Ren Zhengfei

AsianFin -- China's telecom giant Huawei's founder Ren Zhengfei has recently emphasize that Chinese entrepreneurs should learn from their peers in the United States and artificial intelligence is an unstoppable trend.

Ren said that Japan is a remarkable country, leading the world in materials science, precision components, and precision machinery manufacturing, as well as in areas like Ippudo and Hakata ramen. In the AI era, this can further promote Japan's development.

At the same time, he pointed out that Russia is a very great country, excelling in mathematics, physics, and chemistry. Countries like France and the United States are also very great. Therefore, the ICPC competition is conducive to promoting cultural, scientific, and technological exchanges between different countries. Additionally, Romania is a beautiful country, with its delta wetlands being the most beautiful paradise. It is also a great country in terms of science and technology. Our English-speaking technical center is established in Romania.

Moreover, Reni also believes that the United States is a country with very advanced science and technology, which is attributed to its openness and inclusiveness. Over the past two hundred years, the United States has transformed from a very backward country into a very developed one due to its openness and inclusiveness. Talents from all over the world go to the United States to innovate, bringing cultural diversity, social diversity, and scientific and technological diversity, which has created a great America. The United States has set an example for all countries and companies around the world, which is that openness is essential. If a country becomes closed, it will fall behind. Huawei must learn from the openness and inclusiveness of the United States.

Speaking about the development of AI technology, Ren candidly stated that the global trend towards AI is unstoppable. The advancement of various technologies such as chips and computing power has facilitated the arrival of the intelligent era, much like how the invention of trains, textile machinery, and ships in Britain marked a turning point in history. The current turning point is the application of AI.

"From the perspective of the common challenges faced by humanity in the current world development, the rapid development of AI is beneficial to society, but it also puts pressure on it," Ren stated.

Ren mentioned that after watching Schmidt's speech at Stanford University, they established many "nimble and agile task forces" to promote AI. The name "nimble and agile" was suggested by Schmidt. Recently, everyone has been learning from Jensen Huang of NVIDIA's speech at Goldman Sachs, listening to what he had to say. "Therefore, this is a form of social exchange, not entirely for personal gain. We always aim to make some supportive contributions to society. This contribution is beneficial to others and to us. You give us a lot of pressure, which helps to break down our internal 'feudal fortresses.'"

Speaking about young entrepreneurs, Ren believes that if young people want to start a business, they should pursue their dreams without regret, even if it means becoming a beggar. The founder of ByteDance (Zhang Yiming) also faced significant difficulties at the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey, struggling to find a path and almost falling into a very challenging situation. However, ByteDance eventually became one of the greatest companies in the world. So, entrepreneurship is not fun; one should only pursue it when there is no other path.

Speaking about Huawei, Ren stated, "We are still struggling. Our internal discussions are not on the same level as our conversations with you. Internally, we are still talking about how to overcome many difficulties."

Public information shows that ICPC is an international collegiate programming contest initiated and organized by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in 1970. It is an annual competition aimed at showcasing university students' innovation capabilities, team spirit, and abilities to write programs, analyze, and solve problems under pressure. After more than 40 years of development, the International Collegiate Programming Contest has become the most influential university computer competition and is known as the Olympics of the software field.

Here is the transcript of the Q & A:

Host: Welcome to the ICPC Foundation Chairman, all the coaches and students, as well as experts and leaders. This is our second discussion here; last year we held the ICPC Huawei Champion Cup Challenge, and this year is the second edition. Before the competition, we have this great opportunity to sit down and have a free exchange and discussion.

Ren: Thank you to all the coaches and contestants for visiting Huawei. We are very honored to host you here today. I am not very familiar with the specifics of the competition, but you can ask questions, and I will answer them.

1. Question: Mr. Ren, hello. We had a very pleasant conversation when we met last year, and I found that we had a similar idea: young people should come together to shine. You mentioned at that time that you hoped we could meet and discuss with students from China and different parts of the world. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to have a discussion with everyone. Today, I am not here to ask specific questions, but mainly to hear your opinions on our community and any insights you might have.

