If everything goes according to the five-year plan, then all villagers in parts of rural China will have to do to see a doctor is go to their local bank and walk into a white booth next to the ATM machines.

如果一切都能按照“十二五”规划走，那么在中国农村部分地区，村民们如果要看病，将只需来到本地的银行，走进ATM机旁边的白色亭子。

The health capsule is one of the projects that has come out of China’s drive to develop the internet of things. It has a display screen, a keyboard and an examination platform, that can gather, analyse and store patient data.

“感知健康舱”是中国物联网发展计划的一部分。健康舱内有一块显示屏，一个键盘，以及一个能够收集、分析和储存患者数据的诊断平台。

Under the current five year plan, which details economic targets and policies, the government has pledged to pour Rmb5bn ($813.6m) into the internet of things by 2015.

根据目前正在进行的“十二五”规划（该规划详细确定了各项经济目标和政策），中国政府承诺将在2015年底之前投入50亿元人民币（合8.136亿美元），用于发展物联网。

The Chengdu internet of things technology institute, a state-owned body that has received Rmb20m since 2009, is one of the bodies at the forefront of this push.

国有独资企业成都物联网技术研究院(Chengdu internet of things technology institute)，是中国物联网开发领域的领军企业之一。该研究所自2009年以来已获得2000万元人民币的投入。

Gao Xiaoyong, the institute’s director, says: “We are in talks with some banks, such as Minsheng Bank, as they want to purchase some capsules, hoping that the offer of free health examination will attract more customers.”

该研究院总裁高小勇说：“我们正在与一些银行洽谈，比如民生银行，因为它们想购买一些感知健康舱，希望通过提供免费的健康检查招徕更多顾客。”

The institute has already deployed 11 of the capsules in Shuangliu, a county with a population close to 1m surrounding Chengdu, the capital of the province of Sichuan. They reflect the institute’s focus on trying to use machine-to-machine communications to make up for the vast distances and weak infrastructure in some parts of rural China.

该研究所已在四川省省会成都市下辖的双流县安装了11台感知健康舱，该县人口近100万，县域三面环绕成都。开发健康舱的主要目的是，用机器间的交互来弥补中国农村一些地区位置偏远、基础设施落后的状况。

“Patients living in small towns or rural areas can save on their trips to hospitals in big cities, yet still get chances to be treated by good doctors working in these big cities,” says Mr Gao. The government says 80 per cent of all hospital visits made in 2011 were unnecessary as patients’ problems could have been treated easily but many rural patients rush to big cities in search of the best doctors.

高小勇说：“小城市或农村地区的患者可以不必去大城市的医院，但仍有机会获得大城市医院里那些好医生的诊治。”政府数据显示，2011年总就诊量的80%原本是没有必要的，因为患者的这些毛病本可以轻松获得诊治，但许多农村患者为了找最好的医生看病，纷纷跑去大城市。”

There are currently eight such “clinics” in Chengdu, each set up with an investment of about Rmb800,000, and the plan is to set up 30 in the first half of this year. If they are deemed successful, the plan is to build a network of 3,400 in the city and eventually expand the model across China.

成都目前有8家物联网连锁诊所，每家的投资都在80万元人民币左右。该研究所计划在今年上半年开设30家这样的诊所。如果试点成功，研究所计划在成都开设3400家连锁诊所，并最终将这个模式扩展到全中国。

“China’s approach is unique as it is very technology-focused and very government-driven,” says Bettina Tratz-Ryan, a vice-president at Gartner, the research firm.

研究公司Gartner副总裁贝蒂娜•特拉齐-里安(Bettina Tratz-Ryan)说：“中国的方法非常独特，因为这种方法非常偏重技术，政府驱动程度也很高。

“Mature technology is becoming available but there is a question mark about business models [and] how to manage a city,” she says. “This is a problem with the internet of things worldwide but in China it’s more pronounced because you’re packaging it in a five-year plan.”

“技术正在成熟，但对这种商业模式（以及）管理一个城市的方式，我们还要打个问号。这是全世界物联网都面临的一个问题，但在中国，这个问题更加突出，因为中国的物联网被写入了五年规划。”

Other applications that are being encouraged across the country include so-called smart applications for agriculture and more than a dozen smart city projects, where local governments hope to control skyrocketing traffic flows that have caused China’s urban areas to be choked by extreme congestion and caused grave air pollution problems.

