Shen Bing paused, then said, "That was on the schedule too? Nobody told me! Aren't you throwing me in at the deep end?"
Zhou Hong looked surprised. "Not really, is it? You just have to talk about your understanding of your field and your ideas. Don't you discuss these things at your company meetings?"
Shen Bing shrugged. "I don't hold meetings very often."
Zhou Hong raised a finger, then lowered it again. He suspected that when Shen Bing said he didn't hold meetings very often, he really meant it.
"If you don't want to go up, just tell the staff. Plenty of people are speaking anyway," Zhou Hong finally managed to say.
Shen Bing thought for a moment. "Forget it. Since it's already arranged, there's no harm in saying a few words onstage. I can't let the Americans think I don't even have the guts to get up there."
The corners of Zhou Hong's mouth lifted slightly, as though he had expected that answer.
The first speaker to take the stage was Niu Yu, chairman of Taobao's board of directors, representing Huaxia.
He was a big shot even on the world stage. Taobao had contributed enormously to the flourishing development of mobile payments in Huaxia. Even American citizens now envied how convenient mobile payments were there. You could use them even when buying vegetables at a wet market.
Taobao also carried considerable weight in international payments.
Its achievements in online shopping and big data were likewise among the best in the world.
Niu Yu was a polished speaker, with a real knack for serving up inspirational platitudes.
His speech went from establishing a world-class payment system to building a global credit system, then on to globalized trade, sketching an incredibly beautiful vision of harmony and integration. Perhaps this was also