Ren: Thank you for coming today. You are all like "seeds" that can take the content of our exchange back to your countries, take root, sprout, blossom, and bear fruit. Together, we promote the development and prosperity of human society.

2. Question: I am from Japan, and this is my first time attending the ICPC Huawei Cup Challenge. I am very pleased to participate in such a global event. In Japan, students also have the opportunity to participate in ICPC, especially those who are excellent in programming. However, I want to share a headache regarding competitive programming contests: these students usually write a small program in a very short time, and they may lose interest in applying their skills to solve real social problems. How can we use these programming skills to improve human information technology applications? The ICPC Huawei Challenge is excellent as it allows them to understand what global issues people are interested in. I am very happy that Japanese students were also invited to today's discussion and to participate in the challenge. I hope it can continue to be organized in the future with a longer duration.

Ren: Japan is a great country, whether in material science, precision components, and precision machinery manufacturing, or in areas like Ippudo, Hakata ramen... it is leading in the world. In the era of artificial intelligence, it can further promote Japan's development.

Although there may be few participants from Japan today, we have made friends. You can keep in touch through email and other means, making the world actually very small; you can communicate and spread information anytime and anywhere using electronic means, making this era faster. As everyone knows, Europe invented trains and ships back then, speeding up Europe's pace, while China was still slowly moving with ox carts, without even complete roads. This is why the West led China by hundreds of years in the industrial era. But today, in the information age, the Earth has become smaller. An entrepreneur once said that the world has become a village, and villagers can drink coffee together and absorb cosmic energy. However, we might be thousands of miles apart, sharing coffee time remotely, each drinking a cup in front of the screen, and cosmic energy can still enter everyone's mind. You have also made excellent young friends worldwide. Today, the speed of information also marks the economic development speed of a region.

Huawei will do our best to continue supporting such competitions. Not only ICPC but also other global university competitions in mathematics, physics, chemistry, information... in more disciplines, we will continue to organize and participate in such activities to contribute a little to social development. These activities are beneficial to the world and promote the internal circulation of our company. A cup of coffee absorbs cosmic energy, and we can absorb energy from each other. We will make joint efforts to contribute to the prosperity of world development.

3. Question: It's a rare opportunity to meet you. Everyone here today is familiar with the format of our challenge competition. Many of our participants have been part of this event for three to five years. Could you tell us, what is the biggest challenge humanity faces today? If Huawei or ICPC could help, what contributions can we make, and what major challenges can we solve together?

Ren: Russia is a very great country, especially in mathematics, physics, and chemistry. France, the United States, and other countries are also very great, so the ICPC competition is beneficial for promoting cultural, scientific, and technological exchanges between different countries. I want to thank Nika, with whom I had a cup of coffee by the Moskva River seven or eight years ago. At that time, I didn't know this young lady was the leader of ICPC, and from then on, I got to know ICPC and began to strengthen our connection, leading to deep cooperation in recent years. Before that, I didn't know about ICPC, only that Russia had many world champions in computer programming.

Looking at the common challenges humanity faces in the current world development, the rapid development of artificial intelligence is beneficial to society but also puts pressure on it. Countries require employment, and enterprises require development, which is contradictory, but this is a social issue, not something for us to worry about. Our concern as a company is how to let technology promote social progress, while the issue of social balance needs to be resolved by the government. In the course of human social development, any progress comes with challenges. For example, in the UK, when textile machinery was invented, textile workers wanted to destroy those machines, but that didn't stop social progress. Now, most of the high-quality fabrics we wear are still produced in the UK, and the base of precision textile industry is still in the UK. As technology experts, we cannot solve social problems; we can promote technological progress and create more wealth, but how society distributes it is a question for the government to consider.

4. Question: I am from Romania, and perhaps our country's development in the digital world is not as advanced yet. I would like to know about Huawei's story, for example, stories about making important decisions at critical moments. Could you share some with us?

