operation of smart speaker industry in China, the monitoring of the operation data of smart speaker industry in China, the market structure of smart speaker in China, the demand characteristics and trends of smart speaker industry in China, China smart speaker industry regional market situation, China smart speaker industry competition, China smart speaker industry development prospect analysis and forecast, China smart speaker industry development strategy and investment suggestions, etc., to help enterprises and investors understand the smart speaker industry market investment value. If you want to have a systematic understanding of the smart speaker industry or invest in the smart speaker industry, this report is your indispensable and important tool.

Music creation is not careless, Xunfei intelligent recorder SR302 is trustworthy.

For many young music creators, an easy-to-use intelligent recording pen has become the immediate need. In fact, Xunfei intelligent recorder SR302 has become the choice of many people. With its compact body and professional performance, it can be said that in the market of intelligent voice recorder, Xunfei intelligent voice recorder SR302 brings a different experience. This year’s Double Eleven, start this Xunfei intelligent recorder SR302, and easily complete the advanced stage!

Being recognized by many young users, the strong strength of Xunfei intelligent voice recorder SR302 is the most critical. Among them, the professional recording function is its brightest point. In the slim body of Xunfei intelligent recording pen SR302, there is a combination of 2+4 microphones with excellent performance, which can not only achieve 15-meter long-distance pickup, but also achieve 360 dead-angle radio reception and intelligent noise reduction under the blessing of Xunfei intelligent algorithm. Whether it’s a path in the dead of night or a busy playground, Xunfei Intelligent Recording Pen SR302 can bring more satisfactory recording effects to users.

Of course, the advantages of Xunfei intelligent voice recorder SR302 don’t stop there. The free and permanent intelligent transcription service is also an important reason why Xunfei intelligent voice recorder SR302 is popular in the workplace. Based on Iflytek’s leading artificial intelligence speech algorithm, Xunfei intelligent voice recorder SR302 can show brilliant performance in 10 languages and 12 dialects. Easy transcription, accurate identification, online transcription accuracy of up to 98%, it is easy to present the recorded content in the form of words in front of users. Whether it is lyrics creation or meeting minutes, with the help of Xunfei intelligent recorder SR302, the performance can always be better.

In terms of portability, which many young friends are concerned about, Xunfei Intelligent Recording Pen SR302 also performs well. Its slim body and light weight are very convenient, whether in jacket pocket or small bag!

Quanchan is no longer modest! Frankly speaking, now that I have overcome the 207C movement, I will jump well in the World Cup.

Since the end of the World Swimming Championships in Budapest in 2022, China’s national diving team, which has won a great victory, has never slackened, and still devoted itself to intense training. In three months, the whole team, from coaches to players, are training hard, and they will also take part in the diving world cup in Berlin, Germany on the 20th of this month.

At present, the diving team of China has announced its participation in the 2022 Diving World Cup. In the most attractive women’s 10m platform single and double events, Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi will still join hands in the battle. These two men have become absolute kings of this event, and they won four gold medals in Tokyo Olympic Games and World Championships. In the more concerned solo events, this pair of partners on the field and good sisters in life each won once. Quan Hongchan won the Olympic gold medal, while Chen Yuxi won the world championship.

Some netizens said that whether Quanhongchan can win the World Cup single event depends on her performance in 207C. In fact, Quanhongchan won the world record in Tokyo Olympic Games because of her outstanding performance in 207C. At the World Championships, she lost to Chen Yuxi because she failed to play her due level in 207C. Therefore, 207C has become the most critical hurdle for all-red Chan’s achievement. If she can overcome this action, she will raise herself to a new height.

Quan Chan knows this well, so in the past few months, under the training of Chen Ruolin, the coach in charge, she strictly controlled her weight, and on the other hand, she practiced hard in a very targeted way. Now, Quan Hongchan has made great progress in the 207C movement. Even she has always been modest and cautious, and she says she has become more stable now. She is looking forward to showing you her training results in the World Cup. We are also very much looking forward to seeing her wonderful performance in the World Cup.

MUSA’s hardware and software are upgraded in an all-round way, and Moore Thread releases a new multifunctional GPU Chunxiao.

On November 3, 2022, Beijing-Moore Thread 2022 Autumn Conference was successfully held today in Zhongguancun National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone, Beijing. At the press conference, Moore Thread launched the new multifunctional GPU chip "Chunxiao", the industry’s first national tide graphics card MTT S80 based on MUSA architecture, MTT S3000 for server applications, and the meta-computing integrated machine MCCX. This is another leap in the iterative innovation of Moore Thread’s multifunctional GPU products after a lapse of 7 months.

