At noon of December 17, 2015, the Chinese e-mail address acceptance ceremony was held at the Light of the Internet Exposition of the 2nd World Internet Conference (WIC). At the ceremony hosted by CNNIC, Research Fellow Qian Hualin, inductee of the Internet Hall of Fame, one of China’s internet pioneers and the one who sent the first e-mail in Chinese, presented Chinese e-mail addresses to dignitaries and tech giants including “Father of the Internet” Robert Kahn (whose Chinese e-mail address is罗伯特@互联网.中国), ICANN President Fadi Chehadé (法迪@互联网.中国), Cheng Wei (程维@互联网.中国), founder and CEO of taxi-hailing service Didi, and James Seng (庄振宏@互联网.中国), co-chair of IETF Internationalized Domain Name Working Group. 

According to Li Xiaodong, co-chair of IETF Email Address Internationalization Working Group and Director of CNNIC, Chinese e-mail addresses are e-mail addresses based on Chinese domain names. They are easier for Chinese people to remember and use. More importantly, they help lower the threshold to the Internet and reduce the digital gap. On a global scale, Chinese e-mail addresses represent a meaningful exploration of internet localization and cultural diversification, and have enhanced the inclusiveness and diversity of internet. Internet users can now visit互联网.中国 and apply via registration for Chinese e-mail addresses which contain their Chinese names followed by “@互联网.中国”. 

Li Xiaodong said in his speech that the environment to use Chinese domain names and Chinese e-mail addresses has been greatly improved. Domestic mainstream web browsers on PCs and mobile devices, as well as search engines, have already supported Chinese domain name resolution quite well. A majority of domestic and foreign e-mail service providers have allowed users to receive e-mails from Chinese e-mail addresses, but as to sending such e-mails, Li called on service providers to adopt international standards and upgrade their systems for better compatibility with Chinese e-mail addresses. 

Research fellow Qian Hualin said that Chinese e-mail addresses are convenient for Chinese people, so it is very meaningful to expand their application. In his e-mail sent to Qian Hualin’s Chinese e-mail address (钱华林@互联网.中国), Robert Kahn said he was delighted to witness the historic moment, and expressed congratulations on the success of the ceremony. ICANN President Fadi Chehadé praised the contribution of China’s technology to the rapid internet development, and expected China to engage itself more actively in international internet communities and play a leading role.　James Seng commented that it was worthy for China to realize the application of Chinese e-mail addresses after over ten years of effort. “This event is a milestone, and it is so cool to have a Chinese e-mail address”, said Didi CEO Cheng Wei.