Future of Databases in China: Trends, History, and Benchmarking

On March 25, the inaugural OceanBase Developer Conference was held in Beijing, where Professor Zhou Aoying, Vice‑President of East China Normal University and CCF Fellow, delivered a talk titled “What Kind of Database Does China Need in the Future?”.

Professor Zhou traced the history of databases, described data as a new form of energy (Data is Power), and argued that databases serve as a critical infrastructure enabling digital transformation, especially in finance and mission‑critical applications.

He highlighted that databases originated from early COBOL systems, evolved through the relational model in the 1980s, and have become the cornerstone of modern fintech, illustrating the concept of “application‑driven innovation”.

The talk emphasized the shift from traditional, campus‑based computing to a data‑power era, comparing the impact of steam, electricity, and now data on global economic power structures, and underscored China’s opportunity to lead in this new era.

Professor Zhou introduced the notion of a “Data Power Platform”, a low‑code/zero‑code ecosystem that democratizes data usage and ultimately paves the way for AI ubiquity.

He discussed the challenges and opportunities of distributed databases in the cloud era, advocating for a “One Suite fits all” approach rather than a one‑size‑fits‑all model.

Benchmarking was presented as a vital abstraction that guides both industry standards and academic research; the speaker described the Dike benchmark suite (dbhummer) released on GitHub and its selection for SIGMOD.

Additionally, Zhou introduced the upcoming HTAP benchmark “Vodka”, designed to evaluate mixed‑load, interference resistance, and real‑time data retrieval capabilities across transactional and analytical workloads.

In conclusion, he called for the continued development of standardized benchmarks and a unified Data Power Platform to drive the next generation of distributed databases and digital economies.

Thank you and best wishes for OceanBase’s continued success.