Yang Zhixing [Photo/China Today]

Yang Zhixing knows the foreign technologies inside out. He is certain of the excellence of the Chinese digital television standard. "It did not fail a single test!" he exclaimed, adding: "Of all the international standards, ours has been recognized as superior by all the countries that have tested it."

In Venezuela, the local test involved five criteria, and the Chinese standard ranked first in four. Thanks to its constant high performance, it is gradually gaining a solid reputation internationally.

Diffusion of advanced technologies

Competition between terrestrial digital television standards, which have strong political connotations, is not comparable to that between two brands of ordinary products. Beyond the choice of the norm, it must be regarded as a symbol of national sovereignty.

A national working group was established in September 2009, consisting of members from eight ministries, including the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the aim of disseminating the Chinese digital TV standard globally. At the same time, the National Digital Television Leading Group decided to submit the Chinese standard to the ITU for its approval.

In 2011, the ITU paid close attention to the Chinese standard. It established a technical group specifically to monitor the development of the DTMB system. Representatives from 78 countries participated in this group. Finally, the Chinese standard was commended for its high performance and was recognized as an international standard.

Yang Zhixing is cognizant of the impact of the spread of a standard on the whole industrial chain. "In the new economic era, standards are a way of exploring new markets. In international competition, standards are a powerful means of overcoming adversaries," he said.

Among the four systems of the first generation, the Chinese standard enjoys a significant advantage. This is why 14 countries and regions have now embraced the DTMB system in Asia, Africa and Latin America, covering nearly two billion people.

In addition to obtaining this precious status from the ITU, the superiority of this standard has earned Yang Zhixing and his group other honors, including the highest prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award in 2016.

According to Pan Changyong, a researcher who has been working for years on the establishment of Chinese technological standards, "We must distinguish two types of products in 'going global': goods from the more traditional manufacturing industry, such as laptops, televisions, shoes, and clothing; and standards, which are part of the export of advanced technologies."

In recent years, Europe has launched its second-generation international digital television standard, while Yang Zhixing and his group have upgraded the DTMB standard to DTMB-A. He now expects that in 2017, with the development of the Belt and Road Initiative, the industrial chain of the DTMB-A system will expand rapidly and that the Chinese standard will gain ground abroad.