Are We Innovative Yet?: The China Challenge
February 11th, 2008 | by This is China! |A casual lunch with an old Chinese friend at a Cantonese restaurant in Shanghai started me to thinking more deeply about China and innovation. Susan (not her real name) works for a consultancy that is concentrating on developing infrastructure for companies focusing on IT-related fields, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and R&D. She took her undergraduate study in Scandinavia, and her masters in Economics in the UK. She is a bright, thoughtful person who seems to actually think about things outside the purview of her immediate responsibilities in marketing.
Over a meal of rice-and-seafood soup, Chinese broccoli, pork wrapped in rice flour envelopes, and chopped green beans cured in vinegar and stir fried with pork and chili peppers we talked about her work and travels throughout China to cities that are driving hard to become information hubs. The topic of innovation came up when she mentioned.“The Chinese returnees from Western countries – especially America – are not optimistic about innovation in China.” Many returnees with advanced technical degrees from other countries receive subsidies from the national- and local-governments to locate in China to carry on their R&D activities and indulge in their entrepreneurial instincts.
Surprised to hear her say it so plainly, as a Chinese herself, I asked why. She explained, “One Chinese PhD in semiconductor research returned to Hangzhou. He is having a very difficult time adjusting. He said the Chinese cannot think for themselves.” I noted that she herself is a returnee and that she seems to be managing quite well. She responded, “Though I was away for six years studying, I still returned in my twenties. It’s easier for me adjust. I’m more Chinese than he is.”
I pressed her on just why she thought China is not primed for innovation. She insisted one of the main reasons was the education system. “If you put a Chinese, a Japanese and an American in a room and give them a math test, the Chinese will easily come out number one. But if you give them all a problem to solve that requires using different ways of thinking and some creativity, the Chinese will come in last. The Chinese education system stresses theory over practice. Students don’t have any experience in what they study.”
Some may argue – as I have in previous articles – that China is at the same point in its innovation curve as Japan was in the early sixties. At that time, Japanese goods were the butt of many jokes in America, because the quality of the goods was so poor. Indeed, I remember a transistor radio I had as a kid in the sixties disintegrating in my hands, copper wires all exposed outside the cracked eggshell-thin plastic casing. However, Japan had already had a long history of innovation, Western-style, from the Meiji Restoration through World War II. Much of the effort, however, was driven by militarists that saw themselves as the rightful lords of all of Asia. One of the most deadly innovations of the time was the Japanese Zero, a fighter aircraft that was faster and more maneuverable than anything the Allies had for several years into the war. Since the mid-eighties, the Japanese have filed more patents than any country bar the United States.
Susan also brought up a point I had never considered before, nor that I had heard anyone previously proffer: the way parents bring up their children in China is different from the way parents do in Japan and South Korea. “Chinese parents,” she said, “do not give their children much choice in what they should study. The most important thing is studying for the examinations. The parents put a lot of pressure on careers that will bring in money the child can use to support the rest of the family.” This is an important point in light of the increasing burden a single child will have to carry as the the new century develops. It is called the 1-2-4 problem: one child will have to support two parents and four grandparents. The strain will become greater on the children as in twenty years or so the elderly population explodes. Very few children will have the luxury then of saying to their parents, “I want to be a poet.” They will have to early on become bread-winners to support a stable of relatives. Creativity will be a fleeting consideration.
Finally, Susan offered, the Chinese legal system does not protect innovation. If a Chinese invents something new, it will be copied without remuneration and without shame within months. Westerners have only just been learning this over the last few years. Chinese have known this for millenia. Without proper protections, Chinese will be loathe to create something new and not be able to reap the full benefits of their individual efforts and contribution.
It seemed the whole time we had been chatting that I had been the only one eating. Susan had merely nibbled at some of the dishes, and had otherwise devoted herself to the conversation, which, I have to say, was as stimulating as the spiced string beans.