Not only hardware, Moore Thread also released a series of GPU software stacks and application tools around MUSA, including MUSA Developer Suite, cloud native sGPU technology and Metauniverse platform MTVERSE, etc., aiming at building an overall solution from the bottom chip to the upper development and application, and realizing the comprehensive upgrade of Moore Thread’s innovative mode of multi-functional GPU software and hardware integration.

At the conference site, Moore Thread also demonstrated more than 40 rich applications based on its multi-functional GPU, covering PC games, AI, digital people, digital twins, physical simulation, 8K multimedia display, cloud games, cloud desktop, digital office and other scenes. Partners such as AOC, Dell, Philips, Gujia, Tsinghua Tongfang, Inspur, Great Wall and Haier provided equipment support for application display, fully demonstrating Moore Thread’s powerful product applications.

GPU is a systematic project, involving hardware architecture, driver development, software ecology, sales and application, etc., with high R&D barriers and long industrial chain. The current GPU ecosystem, after decades of changes, has become huge and complex. If a GPU is to complete the commercial application from R&D to market, it can’t do without the continuous investment in hardware and software, and it can’t do without the strong support of ecology.

In March this year, Moore Thread officially released the first multifunctional GPU chip "Su Causeway", which has been recognized by many markets and ecology. The number of partners of Thread PES Perfect Experience System Alliance is increasing, covering CPU, operating system, OEM, software service provider, cloud service provider and system software developer. Based on the "Su Causeway" chip, Moore Thread and OEM partners have successfully launched a number of personal computers, workstations and data center server products, which are applied in business scenarios such as daily office, digital twinning, artificial intelligence training and reasoning; At the same time, we have joined hands with cloud service vendors to provide GPU cloud computing capabilities for users in different industries, paving the way for the application of Moore Thread GPU in many industries. China Mobile Cloud Capability Center has signed a strategic cooperation memorandum with Moore Thread to carry out extensive cooperation in the fields of cloud computing, cloud applications and accelerated computing; China Telecom Research Institute and Moore Thread will jointly explore the new infrastructure and local ecology of Metauniverse around intelligent computing, scientific research and development, application scenarios, etc., and promote the application of Metauniverse technology in key business scenarios.

Zhang Jianzhong, founder and CEO of Moore, expressed his gratitude to all partners and users on the spot, and further said: "GPU entrepreneurship is a long-term undertaking, full of challenges, and we know the importance of ecology. Based on the advanced MUSA architecture, Moore Multi-functional GPU continuously builds a complete software stack and application ecosystem, aiming at creating friendly support and experience for the open ecosystem. Only when we get together with eco-partners and industry users can we really exert the computing power of Moore Thread and provide the core power for the meta-universe and digital economy. "

Keeping the pace of the speed of light, Moore Thread officially released the second multifunctional GPU chip "Chunxiao", which integrates 22 billion transistors, has built-in MUSA architecture general-purpose computing core and tensor computing core, and can support FP32, FP16 and INT8 computing precision. Compared with the previously released "Su Causeway" chip, the four built-in computing engines of "Chunxiao" have been fully upgraded, which has brought about significant performance improvement: the graphics rendering capability has increased by 3 times on average; The coding ability is increased by 4 times, and the decoding ability is increased by 2 times; ; On average, the acceleration of AI is increased by 4 times, and the performance of physical simulation is increased by 2.5 times. At the same time, new technology is introduced to support narrow-band HD, saving bandwidth by more than 30%.

The newly released Moore thread MTT S80 is based on "Chunxiao" GPU chip, and it is also the first national tide graphics card for gamers. With 4096 programmable MUSA cores, it can provide 14.4TFLOPS single-precision floating-point computing power at 1.8GHz. At the same time, MTT S80 is also the first graphics card product equipped with PCIe Gen5 interface in the industry. With 16GB GDDR6 large-capacity high-speed video memory, supplemented by 8K ultra-high definition and 1080P 360Hz high refresh rate display output capability, it can bring the ultimate game vision and operation experience to gamers.

The successful launch of MTT S80 makes Moore Thread the first GPU company in China to support Windows environment and DirectX graphic interface. Its powerful 3D graphics rendering capability will be able to bring users a smooth operation experience in 4K resolution in Windows DirectX games. At present, the Windows driver of MTT S80 has built-in MUSA DirectX Driver module, and has been adapted to dozens of mainstream games such as diablo 3, League of Legends and Crossing the Firewire.

