Chinese apps gain popularity across Asia

BEIJING - Mobile payment, online shopping, entertainment, dining and beyond -- Chinese apps have been catching on with consumers across Asia.

App Annie, an analyst firm, said Chinese apps for e-commerce, social media and leisure have gained strong growth in Asian countries, and their users have been expanding.

In 2018, the number of downloads of shopping apps grew 54 percent compared with the figure in 2017, the firm said.

These technologies have facilitated exchange and dialogue between nations in Asia. Beijing will host the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations (CDAC) from May 15 to 22.

In August 2018 during the Asian Games, Beijing-based ByteDance, known for its short video sharing app TikTok, called on its users to publish videos to pass on the spirit of the Asian Games.

Since TikTok was launched in 2017, its users have grown exponentially in countries such as Japan, Thailand and Indonesia, the company said.

In the field of mobile payment, Ant Financial has cooperated with Paytm in India, Kakao Pay in the Republic of Korea, DANA in Indonesia and Easypaisa in Pakistan to serve users in these Asian countries.

Ant Financial executive chairman Jing Xiandong said China's experiences in e-commerce and digital economy can be replicated in many countries along the Belt and Road.

The number of Asian users on Aliexpress, the global retail platform, has also expanded rapidly.

Company data shows that over 20 million buyers in central and southern Asia make purchases on the platform. Buyers in Kyrgyzstan grew fourfold in three years. They mainly buy clothing, consumer electronics and cosmetics, Aliexpress said.

Another Chinese firm Meituan-Dianping, which specializes in group buying of consumer products and food delivery services, covered 4.23 million businesses in 380 cities along the Belt and Road, according to figures by April 11, 2019.

The company has helped restaurant owners in popular tourist destinations in Asia to renovate and attract customers.