Bill Dodson
SUZHOU, China
14 Responses to “Are We Innovative Yet?: The China Challenge”
By PK on Feb 12, 2008 | Reply
Bill,
Good post, but I must say that there is innovation all over China but perhaps not as abundant or readily identifiable to the industries and technologies that the western world identifies as relevant. I would argue that innovation comes from a lack of resources rather than abundance of such. Journey, as you have done, to anywhere in the country to small alleys in the cities and you will find in things rather exceptional, unique…or shall we say innovative…whether these are how landscape is terraced to exact maximum benefit from irrigation to a remote motorcycle repair shop making parts out of what most would consider junk. From art made of paper cuts to hacking every major software pirating scheme in order to offer the 10 RMB counterfeit…China is full of innovation…soon it will tread the frontiers of the western world. The education system may not help but there are so many not educated…
Keep up the great work!
By Thomas Chow on Feb 12, 2008 | Reply
I agree with your friend that much of innovation comes from a Chinese mindset. My family, knowing that they were brought up in a Chinese system that tends to stifle innovation, specifically raised my generation under the American system. As one relative had pointed out to me, “the Chinese way does not reward genius, innovation, or doing things in a different way. But the American way does, and that’s what makes geniuses possible in America.” I used to not believe it, but the more I understand both cultures, the more I agree with that.
By This is China! on Feb 13, 2008 | Reply
PK;
Thanks for the thoughtful comment. You’re right about there being innovation in China, with a little ‘i’. Now, even within little-i innovation there is true innovation born of necessity, and then there is jury-rigging (and I don’t mean of the legal sort). One of the most clever innovations I’ve ever seen here in China that sells very well in second-tier and smaller cities are rain ponchos with a transparent square around the crotch area. The rider places the transparent bit over the lights on the two-wheelers so they can see where they’re driving in the rain and the dark! Brilliant!
And then there is jury-rigging, which the Chinese have excelled at for thousands of years. I believe the source of jury-rigging is the deep-seated belief Chinese societies have had that nothing is permanent, so why bother thinking deeply about how to solve a problem at a process level that could bring about true revelation - or revolution.
Seeing that China’s current system of social governance hasn’t changed much, I don’t expect big changes in the way Chinese people approach problems (or problem-solving) any time soon.
That said, I have written before - specifically in the BPO space - that the Chinese will make an impact on the world stage from solutions they first implement in their own back yards to address their own specific, domestic issues.
By This is China! on Feb 13, 2008 | Reply
Hi, Thomas;
Yesterday I read an article in the Washington Post entitled, “In China, Pulled By Opposing Tides“. The article centered around one young Chinese man whose parents had deliberately sent him to the States to get the way of thinking the father had not been able to develop or use on the Mainland. By the end of the article, though, it seemed the father had regretted his own decision.
With your comment and having read the article, I think there is another problem China has with innovation, and that’s: what does it do with the Chinese who are of both worlds, able to negotiate both the Chinese Way (to PK’s assertion) and the Western Way of Innovation. It seems China is having a tough time re-integrating its prodigal sons; more difficult, I would argue, than America does given its history of integrating and then benefiting from immigrants.
On the flip side of that consideration though, is that the sea turtles have a very different way of seeing the world - and innovation - than either their forefathers or pure-bread Westerners. I believe it’s in those cracks between worlds from whence true innovation sprouts.
By Thomas Chow on Feb 14, 2008 | Reply
Bill, I agree that the two worlds are very tough to gap. Both from a theoretical perspective and from a personal perspective. If I were to be back in China on a more permanent basis (which I am contemplating), I doubt that I would be accepted by many around me because the Chinese way is already hard on anyone who dares to innovate. Not to mention some of the bias against ABC’s or huayi who end up becoming more westernized. I guess its like being between a rock and a hard place.
I can imagine the gap being bridged at least with the younger generation, but not with the older.
By This is China! on Feb 17, 2008 | Reply
Thomas;
I am of the firm belief the most positive way forward for both worlds is through people who are firmly of both worlds, betwixt and between. It ain’t easy; but someone’s got to do it!
Looking forward to seeing you move here!
By Inst on Feb 21, 2008 | Reply
This generalization seems suspicious. At the same time the generalization the collectivist Chinese holds, there is also the generalization of the Chinese who can not work together.