Ren: Romania is a beautiful country. Your delta marshes are the most beautiful paradise, and you are also a great country in terms of science and technology. Our English-speaking technology center is built in Romania. For example, in some remote villages around the world, when a base station engineer is installing equipment, he wears smart glasses, through which he can see where to connect the cables, which wire connects to which wire; after the base station is installed, he takes a photo next to the base station and sends it to the technology center in Romania; the experts at the technology center automatically check this picture to see if the lines are installed correctly. If they are, the software can be loaded. In this way, base station equipment in remote places thousands of kilometers away can be activated. The information of the on-site engineer is recorded in the file, responsible for the subsequent maintenance of the equipment.

Our Spanish-speaking technology center is built in Mexico, and our Arabic-speaking technology center is located in Egypt. We solve communication problems for customers in different countries through global services, rather than establishing a local center in each country, which would be very costly. Remote service is possible due to the development of telecommunications and smart technology. We can judge whether a device is installed correctly without going to the site, but rather remotely from thousands of kilometers away.

5. Question: I am also from Romania. I know that Huawei has many research centers around the world, and they speak different languages. Do you think language is a barrier that prevents people in different places at Huawei from communicating or sharing information efficiently? How does Huawei solve this language barrier?

Ren: They might use their local language when drinking coffee, but they all use English at work, including Russian employees, Arab employees, African employees, Chinese employees, etc. So, we have only one standard language at work, which is English. Everyone speaks English very well, except me.

6. Question: I am from France. As the younger generation, we need to constantly push the frontiers of technology. What we are doing now might already have been realized. How can we push the frontiers of research further? Huawei has made great contributions in this regard, and I would like to hear your views on pushing the frontiers of technology.

Ren: First of all, France established itself as a nation of mathematics during the Napoleonic era, so French mathematics is very strong. We have two mathematics research institutes in France: one focuses on photography, which mainly involves mathematics and not just physics; the other is the Lagrange Mathematics Center, where some Fields Medal winners work, and some have collaborations with this institute. They study mathematical problems that may arise in computing over the next 10-20 years, rather than focusing on immediate issues. France is a very forward-thinking and leading country.

Secondly, everyone now sees that Huawei's products are very beautiful. Who dressed them up so beautifully? Our aesthetics research institutes in France and Italy also participated in this work. More than twenty years ago, we established this aesthetics research institute in France. Today, everyone can see that our products are very beautiful, and some of these products were designed in France. France has a very strong understanding of luxury goods. Additionally, we established an aesthetics research institute in Italy, which should actually be called an art research institute in France. Aesthetics is a kind of philosophy. The Italian aesthetics institute actually studies a philosophy of beauty, which involves ergonomics and marketing psychology. It studies the key factors of human experience and how people's psychology works, and then designs products that the public can accept. We do not just mechanically manufacture a product; instead, we design products through the research and derivation process of psychology and aesthetics, and then realize them through mathematics, physics, electronics, etc., to make good products that can be marketable and contribute to the world.

Regarding forward-looking issues, from the past industrial revolution to the intelligent revolution, challenges will arise. The main philosophy of the industrial revolution era was metaphysics, which is mechanical materialism, and it produced many theorems and formulas, enabling Europe, Japan, etc., to create many excellent engineering machines that served the world. In the future, entering the information world will require a higher level of philosophy to study the realization of the world. I do not understand artificial intelligence. Yuval Harari says it will produce a soul, but his book is too advanced, talking about things two thousand years from now. He might be saying that artificial intelligence will produce a wise soul. If artificial intelligence can self-replicate, what will happen to us humans? How far forward can we go? I do not know. But I believe that within thirty years, it will not appear, and we still need humans to create this world, just with fewer people.

7. Question: I am from Peking University. I have two questions: First, what reforms do you think should be made to the current education system for the education of the next generation? Second, we have a concern that today the students present are the best, and we face a balance and dilemma in education. If we teach the best students even better, will it cause students in remote or underdeveloped areas to fall further behind? How should we achieve this balance? How can education develop evenly?

