Sharing Economy

The sharing economy refers to systems that enable owners to provide their unused resources for those who need the products and pay to use them. This is a new business model born in the context of the development of the internet.

The sharing economy is a new concept that challenges the traditional ideas of consumption. In many countries， two big names come to mind when thinking of the sharing economy： Uber for ridesharing and AirBNB for lodging. In China， leading brands of the sharing economy include ridesharing company Didi Taxi and short-term rental service Xiaozhu， amongst many others.

Recently， the National Infor- mation Center and the sharingeconomy working committee under the Internet Society of China jointly released the country’s first report on the development of the sharing economy， indicating that China’s sharing-economy market was worth almost 2 trillion yuan（$307 billion） in 2015 and involved 500 million participants. The report forecasts that the market will account for about 10 percent of China’s GDP by 2020. By applying technological strengths， this new sharing model aims to achieve optimal resource allocation and reduce energy consumption， which has helped it rapidly penetrate many fields and market segments.

The sharing economy focuses on the efficient usage of resources rather than ownership. It also helps drive innovation and promotes greater participation from the public， energizing mass entrepreneurship and innovation. In documents released by the CPC Central Committee in 2015， developing the sharing economy was first proposed by the government. In the Report on the Work of the Government （2016）， “boosting the development of a sharing economy” and“giving support to the development of a sharing economy” was stressed. This indicates that China not only highly values the sharing economy， but also holds a firm position and a distinctive attitude about it.