I have a particularly fun update. I'm in China right now, in Chongqing. It's a massive cyberpunk city with insane skyscrapers and LED lights as far as the eye can see, and it's the largest city in the world by municipality (~32 million people).
Now, how does an eight dimensional city (literally, this city has levels) not collapse under its own weight? As someone who loves studying and implementing systems of technology, economy, etc. this feels like the final boss of cities to me.
One of the biggest things that stood out to me: payments. You may or (more likely) have not heard of Alipay, China's premier everything-app. To pay, you literally link your bank/card, and every time you want to pay, Alipay creates an on-demand rotating QR/barcode for you to pay a vendor. It's incredibly clever, but it basically shifts the burden of speed from bank acceptance and fractured providers to centralized server acceptance - the latter being noticeably faster than the former.
I don't think it's possible to describe what it feels like to get an extra second or two when you check out somewhere. This works for individuals and businesses too. I haven't had to touch a physical credit card yet in everyday travel as everything has been through Alipay, and just to give you an idea, here's what the app looks like:
My initial instinct from a software perspective when I saw this app was that it was incredibly dense, but then it kicked in - I could watch shortform videos and DM people in the same platform I can pay people and buy/register e-sims without ever leaving the app. In America, Elon is noted for trying to do the same with the Twitter/X platform (especially due to its large existing audience).
My second surprise came when I saw a Luckin Coffee - its essentially the Starbucks of China (and its incredibly successful). At all it's locations, it emphasizes online ordering: I can literally search in Alipay my nearest Luckin and make an order through there. While many traditional cafes exist, this is one of the strongest examples of efficiency I've seen.
I thought New York coffee places served it quick and hot to you with no fuss. China is on a whole other level. A few articles ago, I talked about fixed versus non-fixed prices in merchant marketplaces, and during that time, I've never used a society-level app like Alipay. This is the other half of that system spectrum - one where everyone uses the same one so cohesively that everyday life would literally be lost without it.
I think a system like this is also what enables, or at least removes caps on Chongqing's massive growth. Other cities in China also benefit from these network effects as well. Don't get me started on Chinese cars - those are incredible.
Let me know what you think.
Be well,
Michael Kirsanov