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The Chinese can't innovate or create is really just a relic of 90's racism+orientalism. Seriously, only if you believe somehow the Chinese people have different

The Chinese can't innovate or create is really just a relic of 90's racism+orientalism. Seriously, only if you believe somehow the Chinese people have different brain structure, there is absolutely no reason why they can't do what West can do. Yes Chinese wasn't doing super innovative stuff back like 10 years ago. Reason? Because they don't have to. There is easier money to make at a lower segment of the market that fits them better. The China back then is under developed, spending in R&D isn't something that would benefit them than simply importing last-gen Western technology. Now they have educated themselves and clambbed up the value chain, that is when the innovations become profitable to them. The West still enjoys some advantage, in certain key areas, but it is diminishing, and diminishing fast.

jbob2000 6y ago
It’s not about the Chinese people but about their government. Smart people don’t want to contribute to the regime and leave the country. This is where the comment “the Chinese can’t innovate” comes from - it’s about the political regime being unable to cultivate innovation, not the people lacking the faculties to do it. The fact that China, the country, has to steal all their tech, while Chinese people contribute to innovation all around the world proves my point.
- 411111111111111 6y ago
  Not everyone leaves. They got families and friends after all. And once this becomes too much of an issue, I'd wager they'll just blacklist anyone leaving from ever coming back. That's gonna make almost everyone stay where they are.
- justicezyx 6y ago
  "Smart people don’t want to contribute to the regime and leave the country." You seriously think there is only a few million "smart people" in China (about the same number as the people who go aboard for their advanced study or business)?
coolgeek 6y ago
Don't be so quick to dismiss all of this as "racism+orientalism". There is, indeed, a fair degree of that. But there are parallels to the situation with Japan in the late 80s to early 90s when everybody thought that Japan was going to own America (purchasing it piece by piece and/or out-innovating American companies). I don't understand the dynamics here well enough to say how justified any of the arguments are. But we've been down a similar road before, and it's not just racism.

jbob2000 6y ago

It’s not about the Chinese people but about their government. Smart people don’t want to contribute to the regime and leave the country. This is where the comment “the Chinese can’t innovate” comes from - it’s about the political regime being unable to cultivate innovation, not the people lacking the faculties to do it. The fact that China, the country, has to steal all their tech, while Chinese people contribute to innovation all around the world proves my point.

411111111111111 6y ago
Not everyone leaves. They got families and friends after all. And once this becomes too much of an issue, I'd wager they'll just blacklist anyone leaving from ever coming back. That's gonna make almost everyone stay where they are.
justicezyx 6y ago
"Smart people don’t want to contribute to the regime and leave the country." You seriously think there is only a few million "smart people" in China (about the same number as the people who go aboard for their advanced study or business)?

coolgeek 6y ago

Don't be so quick to dismiss all of this as "racism+orientalism". There is, indeed, a fair degree of that. But there are parallels to the situation with Japan in the late 80s to early 90s when everybody thought that Japan was going to own America (purchasing it piece by piece and/or out-innovating American companies). I don't understand the dynamics here well enough to say how justified any of the arguments are. But we've been down a similar road before, and it's not just racism.