Ren: I believe children must be happy and have a bit of vitality, discovering their potential through happiness. The education system should be more tolerant of children, allowing for some differentiation. With today's advanced networks, rural areas can use online platforms for education, bridging the knowledge gap, and they can also learn about the most advanced things in the world. Now there are advanced computing tools, and much knowledge can be looked up, so children mainly need to learn methodologies. Students should be happy and psychologically comfortable, which leads to a peaceful society. Not everyone can create for society, but everyone should abide by the law and contribute a little to society. Only a few outstanding people might become pillars of society; these people study hard, live hard, and endure hardships throughout their lives. They are the ones who ignite the spark of the new world, carrying the torch to illuminate it, and thus bear more responsibility. I strongly support certain prestigious universities' admission criteria, where the first two interview questions are "Have you ever cared for orphans? Have you ever cared for the elderly living alone?" If not, you have not fulfilled your social responsibility. These prestigious universities cultivate corporate leaders, national leaders, social leaders... If you don't love society and only aim to earn more money, you are a destroyer of social values, not a builder of society.

I support electronic exams, which can be taken anywhere in the world. You can use computers or other tools to help solve problems. Learning ability can be assessed through interviews, which can also be conducted electronically. We currently emphasize outdated methods, rote memorization, consuming a lot of children's energy to remember unnecessary things that can easily be found online. Someone told me yesterday that some children around 10 years old use ChatGPT in one hand and Doubao in the other, discussing a problem using two AI models, essentially debating with themselves. Aren't such children potential geniuses of the future?

Our society should allow children of all kinds to grow up happily. Every child should choose at least one hobby in music, dance, sports, etc. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Education must ensure that children have a joyful spirit, and happiness should not be centered around money. The majority of people find joy in their work, rather than comparing wealth and causing themselves stress. Such an educational system can gradually lead to a harmonious society, where fewer conflicts arise, making society a better place. This is my simple understanding.

8. Question: I started participating in ICPC in 2017 and am now pursuing a PhD abroad. As a contestant and coach, I can feel that Huawei's support for competitions in the past two or three years has been significant. In your opinion, what is your view on talents with a competition background, and what are your expectations for their future? Why does Huawei place such importance on competitions?

Ren: I just mentioned the admission standards of certain prestigious universities. The entrance exam scores of admitted students are generally very high, but it's not just about the scores; an important criterion is to love this society. Our support for competitions has no ulterior motives; we simply hope to enhance more exchanges. Some of the things we have created, such as Euler, HarmonyOS, and some open-source software, are fully open. Like the United States, we have many open and open-source initiatives that promote technological progress. HarmonyOS and Euler are open-source; some systems are open but not open-source, but most are both open and open-source. Our main goal is to promote exchange. After exchanges, if you find it beneficial for your country or society, you can request the teaching materials. However, the teaching materials are not ours; they belong to the copyright holders, such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, etc. When they provide you with the materials, you may need to respect others' copyrights, etc., which is also open.

We mainly embody the openness of value and promote social progress. Of course, in this process, we also absorb a kind of energy from you, which drives us to change. We often look at various information from society and learn from the outside. Recently, after watching Schmidt's speech at Stanford University, we established many "small agile task forces" to promote artificial intelligence. The name "small agile" was suggested by Schmidt. A few days ago, we listened to Jensen Huang's speech at Goldman Sachs, and we are all learning, listening to what he said, and of course, we also listen to what you young people have to say.

Therefore, we are a form of social interaction, not entirely self-serving. We always need to make some contributions to society. These contributions benefit others as well as ourselves. You put a lot of pressure on us, which helps to break down our internal "feudal barriers."

9. Question: First of all, thank you very much for your guidance. You are a good example. How can we help students develop themselves in this process and become future leaders? Huawei was originally a local Chinese company and later became a global leader, operating in more than 100 countries and regions worldwide. How do you develop talent? You have over 200,000 employees who speak different languages. Do you have any projects or technologies to help them? For example, categorizing them to cultivate different skill sets. There are many talents present, they sit together, get to know each other, and establish social connections. I would like to know the secret of Huawei's talent development and how we can help our young talents become the pillars of the next generation through such projects.