At the press conference, Moore Thread demonstrated the smooth game running effect brought by MTT S80. At present, Moore Thread is cooperating with game engine developers such as Unreal and Unity, as well as top domestic game developers such as tencent games, Netease Games, Xishanju, Perfect World, and 360 Games (in no particular order), so as to provide better and faster support for game engines and game products, and enable players to get a continuously updated 3A-level game experience. In the future, Moore Thread will continue to update Windows drivers and MUSA DirectX versions to achieve more game compatibility and performance optimization.

Moore Thread announced on the spot that MTT S80 graphics card has completed the first batch of production and stocking, and will start limited sales in JD.COM e-commerce platform on November 11th, 2022.

The newly released MTT S3000 is based on Moore Thread MUSA architecture, and it is also the first multifunctional server GPU product based on Chunxiao. The diverse computing power of Moore MTT S3000 can provide universal intelligent computing power support for AI reasoning and training, cloud games, cloud rendering, video cloud, digital twinning, digital content creation and other scenes with the help of the complete MUSA software stack covering graphics rendering, video processing and deep learning. It aims to build a solid computing power foundation for the construction of data centers, intelligent computing centers and meta-computing centers, and help the innovation and landing of diverse applications in the meta-universe.

Mts3000 contains 4096 MUSA stream processing cores and 128 dedicated tensor computing cores, with a transistor scale of 22 billion, an operating frequency of 1.9GHz and a memory bit width of 256bit;. With 32GB GDDR6 video memory, the bandwidth is 448gb/s; It supports FP32, FP16, INT8 and other kinds of calculation accuracy, among which the calculation power of FP32 can reach 15.2TFLOPS

Thread MTT S3000 and its supporting software and hardware products can cover the whole process from algorithm model to application deployment, and can provide friendly and rich package solutions for AI users. With the blessing of MUSA computing platform, MTT S3000 has multi-dimensional advantages such as ease of use, scalability and compatibility in deep learning training. In the aspect of deep learning reasoning, MTT S3000 supports mainstream AI models in many fields, such as vision, speech, natural speech comprehension and multimodal. At the same time, with the help of CUDA ON MUSA compatibility scheme developed by Moore Thread, users can seamlessly migrate the code developed on CUDA to MTT S3000. Moore also deeply optimized the performance of MUSA software stack and launched TensorX, a self-developed AI reasoning engine.

Ecology is crucial to the promotion of AI applications. At present, MTT S3000 is compatible with many mainstream deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, PaddlePaddle, Jittor, etc., and has accelerated dozens of AI models such as Transformer, CNN and RNN. Moore Thread also announced strategic cooperation with Baidu PaddlePaddle, Luchen Technology, Jittor, OpenMMLab and Zhiyuan Research Institute (in no particular order) to jointly prosper the AI ecosystem.

Software ecology is the key to promote the popularization of GPU computing. With MUSA architecture as the core, Moore Thread released a complete MUSA software stack to serve the vast number of developers and end users. MUSA software stack includes functional modules such as graphics rendering, multimedia, artificial intelligence, physical simulation, general computing, etc. It will cover from the bottom driver to GPU acceleration library, and then to application development kits customized for different industries. It is dedicated to meeting the application development needs in various industry scenarios.

MUSA development kit:Including MUSA general computing driver, MUSA compiler, AI operator library, general computing library, performance analysis tools, etc. Through the MUSA development kit, the majority of MUSA developers can develop, optimize and deploy various applications on desktop PCs, workstations, enterprise data centers, cloud platforms and distributed computer clusters based on Moore Thread multifunctional GPU.

CUDA ON MUSA:Moore Thread has developed a set of CUDA ON MUSA compatibility scheme for users who use CUDA language. Through two steps of compilation and running, CUDA source code can be run on Moore Thread MUSA architecture GPU.

MUSA user software:For the vast number of users, it provides multi-level series of software, including: drivers of different system platforms, PES and other platform software series; MUSA-based adaptive and deeply optimized AI framework, AI operator library, general computing library, optimization tools, containerized deployment runtime library, flexible split scheduling, etc. And cloud computing and application software series such as Digital Man, MT OCR and MT Smart Stream.

In order to make it easier for developers to obtain Moore Thread series software stacks, application solutions and technical support, Moore Thread Developer Website (https://developer.mthreads.com/) is officially launched. This website will be the MUSA software product release and download site, and also the MUSA technology exchange community. Moore Thread will build an open application and developer ecosystem around MUSA platform, and promote the prosperity and development of GPU ecology.

