The term “leapfrogging,” like “sustainable development” or “social corporate responsibility,” is a frequently tossed-around buzzword these days. Tech companies or international aid organizations use the word leapfrogging to describe the phenomenon of a community or country, usually impoverished and in the Global South, departing from the more traditional path of technological growth and instead advancing from a less developed society straight to the newest and most innovative means of communication, business, or agriculture.
As a science, technology, and international affairs major, I have studied cases of agricultural leapfrogging in Zimbabwe and technological leapfrogging in India. However, I have also read articles disputing the term’s widespread application and denying that the phenomenon exists. Before arriving in China, therefore, I did not really believe that leapfrogging was as prevalent as the international development community makes it out to be. But then I moved to a college campus in Hangzhou, China, a fast-developing city on China’s southeastern coast.
Having been to China on a 10-day trip with my high school Chinese classmates in 2012, I thought I knew what to expect. Five years, I arrogantly believed, was not long enough for major changes to take place. Since 2012, though, Chinese culture has truly leapfrogged.
On my last visit to China, cars and rickshaws clogged major roads in Beijing and Shanghai. Carts piled high with garbage were prevalent, and most public bathrooms were just holes in the ground. China was a completely cash-based economy; large indoor grocery stores and government-operated tourist souvenir shops, let alone street vendors or restaurant owners, would not accept credit cards. Many restaurants were still stalls on the side of the road. Almost no one owned cell phones, and iPhones were unattainable dreams. Five years ago, China’s standard of living surprised my naïve 14-year-old self.
Today, though, every other building in China’s cities is a bank or a cell phone provider’s storefront. Ritzy coffee shop chains with overpriced coffee are easy to find, and Starbucks is always packed. Street food stalls have mostly disappeared, replaced by small restaurants in solid buildings or milk tea, noodles, or dumpling takeout counters. Dairy Queen, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, and McDonald’s are prevalent, and almost every restaurant, no matter how old or small, now advertises its own free Wi-Fi.
Most notably, though, Chinese society has gone almost completely digital. Forget about bank cards—China went from cash straight to their phones. Going about my daily life on Zhejiang University of Technology’s campus, I do not even carry cash. I just pull out my phone, open one of the many apps that lets me pay for things, scan the vendor’s barcode, and transfer money directly from my bank account to the vendor’s phone. Chinese societal development completely skipped the awkward credit and debit card phase, in which Americans are still stuck. Chinese people have completely leapfrogged over the antiquated practice of pulling out a bank card, which can be easily lost, stolen, or eaten by an ATM, instead going straight from cash to the digital age.
Chinese society has embraced its soaring technological development and the twenty-first century digital culture. The older generation in America often decries our dependence on our phones and laments the erosion of deep personal relationships among millennials. But here, if you do not own a smartphone, it is almost impossible to function in society. Because the government blocks so many commonly used apps, China has created its own digital world of apps, smartphone games, and technological gadgets for its citizens.
Students order food through an app called, “are you hungry?” They prefer to shop online on China’s version of Amazon instead of going to malls. Student also use a texting app called WeChat for everything from messaging to Snapchat to Instagram to Venmo. I communicate with my teachers through WeChat, and it is common to see whole families or groups of friends at restaurants, simultaneously eating and playing video games on their phones.
The digital age arrived in China so quickly, and so thoroughly permeated Chinese society, that there was no time for the older generation to fight back against the change. Instead, Chinese city-dwellers have embraced the change, integrating this new digital age into their society and connecting through their phones.