Ren: We have established so many capability centers and research centers around the world through two or three decades of exploration. Einstein invented the theory of relativity in his twenties, and it took over a hundred years for this theory to be proven correct. When Einstein was at Princeton University, he longed to have coffee with others because he was too lonely. He couldn't constantly create, making life full of formulas. When he had coffee with others, he couldn't understand what they were saying because he didn't understand society, just like when we have coffee with young people today, we can't understand what they are saying because they are a new generation with a different way of expressing themselves. Similarly, others didn't understand what this great person meant by "gravitational field." Everyone couldn't understand each other, but at least they had coffee, and Einstein solved his loneliness problem. We also understood this world through two or three decades of exploration.

We also don't understand the language of Fields Medal mathematicians. When I communicated with them in Paris, I brought along a translator. This translator wasn't for English, but for technical terms. Even when the technical expert explained it to me, I didn't fully grasp the mathematical problems the professor was discussing, or how this figure relates to the future. But we allowed him to "talk nonsense" and continued to provide financial support. If one day we find that his "nonsense" actually makes sense and leads to reforms in our products, then it will be worth it. The things that the new generation says and does were incomprehensible to us before, but gradually we began to understand. It's like listening to a fairy tale; at first, you don't know what it's about, but slowly, as you practice, you start to understand. We then slowly piece things together, which requires quite a long time for mutual understanding, rather than any secrets.

10. Question: I'm from the United States. Huawei is a global enterprise and is now caught in the disputes of major powers, which might affect it in the future. How have you been able to build such technological strength step by step?

Ren: No matter how the world disputes, theory is open because scientific research knows no borders. What has borders are engineering and technology. In terms of engineering and technology, enterprises might not be open. For example, the brake pads of German high-speed trains have no papers or patents. If China wants to buy brake pads, it needs to send the old ones to Germany, and only then will Germany sell us new ones.

The United States is a country with very advanced science and technology, which benefits from its openness and inclusiveness. Over the past two hundred years, the U.S. has transformed from a very backward country to a very developed one, due to its openness and inclusiveness. Global talents go to the U.S. to innovate, bringing cultural diversity, social diversity, and scientific and technological diversity, creating a great America. The U.S. sets an example for all countries and companies worldwide, which is that openness is necessary; if you close yourself off, you will fall behind. Huawei needs to learn openness and inclusiveness from the U.S.

11. Question: I'm from Belarus. I'd like to know how you arrange your personal time? I know your leisure time is actually very important. How do you arrange your personal time?

Ren: My biggest shortcoming is that I don't have any personal hobbies. I was quite mischievous as a child, dabbling here and there. Due to poor family economic conditions, I never developed a real hobby. If you insist on asking about my hobbies, my leisure time is rather lonely. Sometimes I might read a book or browse the internet, see what young people are talking about, so that when I talk to young people, they know I understand their language, and they are willing to have coffee with me. I learn internet slang online, and I can understand the language system of young people, which allows me to communicate with them effectively.

12. Question: Hello, I am from Poland. Today I saw the practical application of remote control technology in Huawei's exhibition hall. Many countries do not allow the use of these technologies. My question is, how can technology develop better and benefit society when facing such regulatory issues?

Ren: Our database is located in the local country and is subject to local regulations. You mentioned remote control; we operate data locally and need to get permission from the country and the local operators. They open the gateway for us to provide services. We comply with the country's regulations and do not act arbitrarily.

Poland is very strong in mathematics and is a great country. Besides Madame Curie, Copernicus, Chopin, Banach, etc., there are many other great scientists. Therefore, we have established a research institute in Poland, and the Polish research institute is also very strong. I am not very familiar with their specific business, but I know Jan Madey, the vice president of the University of Warsaw, very well because he was recommended to me by Harry Shum as a very strong coach. We met not long ago.

13. Question: Hello Mr. Ren, I am very curious about what it is like to start a company. Is it fun? If young people want to start a business, what advice and suggestions would you give them?

Ren: If, when I transitioned from the military, I had been given a small official position, I might not have started a business. Entrepreneurship is not fun; it is a necessity driven by life circumstances. Starting a business means solving the problem of feeding your wife and children. If they have no food to eat, entrepreneurship is not fun. During our time, it was very tough; we couldn't make money and had no other options. Therefore, entrepreneurship is not for happiness.

