A full house of participants and 18 speakers, including officials, entrepreneurs and scholars to researchers and writers witnessed the Internet Culture Forum push China's internet a step forward with keynote speeches and in-depth panel discussions.

Held by China's Ministry of Culture, and organized by China Daily Website and the China Arts and Entertainment Group, the forum was part of the third World Internet Conference held in Wuzhen.

Over the past 20 years, China's internet development has made great strides, with achievements attracting worldwide attention. Why is culture important to the internet? How did the participants benefit from the forum? We spoke to some of them.

Li Tao. [Photo by Zhang Xingjian/China Daily]

Li Tao, CEO of APUS

"It has been a rewarding afternoon. Today's forum made me feel that China's internet has taken a big step forward. When we used to talk about the internet, we talked about users, traffic and income. Today, almost every participant and speaker is talking about culture, rule of law, globalization and promoting Chinese culture abroad. Because our operations are global, such discussion is very beneficial for us. It is also helpful for Chinese internet companies and Chinese culture to go global."