What Jack Ma didn't tell you is that those things don't matter that much, it's more of a lip service to burnish his image, a victory lap. His father is well-connected both in business and politics and provided him access and opportunities plebs counld dream of. Hell he didn't even have any tech experience, he was a english teacher.

And Alipay would have been killed a million times as it infringes the state monopoly on finance, had him not been shielded by the quagmire of local and central politics.