If young people want to start a business, they must pursue their dreams without regret, even if it means becoming a beggar. The founder of ByteDance also faced great difficulties at the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey, stumbling along without a clear path and almost falling into a very difficult situation. But in the end, ByteDance became one of the greatest companies in the world. So, entrepreneurship is not fun; it is a path taken when there are no other options.

14, Question: Hello, I am from Sweden. I would like to know your views on the future of AI. Will it replace human jobs as a tool and give people more time to enjoy life?

Ren: The trend towards artificial intelligence in the world is unstoppable. The development of various technologies such as chips and computing power has promoted the arrival of the intelligent era, just like the invention of trains, textile machinery, and steamships in Britain, which marked a turning point in history. The turning point of this era is the application of artificial intelligence. If you have the opportunity to visit Tianjin Port in China, from loading ships, transporting, stacking, to passing through customs, on more than a hundred square kilometers of land, you will hardly see a single person. Steelmaking used to be very tough, with intense heat, but now there are no people in front of the blast furnace or the rolling mill; previously, steel had to be ladled out to test its composition, but now you can judge the quality of the molten steel just by wearing glasses. Speaking of coal, artificial intelligence can now be used to mine coal hundreds of meters underground.

This era will certainly reduce the demand for human labor, but the total wealth created has increased, which can support those who are laid off. Those who are laid off will earn less money; those who work will earn more. The total social value increases due to technological progress, not decreases. Any country can only achieve a reasonable distribution of social wealth when the total wealth increases. This is a social issue, while we are discussing a technical issue.

15. Question: Huawei has also been sanctioned by the United States in recent years. As regional competition and conflicts intensify during technological development, what role do you think Huawei will play in the future?

Ren: The vast majority of companies have not been sanctioned by the United States. Open innovation is the main trend in the world. American technology and tools are excellent, so why not use them? We must use them. Huawei cannot use them, so we have no choice but to create our own tools. Open innovation is the main trend in the world. Open innovation and utilizing the advanced achievements of others is the real path for a company.

16. Question: Hello, I am from Bulgaria. It is foreseeable that there will be few job opportunities in the future market. How can we encourage students to become the ten percent who can find jobs in such an environment?

Ren: The roses in Bulgaria are very beautiful. The situation you mentioned will happen in the future, and the time window for creating income and opportunities is shrinking. But those present will not be unable to find jobs. As long as you feel adaptable, reasonable, and interested, you will find work. Adapting to new society and new challenges still requires learning. However, can people who cannot find jobs live happily? It is possible. Aren't people in Australia very happy? With abundant resources, everyone has an income, sunshine, and beaches, they are very happy. How can Chinese people be happy? By improving the quality of education and adapting to the trends of social development.

17. Question: I am from Argentina. The world has become smaller, and we can have coffee with people from all over the world. But I also found that during the pandemic, people were more shy online than in person. Huawei is very international, and I believe your team is also distributed globally. My question is, what do you think are the differences between remote work from various locations and everyone working in the same place? What is your view on face-to-face communication versus virtual communication?

Ren: Argentina is a beautiful country, and I have been there many times. I have eaten Argentine beef and drunk Argentine wine, which is inexpensive and of good quality.

Face-to-face communication is definitely better than online communication, but the world cannot always communicate face-to-face, so online communication will always exist. For example, we have three time zone centers for settlement: China, Romania, and Mexico. Initially, our settlement center was in Argentina because the costs were low there, and many settlement centers were located in Argentina to handle accounting for the world. Networking can save a lot of transportation and communication costs. Huawei's globalization has already solved this problem, including in Brazil. The laws in Brazil are extremely complex, and even lawyers find it very difficult to understand them. It took us 20 years to finally turn a profit in Brazil. We first implemented intelligent ERP management in Brazil, replacing manual operations with electronic operations to cope with Brazil's complex laws. Therefore, communication on the internet, once you get used to it, is fine.