中国正在向全国推广的其他应用包括所谓的智慧农业应用，以及十几项智慧城市项目。在中国许多城市，飞涨的交通流量导致城市发展因严重的交通堵塞而受限，并导致了严重的空气污染问题。地方政府希望通过这些智慧城市项目，对飞涨的交通流量加以控制。

“China is more focused on how to manage cities of 10m-15m people – very different from Europe, where the emphasis is on environmental sustainability, or the US, where the focus is on operational efficiency as cities face bankruptcy,” says Ms Tratz-Ryan.

特拉齐-里安表示：“中国更关注于如何管理人口在1000万至1500万之间的城市，这与欧洲和美国的情况迥异。欧洲关注的重点在于环境的可持续性，美国关注的重点则在于运营效率问题，因为那里的一些城市濒临破产。”

In Wuhan, a central Chinese metropolis on hilly terrain on the middle reaches of the Yangtze, one of the country’s two largest rivers, a “car net” came into force just over a year ago. The local government has connected almost all the city’s 1m cars – as well as a system of sensors and cameras – to monitor and control traffic flow on its nine bridges and three

位于长江中游丘陵地带的中国中部大都市武汉，一年多以前刚刚启动一个车辆联网项目。武汉市政府几乎将该市100万辆机动车全部联网，并联入一个传感器和摄像头系统，以监控该市9座大桥和3条隧道（这些地方很容易发生交通堵塞）的交通流量情况。该项目系统集成的主要负责公司——中创软件(CVIC SE)的副总经理陈致平表示：“此外，警方也在利用该系统打击犯罪，因为这个系统可以追踪车辆。”

tunnels, which can easily become gridlocked. “In addition, the system is also being used by police to fight crime as they can track vehicles,” says Steve Chen, a vice-president at CVIC SE, the software company that acted as the main system integrator for the project.

中国最大电信基础设施提供商——华为(Huawei)为电信运营商管理网络，并供应设备电路板用芯片组。该公司高管表示，安全应用是中国物联网市场的一个主要驱动力。业内专家估计，中国物联网市场规模去年已达到3300亿元人民币。

Executives at Huawei, China’s largest telecom infrastructure vendor, which manages networks for operators and supplies chipsets for device circuit boards, says security applications are a main driver of the Chinese machine-to-machine market, which industry experts estimate hit Rmb330bn last year.

中国的国有电信运营商也在开发类似的项目。世界入网用户最多的移动运营商中国移动(China Mobile)，已专门成立一个子公司，并正开发一些计划服务于许多不同应用的无线网络。

China’s state-owned telecom operators are pushing similar projects. China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile carrier by subscribers, has set up a dedicated subsidiary and is establishing wireless networks it plans to be used by many different applications.

一些跨国公司也跳入了这股大潮。美国集团英特尔(Intel)去年与中科院合作成立了一个物联网研究中心。

Some multinationals have jumped on the bandwagon. US group Intel set up an internet of things research centre with the Chinese academy of sciences last year.

然而，尽管中国树立了一些远大的目标，推出了一些吸引眼球的项目，但专家称，中国在此类技术的商业化应用方面落后于其他大型市场。

But, despite the big targets and headline-grabbing projects, experts say China is behind other big markets in commercial use of such technologies.

麦肯锡(McKinsey)亚洲商业技术业务负责人克里斯•伊普(Chris Ip)表示：“目前很多尝试正在进行中，许多厂商跃跃欲试，但目前仍然缺乏上规模的商业应用。

“There are a lot of experiments going on, and a lot of players pitching, but there’s a dearth of commercial applications at scale,” says Chris Ip, who leads McKinsey’s business technology practice in Asia.

“不过，我确实认为，中国目前起着关键作用，因为物联网中使用的许多芯片和传感器，部分或全部都是在中国制造和组装的。”

“I do think, though, that China is playing a critical role, just by virtue of the fact that many of the chips and sensors used in machine-to-machine communication are, to some extent, manufactured and assembled in China.”