In an announcement issued on Wednesday, China’s official Xinhua News Agency will issue its first collection of non-fungible tokens (NFT). This move is a tribute to the blockchain technology that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) previously avoided.In an official NoticeXinhua News Agency plans to publish 10,000 copies of 11 photos taken by reporters in 2021.

Given the recent events in the world’s second largest economy, the pace of progress towards NFT is puzzling.Following National encryption crackdown Of which Bitcoin (Bitcoin) And ether (Ethereum) Mining is banned and China has recently adopted Aiming at NFT and metaverse And proposed to closely monitor it. Despite the anti-cryptocurrency sentiment, technology giants Tencent and Huawei have not prevented the pursuit of trademarks in the meta universe.

Elsewhere, in early December, As part of a broader anti-crypto crackdown, Some websites in Beijing, including Chainnews, are offline. Chinese crypto media keeps a low profile on its website Instead, focus on developing communities on Twitter and Telegram.

However, it is strange that this is not the country’s first foray into NFT. During this period”DeFi Summer 2.0,” The South China Morning Post created a series of NFT uses a new token standard called “ARTIFACT”,” aims to preserve historical assets on the blockchain. However, it is important to note that the South China Morning Post is headquartered in Hong Kong. Therefore, the document benefits from a higher degree of autonomy and Hong Kong’s well-known executive, legislative, and independent judiciary right.

related: Chinese companies start Metaverse trademark competition

Hong Kong is no stranger to blockchain technology or forging NFTs.In June this year, pro-Hong Kong activists managed to Hong Kong Democracy Newspaper Article To the blockchain. More than 4,000 Apple Daily articles were uploaded to ARWeave, A popular blockchain storage platform supported by Andreessen Horowitz.

In the end, China’s NFT version avoided a problem: Does Xinhua News Agency’s issuance of NFT signify recognition of the adoption of blockchain technology? At the time of writing, Trading activities of Chinese NFT advocates are still restrictedOnce purchased, NFT cannot be resold, and the only currency available to NFT fans is the local currency, RMB. In view of China’s main anti-encryption stance in 202, more evidence is needed to prove China’s entry into the blockchain field.