Face-to-face communication is good, but if you can only communicate face-to-face, it is easy to become isolated and eventually turn into an island. It is better for you to be in your place and me in mine, drinking coffee online. The coffee in your hand is fragrant, and the coffee in my hand is also fragrant. My favorite coffee is Colombian coffee, and for this coffee, I went back to the hotel to have a second cup. There was a scientist in Ireland who did not want to work in Dublin and insisted on staying in his hometown. So we went to his hometown and built a research institute for this scientist, with an additional director and a secretary just to serve him. Polar codes for 5G are a great invention of human society, and the inventor is a professor from Turkey. He published a paper online, and after we analyzed it, we discovered that polar codes could be used in 5G, which greatly promoted the development of 5G. 5G has become a major industry, and we have done a lot of work in engineering.

18. Question: Hello Mr. Ren, I am from Tsinghua University. I previously heard you mention that you were influenced by some life pressures when you started your business. During the process, there might have been many wonderful cosmic energies guiding you to different places. Huawei, as a whole, has been subjected to some limitations from the real world. I am particularly curious, please imagine, Mr. Ren, in an ideal world where you can freely do anything you want, what would you most like to do, or what would your ideal life state be? In what state are you the happiest?

Ren: I envy you very much for never having experienced hunger and not knowing what hunger is. When we were young, we experienced hunger, and the dream of life at that time was to eat a steamed bun. For you, now you can have a steamed bun for dinner if you want, but in our era, we couldn't.

The era when I started my business was also a turning point for the entire era, as China shifted from a planned economy to a market economy. We transitioned from military service to becoming ordinary citizens, and we couldn't figure anything out, like how to make money. Even working for others wasn't an option, as that too was part of the market economy. We thought the market economy was full of opportunities. My entrepreneurship wasn't driven by ideals as people might imagine, it was simply to survive and have food to eat. At that time, it was out of necessity, without regrets, with no way back, only moving forward, and we couldn't even talk about dreams.

Even today, we can't say that we've secured our survival. 99% of Chinese companies can cooperate with the U.S.; they haven't been sanctioned. Their chip computing power is higher than ours, and they can buy better things than we can. Under such conditions, can we survive in the coming years? Don't be fooled by us gathering here today, thinking we have great dreams. No, we are still struggling. Our internal discussions are not on the same level as our chats with you; internally, we are still talking about overcoming many difficulties.

I admire you all greatly. Why? Think about it, when we were young, we never dreamed of getting into Tsinghua University. How could I dare to dream of Tsinghua? In our remote mountain area, being able to attend any university was a great achievement, let alone dreaming of Tsinghua or Peking University. It was simply impossible. You have such good conditions and will bear the mission of creating a new destiny for humanity in the future. You have a huge window of opportunity. You must fulfill your social responsibilities. In the future, even if you are not social or government leaders, you might become business leaders. You must love this society and contribute to it. A beautiful society is created together; you can't just be happy by putting money in your own pocket. I envy you young people for attending such good schools.

19. Question: Hello, Mr. Ren. I am from Mexico. A few months ago, our school performed a wonderful stage play about a priest who came to China to preach and learned many lessons from Chinese culture. I believe people are now very open and willing to learn from others. I'd like to hear your thoughts on what we should learn from Chinese culture?

Ren: Mexico is a great country. I have been to Cancun several times and visited the Mayan pyramids with my wife, but I still haven't fully understood Mayan civilization. I believe that Mexican civilization and Chinese civilization can certainly create new value. There are commonalities between Chinese civilization and world civilization. Chinese civilization was initially conservative, and it has lasted for five thousand years because of this conservatism. However, if conservatism is not broken, it cannot generate energy; external energy must be introduced. That's why Deng Xiaoping's reform and opening-up allowed external energy to come in. As soon as foreign investment came in, China quickly learned.

The clash of civilizations is not a conflict of interests; it sparks a flame of values. The trains and ships invented by the West lead to progress when used by China. You should try China's high-speed rail; it's very fast. The advancement of China's high-speed rail comes from the world's civilizations. Two months ago, I accompanied my wife to Guizhou to see bridges. Of the world's ten tallest bridges, six are in Guizhou. The high bridges, high-speed rail, and highways in Guizhou have connected the once "broken mountains and rivers" (a description of Guizhou's geographical environment, with valleys split open, previously called "no three miles of flat land") into elevated, prosperous plains.