So, then, the average Chinese person is someone who can neither think for themselves nor work together with others. Isn’t this a contradiction?
By ThoHa on Feb 22, 2008 | Reply
I think the mindset of most, even the most educated people who grew up within the CHinese culture is quite clear, and I would agree that for a Western concept of “innovation”, China is not the best place to grow. I am tempted to put forward the idea, however, that the non-innovative, non-creative way in which many if not most problems are being approached within Chinese families, companies and government agencies has its benefits (a high level of stability of decisions may be the most visible). While I sometimes hate my counterparts for their un-willingness to look for creative approaches, I see that if they did, the frictions they created on their side may be more serious than the solution they come up with on our side.
By This is China! on Feb 22, 2008 | Reply
Inst;
However, throughout Chinese history, the Chinese have resolved the contradiction through identification of and reliance on The Strong Man, the one who will tell the group precisely what to think and precisely how to act. Mao knew that to an exacting degree, as do most Party leaders, government officials, factory owners and plant floor managers in today’s China.
This is China! If the country has invented anything, it is The Contradiction.
Of course, this approach to resolving the conflict you identified flies in the face of innovation: creative people solving problems with insights that bubble up through the experiences and issues of everyday people living everyday life. Creative people hate Strong Men; and Strong Men tend to kill off Creative People.
By This is China! on Feb 22, 2008 | Reply
ThoHa;
Problem is, most decisions in the Chinese scrum are made by the Leader, who expects to tell everyone what to do at a nearly micro-level, while everyone in the group expects the Leader to tell them what to do at a nearly micro-level. In other words, the number of frictions within the group may be less than you think, as long as the Leader (or, as I call the Leader in the last comment in this thread, The Strong Man) maintains a mandate from the group to lead. The Leader can lose the mandate through corruption or a lack of compassion; then frictions within the group rise until a new Strong Man appears around whom everyone can coalesce.
By ?WhatIf! Innovation Shanghai on Jun 4, 2008 | Reply
Fascinating comments all around. As someone working and breathing innovation daily, its really interesting to read beyond the comments on how people view innovation and how it can be culturally construed. We went from a definition of American innovation vs. Japan and the importance of new, better, sleeker, more efficient products; to the existence of innovation in China (little-i) and how low-brow or high-brow innovation is still creative regardless of the education system; to The Strong man stifling innovation. We’re pretty much in agreement with all. Product innovation does foster from brave creative brainstorming, not something that is typically taught in Chinese education systems, but that doesn’t stop survivalist creativity that can some times create some of the most innovative concepts. (The coolest thing I’ve seen lately is a peddler’s open umbrella on the highway overpasses with trinkets, magnets and jewelry stuck on them. Should a police officer come by to complain (or should it rain) all he has to do is close the umbrella and run). Innovation can also come from teamwork (we’re a classic example) OR “The Strong Men” (like Steve Jobs or Jack Ma)…though what’s key in that comparison is that innovation behaviours and structures must exist to allow the right environment to exist for ideas to develop. If you work or live in a black/white world, dictated by right and wrong, there’s very little room for experimentation…and innovation rarely happens at the drop of a hat, overnight, in one person’s mind. That happens in a blue moon and even then, how much is one person capable of doing to carry it out? I think Jesus was the last person who did that successfully…then again Mao was doing it for a few good years too…
By This is China! on Jun 5, 2008 | Reply
WhatIf!
Thanks for the insight. I especially appreciate the innovation model you presented of “The Strong Man,” which is certainly apt for the way the Chinese government is going about forcing itself to become an innovation nation.
I’m really looking forward to seeing the umbrella innovation. That sounds like a great chuckle for the day!
By PK on Jun 11, 2008 | Reply
Going back to my original comment at the top of this post (labeled small “i”), I did want to add this point… Give China a few years and as the easy pickings (CTC - copy to China) disappear, the true innovation will grow in leaps and bounds. Once again, limited resources create innovation…not an abundance.
all the best,
PK