Actually, China has had digital identities for quite a while, but each region has its own implementation, which leads to a lot of issues in practice. This time, it seems like they’re aiming for a unified national system. Honestly, I’m looking forward to it, it could make life a lot more convenient. Right now, you still need to carry your physical ID card for many things, like checking into hotels or boarding a flight.

As for regular apps and websites, they usually just rely on your phone number, which is already tied to your real identity anyway, haha.