If civilizations clash, it's not about one conquering another, but about mutual learning and jointly creating new values, each creating a happy living environment within their national borders. A hundred years ago, when the United Nations had not fully defined national borders, conflicts were significant. Now that national borders are fixed, civilizations should not clash but should jointly create new values. As I mentioned earlier, the mathematical equations for 5G technology come from Turkey, and much of the mathematical research in artificial intelligence comes from Russia, France, the United States, Canada... the algorithms of mathematicians. The magical symbols drawn by mathematicians can only be understood by the wise. Under the institutional environment of the United Nations, with each country's legal borders defined, civilizations should create new values, not rely on war to seize land.

World civilizations should jointly create value, rather than one civilization having to replace another—there's no need. Each country creates its own civilization, using currency as a bridge for equivalent exchange, gradually opening up through global free trade, and world civilizations are merging with each other.

20. Question: Mr. Ren, due to our education system, students in middle and elementary schools face certain restrictions when conducting research or participating in competitions like the ones we are doing now, as it might affect their academic performance and future educational opportunities. What is your view on this situation? Our algorithm competitions show a clear trend towards younger participants. Do you think middle and elementary school students should devote more energy to competitions or research, or should they first ensure good academic performance?

Ren: I am not involved in the education industry, so I am not well-versed in education, and I don't know how to answer your question.

Let me give an example. Do you know the author of "My Altay," Li Juan? Sometimes before I go to sleep at night, I listen to a few segments of her prose being read aloud, like a lullaby, and I fall asleep listening to it. Li Juan, as a child, couldn't afford to go to school and picked up scraps with her grandmother. She learned to read from the newspapers they collected, circling the few words she recognized and discovering a sentence, which became her life's enlightenment. She only has a middle school education, yet she has won almost all the major literary awards in China. Everyone reads her books aloud, and her works are spreading more and more widely. If I hadn't watched the TV series "My Altay," how would I have known about Li Juan? After watching the series, many people went to buy her books, and her writing is very beautiful. How is talent produced? It doesn't necessarily come from good grades.

I also don't know how to study well. I believe the most important thing for a child is to discover their strengths and grow around them, regardless of whether their weaknesses need to be addressed. If they can't be fixed, so be it. Look at Zheng Qinwen, who plays tennis well and sings well too. She focused and made breakthroughs without needing to develop comprehensively or pursue being a jack-of-all-trades, highlighting her greatest strengths. Wang Xinyu thought she had no hope of participating in the Olympic tennis competition, so she sent her racket and shoes away. An hour before the competition, while she was eating, she suddenly received a call asking, "The Olympics start in an hour, can you substitute and participate?" She went to compete and even won the mixed doubles runner-up. I believe opportunities exist, and people may encounter them by chance, but if you haven't put in the effort regularly, opportunities will be wasted when they come.

21. Question: Hello, Mr. Ren. I joined Huawei last year and learned about Huawei through the ICPC Challenge. During my work, may I ask, Mr. Ren, if I want to become the head of the research department in the future, or even reach your position, what opportunities do you think I should seize, or what qualities should I possess?

Ren: Haha, I can't answer that. How to reach my position? I think someone will eventually reach it because I will pass away sooner or later, and someone has to take this position. Whether it's you, I don't know. How to set this path, you can search for guidance!

22. Question: Huawei is very advanced in technology and can support remote meetings with communication technology. Do you prefer to communicate via remote meetings or face-to-face?

Ren: I think both options are fine. During our meetings, there are often people on video, and I first ask, "Are you online? Can you hear me?" As long as they reply that they are attending online, that's enough. Whether it's a remote meeting or a face-to-face meeting, feel free to enjoy your coffee. It's not easy for us to have a cup of coffee together, so enjoy it!

You're always welcome to visit. If you want to have coffee with me, just make an appointment. I don't have much to do usually, so as long as the secretary schedules it, I can have coffee with everyone. Don't be shy; it's rare to have so many people together, but there are plenty of opportunities to meet individually. Thank you all for coming!

(Author | Lin Zhijia, Editor | Hu Runfeng)