GPU is the key computing power needed by the current data center, and the application of cloud native technology in cloud computing, cloud desktop, cloud games and other fields is becoming more and more common. Therefore, Moore Thread released a series of GPU cloud native solutions based on Moore Thread’s innovative MT Mesh 2.0.

MT Mesh 2.0 can automatically allocate GPU computing and memory resources according to the cloud center application load, and realize the flexible expansion of GPU computing power. It can not only divide a GPU into multiple containers or virtual machines at will, but also support one container or virtual machine to schedule multiple GPUs.

Flexible containerized GPU (sGPU): Based on Kubernetes ecology, MT Mesh 2.0 is used to flexibly and effectively allocate containerized GPU resources.

Virtual GPU(vGPU): Using MT Mesh 2.0, it pioneered the resource elastic segmentation technology in the industry, which can dynamically allocate and modify GPU virtualization resources without restarting, and realize the on-demand call, dynamic expansion and release of computing power. The new "time-space split" feature is introduced, which supports hardware virtualization (SR-IOV), secure physical partitioning, up to 32-way virtualization, Windows cloud desktop GPU virtualization, and GPU pass-through of Unified Communications and Kirin operating systems.

Android container cloud acceleration technology ACX: Using GPU Android container transparent transmission technology and rendering coding integration technology can accelerate Android cloud mobile phone solution, reduce application delay and increase the number of concurrent channels. By natively supporting OpenGL ES, OpenGL rendering framework, and hardware acceleration of Android game material compression algorithms such as ETC/ETC2, better rendering effect and compatibility of Android cloud games can be provided.

Cloud and cloud games are important application scenarios of GPU in the cloud. Moore Thread has cooperated with many cloud desktop eco-partners to provide cost-effective cloud desktop solutions, serving the vast number of users in education, office, finance, geographic information and other industries. In the field of cloud games, Moore Thread and Tencent Pioneer have jointly created a leading cloud game solution for Android, and jointly created an excellent cloud game solution for PC with C-TREK Times, and are committed to bringing high-quality and smooth cloud game experience to the majority of game lovers.

At this conference, Moore Thread also released the MTVERSE Metauniverse platform and many software and hardware products specially built for Metauniverse applications, including the MCCX Metacomputing All-in-One Machine based on MTT S3000.

Based on Moor Thread MUSA GPU cluster, MTVERSE provides users with computing infrastructure services, including big data, AI training and reasoning, graphics rendering and physical simulation. It provides full-stack solutions from hardware cluster, software infrastructure to SDK tool chain, covering many core elements such as people, scenes and content in meta-universe. On the other hand, the massive SDK tools on the upper layer can help developers and applications conveniently call these capabilities, and realize a series of functions such as digital people, document understanding, speech recognition, visual recognition, natural semantic understanding, dialogue interaction, physical simulation, AIGC content generation, etc., further simplifying the development cycle and difficulty of applications and solutions.

Upgrade of AlphaCore physical simulation engine:Two new physical simulation products are added, including Flood Dynamics, a liquid interactive simulation tool, and Storm System;, a meteorological and cloud dynamics simulation tool; The effect and efficiency of gas and fluid simulation tool CatalystFX and cloth hair making tool VeraFiber have been comprehensively improved. Moore announced the deep integration with RaysEngine, the cloud native rendering engine, to realize digital twin real-time 3D rendering and physical simulation, and to make more realistic digital scenes.

DIGITALME digital person solution upgrade:Build a complete production line of digital people, including Nuwa’s digital life maker, Painted Skin’s expression driving engine, Suiying’s digital people’s action driving engine, and on-demand digital people’s dialogue system.

AIGC content generator ma Liang:It supports bilingual graphic generation and editing in Chinese and English, provides users with a zero threshold AIGC creation platform, and helps the integration of science and technology and humanities. Moore also cooperated with Yunnan Arts University to provide end-to-end "computing power and algorithm" solutions for artists, jointly set up "AI Art Creation Laboratory of Design Institute", and set up Maliang course to train design students and help artistic creation.

MCCX all-in-one computing machine:The purpose is to provide powerful and easy-to-use meta-computing power. For the meta-computing power application scenarios such as AI, rendering, coding and decoding, MCCX has designed a reasonable system architecture and resource ratio to provide users with cost-effective meta-computing power hardware solutions; By means of integrated delivery of software and hardware, a complete basic software stack, development environment, AI and rendering framework are preset, which supports one-click application deployment and upgrade, and realizes out-of-the-box meta-computing computing power.