Shared bikes (file photo)

Anyone who had left China for a few months and recently came back would be amazed by the colorful bike-sharing services that are booming all over the streets in China. The environmental friendly transportation has become the most fashionable way of commute in the metropolitan areas. Bike-sharing service changed people’s daily life and reshaped the public transportation system in the city only in last ten months. It has been named one of the Four Great Inventions of China in the 21st century by a lot of foreign visitors to China.

Apart from bike sharing, new sharing businesses including mobile chargers and basketballs are emerging every day. China is embracing the boom of its sharing economy. Although some business models still need to pass the market test, the huge potentiality of the sharing economy should not be ignored. China has a unique ground for sharing economy to prosper. The resource allocation efficiency, Chinese young people’s recognition of the shared assets and the convenient mobile payment system all support the booming of the sharing economy in China.

Innovation often comes with problems. First, new challenges are raised against the existing laws and regulations. The sharing economy poses new problems for city management. Where to place the used bikes on the street, how to manage the rental deposit and how to secure customers’ personal information, questions like such need to be answered. Second, being overly hyped up may put the sharing economy under the risk of becoming bubbles. Developing new things won’t be smooth. Chinese government and related enterprises have come to join their hands to set up new rules for the sharing economy that can not only regulate the management, but also leave ample space for the innovation to grow.

(This commentary is from the editorial board of the People's Daily)