Let me take a stab at it. I think the lack of scientific innovation is due to the culture of memorization/book smarts that seems to be still ingrained in China

Let me take a stab at it. I think the lack of scientific innovation is due to the culture of memorization/book smarts that seems to be still ingrained in China. In the past, a lot of people were aiming to become officials but in order to do so they had to take these standardized tests that required years of preparation and memorization where you would have to read and memorize text from old thinkers. But by going through this entire process of memorization/studying one would start to think like them and not come up with any original ideas. Maybe parts of this are still around today and are focusing more on memorization rather than on creativity. As an aside, another reason I thought of would be the Communist state would hinder thinking for oneself and stifle creativity that way. Why I dismissed it was that the Soviet Union had an equally oppressive regime yet they were able to compete with the US during the Cold War just fine for a few decades. I'll glady take criticism of my ideas; very curious as to what others think.