The 2014 AWDC was the fourth edition of the conference, held in the rather remote Yunqi Town. This was also the second time AWDC was hosted in Yunqi Town. Registration opened about two months in advance, though there was actually no cap on attendance… You could even register just a day before the event~~~ Of course, this led to an overwhelming turnout of seven or eight thousand attendees. In contrast, there were only a handful of keynote sessions, which were woefully insufficient, leaving many people with no choice but to watch from outdoors~~~
That morning, I took the train to Hangzhou East Railway Station. The station is huge, but dining options are very limited. Even the McDonald’s is located in the ticketed waiting area for departing passengers, requiring a ticket to enter. After grabbing a quick bite at a fast-food joint outside, I still couldn’t find the Alibaba Cloud shuttle bus… Just as departure time approached, a group showed up; I asked and confirmed they were indeed heading to the Alibaba Cloud event, so I followed them onto the bus~~~ The ride mostly went along the river, passing the Golden Ball (Hangzhou International Expo Center). After about 40 minutes, we arrived at Yunqi Town in Zhuantang Subdistrict, not far from Songcheng and the Xiangshan Campus of the China Academy of Art.
The staff at the entrance registration were very nice, entering the verification code received via text message into a machine. However, the screen glare was so severe that you could barely see anything~~~ The operation was extremely difficult, but I successfully got my badge and map~~~ After passing security, you could head inside~~
Upon entering, the venue felt quite spacious. There was an introduction to the entire development history of Alibaba Cloud,
as well as photo zones, handprint areas, calligraphy guestbook sections, and more~~~~
Yunqi Town claims it aims to become China’s Silicon Valley… It covers a considerable area, with nine buildings converted into a media center, cafeteria, main hall, and various breakout halls~~~ The ground floors of the buildings housing the breakout sessions were set up like an expo, featuring promotional booths from various companies, while temporary stages for guest keynotes were erected on the second and third floors. Most of these buildings are usually empty… The only lively time is during the annual AWDC. Considering AWDC takes up almost all the space in the town, those buildings have no choice but to sit vacant the rest of the year…
The cafeteria offered free meals, though I didn’t try them. Rumor has it it was packed beyond capacity and completely overwhelmed by demand. On the first evening, there was also an outdoor performance, but since I had dinner elsewhere, I missed it.
On the afternoon of the first day, to avoid the crowds in the main hall, I opted for a breakout session. Fortunately, I arrived early and managed to grab a seat… Otherwise, there would have been no room left in the breakout hall either. The breakout session was held in a second-floor lobby of one of the buildings, where a small room had been temporarily constructed, complete with two large pillars in the middle… Due to the low ceiling height, the podium was level with the floor, meaning your view was essentially the back of the head of the person in front of you. The main hall featured speakers from Alibaba Cloud, while the breakout hall hosted speakers from several investment firms. Reportedly, the combined seating capacity of both venues was only around 300…
There were also girls from Guizhou~~
And Jack Ma’s classic quotes…
Free water was available throughout the venue. Of course, if you wanted more, there was a small convenience store with fairly reasonable prices~~ Surprisingly, however, they only accepted cash—not even Alipay was supported. How does that make sense at a developer conference?~~~~
Overall, part of this AWDC was dedicated to networking with investors, but that required prior appointment and multiple rounds of screening; another part involved interacting with entrepreneurs—specifically startup teams, as the founders rarely showed up, limiting conversations to potential collaborations… There was also a segment for developers, but the most you could do was offer suggestions or feedback… Ultimately, product managers called the shots… The keynotes lacked technical depth, and no significant new products were launched. People mostly came to boast, talking about how amazing Alibaba Cloud’s products are, or how great their own products are, or just showing off how awesome they themselves are…. So, on the second day, I headed downtown to explore Hangzhou instead~~~~
P.S., the physical fitness of IT professionals in our country really leaves much to be desired….
Photos in this post taken with SONY NEX-5R + 16-50 f3.5-5.6, post-processed in Lightroom.
Support
