WeChat has hit one billion monthly users for the first time, the owner of the Chinese messaging app has revealed.

中国即时通讯应用程序微信的月用户数量首次达10亿。

The vast majority of its users are based in China, where it’s known as Weixin, and where the recent Lunar New Year boosted it past the milestone¹.

微信的绝大多数用户都在中国，最近农历新年微信取得里程碑式跨越。

But it is still lagging behind Facebook-owned WhatsApp which has about 1.5 billion monthly users.

但微信发展仍不及Facebook旗下的WhatsApp，WhatsApp每月约有15亿用户。

WeChat is the jewel in the crown of Chinese tech giant Tencent. But why is it so popular? Here are five reasons it has done so well.

微信是中国科技巨头腾讯公司皇冠上的明珠。微信为什么这么受欢迎呢？原因有五点：

It’s not just about messaging

微信不仅仅传递信息

Sure, it began as a messaging app. And it does at first glance look and feel a bit like WhatsApp and Viber.

当然，微信最初是一款即时通讯应用，刚开始感觉有点像WhatsApp和Viber。

But WeChat evolved quickly, and it lets users do much more than just communicate with their friends and family.

但是微信发展很快，用户不仅仅可以和朋友、家人交流。

It serves as China’s biggest social network. But it’s also where people turn to book a taxi, order food, make a doctors appointment, do their banking², or find a date.

微信是中国最大的社交网络。一些人还会用微信租车、点菜、预约医生、银行交易或寻找约会对象。

And when they are playing games like the huge Tencent-owned hit Honour of Kings, WeChat is where players compare scores with their friends.

用户在玩诸如腾讯旗下王者荣耀等游戏时，玩家在微信上与其朋友们一比高低。

It has become integral to the daily life of many in China, especially in the cities.

微信已经成为中国人日常生活中的一部分，特别是在城市里。

It is quite possible to get through an entire day using the app for (pretty much) your every need, which means it’s only going to grow.

微信能够满足你一天中的所有需求，正因为此微信蓬勃发展。

It makes paying for things simple

支付更加便捷

The growth of digital payments in China means many younger people have skipped the credit card concept for paying online.

在中国，数字支付快速发展意味着许多年轻人跳过了信用卡在线支付概念。

Instead they use payments services run by local tech giants like Alibaba or Tencent.

相反，他们使用由阿里巴巴或腾讯等本土科技巨头运营的支付服务。

WeChat’s payments feature lets users upload their banking details and then can buy products or services from any official account.

微信的支付功能允许用户上传他们的银行信息，然后从官方账户购买产品或服务。

Even taking a small percentage from each transaction makes WeChat in one of Tencent’s best-earners.

即便每笔交易只占一小部分，微信也是腾讯收入最高的公司之一。

Corporations love it

企业热衷于微信

WeChat has let millions of businesses get into the smartphones of customers and would-be customers.

微信让数以百万计的生意进入客户和潜在客户的智能手机。

Companies and organisations can create official accounts within WeChat - a little like apps. Some do this before they even set up an app of their own.

公司和组织可以在微信中创建公众号——有点像应用程序。有些公司在建立自己的应用程序之前就这样做。

Users can subscribe³ to the accounts and get promotions⁴ messaged directly to them or click in be taken to a shopping page,.

用户可以订阅这些公众号，直接获取促销信息，或者点击进入购物页面。

And the payment system already mentioned means if firms can persuade a user to part with some cash, the process of making that transaction is pretty straight forward.

而且已提及的支付系统意味着，如果公司能够说服用户不使用现金，那便可以简化交易过程。

And WeChat is a big reason QR Codes have been adopted so readily in China - technology that helps firms get information to users as well as facilitate those payments.

正因为微信，二维码在中国推广很快——二维码技术帮助企业向用户提供信息，简化支付。

Also, while WeChat has been fairly conservative in the amount of advertising⁵ it allows on its platform, it is a very targeted way for corporations to reach people.

此外，即便微信平台广告投放数量很保守，但是企业可以有针对性地接触消费者。

It is unashamedly China-focussed

聚焦中国

While it is making in-roads in South East Asia and South Africa, WeChat really is still all about China.

即便微信正在进入东南亚和南非市场，但微信仍然聚焦于中国。

It understands that market, and taps into what Chinese users are doing both online and offline.

其了解中国市场，了解中国用户在线上和线下做什么。

For example, the giving of red envelopes containing money at Lunar New Year - the country’s biggest annual holiday - is a huge tradition.

例如，农历新年（中国最重要的年假）时发红包是最重要的传统。

A few years back WeChat introduced digital versions of these "hongbao" and its popularity has soared.

几年前微信推出了“红包”数字版本，人气飙升。

During the festival which just ended, more than 688 million WeChat users sent or received them.

在刚刚结束的节日期间，超过6.88亿微信用户发送或接收了红包。

The Great Firewall doesn’t apply

不采用长城防火墙

Restrictions⁶ on access to many Western social media services such as Facebook and Twitter - as well as Google - meant most Chinese people do not have access to these services legally, even if they wanted them

由于对Facebook、Twitter、谷歌等西方社交媒体服务限制，即便需要这些服务，大多数中国人在法律上也无法获得这些服务。

And that created an environment where local players like WeChat could thrive. So too did QQ - another Tencent-owned platform which migrated its users over to WeChat, another boost to its user base.

在这样的大环境下，像微信这样的本地应用程序蓬勃发展。腾讯旗下的QQ也是这样一个平台，其将用户移至微信，提升用户基础。

All Chinese social media platforms are required to censor⁷ public posts deemed illegal by the government. WeChat is no different.

中国所有的社交媒体平台均须审查政府视为非法的公共帖子。微信也不例外。

But it insists encryption means others can’t "snoop" on your messages - and that content such as text, audio and images are not stored on its servers - and are deleted once all intended recipients⁸ have read them.

但其强调，加密意味着其他人不能“窥探”你的信息——而文本、音频和图像等内容不会存储在服务器上——所有收件人读过后便会删除。

Earlier this year it issued a statement denying "storing chat histories" after criticism from Chinese businessman Li Shufu, who recently said the firm "must be watching all our WeChats every day".

今年早些时候，该公司发表了一份声明，否认“存储聊天记录”。此前，中国商人李书福（音译）表示，该公司“每天都在看我们的微信聊天记录”。

The Tencent-owned firm said suggestions that it was watching users was "pure misunderstanding".

腾讯控股公司表示，关注用户的说法“纯粹是误解”。